Maths is a personal passion of mine. In fact, leading maths was my first step into school leadership.

As such, I agree with some of your hypotheses. I think there is a culture of greater acceptance around struggling with maths.

And, partly as a result of this, we have too many adults who do not have the numeracy skills and knowledge required to thrive in their day-to-day lives. 

As I say, I chose this career to change lives. This is also the reason I chose primary over secondary: the earlier we intervene, the greater the chance of success.

Unsurprisingly, I believe the bulk of any work to address the challenges you’ve rightly identified needs to be focused on children as early as possible.

Not just because this is where you will impact the mindset and culture. But because, except in a minority of specific cases, if children do not have the core fundamentals in maths they need for life by age 11, something has gone seriously wrong. 

Importance of maths

First and foremost is what we teach.

If we look at our aim – to ensure people are sufficiently numerate for life and that there is a positive culture around maths – I would argue that a key barrier is the amount of content in the primary curriculum. Particularly in Key Stage 1 and Lower Key Stage 2.

We need children to be leaving primary school positive and enthused about maths.

They need to have the foundations in place to go on and experience further success at secondary school; deepening their knowledge and applying it to a wider-range of practical contexts as these become conceptually relevant.

No child (who doesn’t face a specific learning challenge) should leave primary without a strong grasp of number, place value and calculation.

These are the core building blocks and the vast majority of what we need in life.  

Maths national curriculum

We have embraced the concept of a mastery approach in this country. And yet, the curriculum itself does not match the theory.

Even by seven years old, the breadth of what we expect children to know is overwhelming.

It means teachers have to move through the curriculum too fast to cover too much content. Inevitably, then, too many children do not have sufficient time to fully master the concepts they so desperately need.

Once this has happened, it starts to be compounded year-on-year. Children develop increasingly negative attitudes – fear, embarrassment, anxiety – around maths. By secondary school, this is incredibly hard to undo, let alone by 16. 

At Kensington Primary, we have reorganised the curriculum to address this challenge and we are beginning to see the impact.

However, it will take time and it is despite the system not because of it.

We need a fundamental rethink of what it is all children (and adults) need in maths for daily life.

Doing this would both ensure everyone has the skills and knowledge they need to succeed, and impact the culture so that more people would be enthused about the subject and choose to pursue maths to 18, developing the specialist skills and knowledge needed for specific career paths.  

Maths in real life

Maths also needs to be relevant.

Too often, maths is seen to be about the right answer. However, we know it is so much more than that: problem solving; strategic thinking; paying attention to the detail; and resilience are all skills the subject teaches us, that we can use in numerous other areas of life.

This will build greater enthusiasm and shift attitudes. It will also improve people’s experience of success, further improving the culture around maths.

Unfortunately, SATs do not prioritise this. Instead, too often, children are taught to the test and maths is boiled down to a very simplistic equation – EXS or not. 

With the right focus and commitment, I am confident that we can significantly change the narrative around maths.  

Thank you for your support with this. I hope we see some further solutions to boost maths knowledge and skills and change attitudes from an early age very soon. 

From, Ben. 

Ben Levinson, OBE is headteacher at Kensington Primary School. Learn more about the school on Twitter @KensingtonSch and at kensington.newham.sch.uk 

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If you started this conversation in any staff room across the country, I’d suggest you’d get the full spectrum of opinions – we certainly did.

Over the past year, we’ve been trialling a far more flexible approach to timetables at Kensington Primary School, and I wanted to share our experience with you. 

Maybe it’s best to start with why we decided to do this. At Kensington, we’ve always believed passionately in empowering our incredibly skilled team.

Teaching is one of the most over-monitored professions, and as a school with wellbeing at its heart, we knew that this over-monitoring caused untold stress.

We knew the importance of autonomy for wellbeing, yes, but also to get the best from people.  

21st century curriculum

Teaching is not a one-size-fits-all job. Children are different. Teachers are different. Schools are different.

Giving people freedom to decide how they teach is just common sense. So, we removed many of the barriers.

Gone were, ‘You must have three success criteria, two of which have to be generated by the children’, and in came the freedom and flexibility to do what you felt was best.

Some learning benefits from success criteria. Some doesn’t. Sometimes children generating the criteria is great and sometimes it isn’t.

We supported our teams – particularly those starting out in the profession – but we also trusted them to do what was right for their children because they know them best. 

While we were doing this, we were also hard at work creating a brand-new curriculum. (This was before the 2019 EIF and the pandemic.)

Our experience and reflections, along with so many conversations we were having, had led us to realise the curriculum as it stood was not fit for purpose.

A mental and physical health crisis; the rapidly changing world (over 50 per cent of current jobs won’t exist by 2030); feedback from businesses that children had the academic qualifications but not the skills for 21^st century life; a profession on its knees, etc, etc. And this was all pre-Covid! It was clear something needed to change.  

Our response to this was Curriculum K: a curriculum that balances academic learning with health, communication and culture; that provides children with what they need to thrive in the 21^st century; and that empowers our team to deliver what they know is needed for their classes.

One of the drivers for Curriculum K was the overcrowded timetable and the constant feeling that we were repeatedly ramming a round peg into a far-too-small square hole. 

Let me briefly transport you back to my NQT year. There I was, sat in my classroom, looking at the number of hours I was expected to teach of each subject and looking at my blank timetable, and realising that it didn’t fit.

Don’t worry, I was told, everyone knows that, we just have to put it in to tick the box!

That’s even before the trips, performances, visitors and everything else that goes on threw it completely off track.  

Freedom for teachers

But with Curriculum K, we were in a position where each subject was of equal importance; we had removed enough content that it was achievable in the time available, and we had a desire to give our teachers the freedom to make the best decisions for the children (and themselves) in order to maximise learning.  

Initially, the timetable was changed so that we no longer had maths and English in the morning.

Sometimes we did, sometimes we didn’t. But children were just as likely to start the day with an emotional health or communication lesson as English.

As we continued to evolve our curriculum and our approaches, it increasingly became counterintuitive to have fixed times for specific lessons. 

As part of our drive to improve the quality of education and reduce workload, we stopped marking in favour of teachers spending more time and energy on assessment for learning (AfL).

As teachers focused on this more, it became increasingly clear that they needed greater freedom to adapt the curriculum.

If children struggled in maths that day, time would need to be found to revisit the subject, but if they are flying in culture, it’s perfectly OK to move on quickly.

But this was still happening within defined lesson times. What if teachers had freedom to totally change what they were teaching on any given day or week so that it matched the needs of their children? 

So, we trialled it in Y3 and 4. It was optional for teachers and we gave them freedom over how they did it.

Some still wanted a timetable for security but knew they could adapt it. Others got a blank timetable every Friday and mapped out the week ahead.

Some chose to tweak as they went, based on their assessment. We checked in with them regularly to see how it was going and to get feedback.

All six Y3 and 4 teachers decided very quickly they wanted to be part of it. Before too long, Y2 had also come and asked to get involved.

In September, all teachers will be taking this approach. (Although it will remain optional and they will have freedom over how they implement it.) 

Out-of-the-box thinking

The results? Learning is far more fluid. Teachers are focused on the needs of their children and adapting what they are teaching to respond to them.

Interestingly, this is also now working for content. How many of us have looked in horror at the English lesson we have to teach on a Wednesday after swimming, or a history lesson with lots of heavy content on a Friday afternoon?

Teachers are now adapting their timings to meet the needs of children. This flexibility is key because they are all different.

One class might be great at working together after lunch while another is best first thing in the morning, for example.

There are also far more opportunities for teachers to ensure learning has been remembered and to adapt their planning so that defined end points are met.

Finally, just the fact that teachers know they can change their timetables has had a massive impact on wellbeing.

It is just another area of stress for teachers, knowing they have to squeeze learning into a defined box.

Learning doesn’t often happen as a perfectly-formed, uniform process, so why would we try to make it this way?   

Of course, there are some challenges. We have limited space for our physical health lessons so time in the hall and playground is timetabled and has to be adhered to.

We need to work with some of our SEND children, particularly those who are autistic, so that the changes in routine don’t cause them distress.

In this case, we have found that talking them through the day or week as applicable has been more than sufficient to help them process any changes and enable them to engage fully.  

We will continue to reflect on and refine the approach but I cannot see us going back to the timetable straitjacket.

Freedom has brought so many benefits for our children and team. But the truth? Your best teachers are already doing this.

And that timetable stapled to their door? A work of fiction. 

Ben Levinson, OBE, is head teacher at Kensington Primary School. Follow them on Twitter @KensingtonSch and learn more at kensington.newham.sch.uk

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Some of the key principles we’ve used to help foster this culture are:

Humans are fundamentally good

All people are born with the capacity for growth and development. Of course, the balance between nature and nurture is complex, but with the right support, everyone can play a positive role in society.

And this is no different for our Kensington team. Absolutely everyone here wants to do their very best. Sometimes they miss the mark because they’re tired, or stressed, or anxious, or overwhelmed, etc, but my job as a headteacher is to help them maximise their potential.

Mad isn’t always bad

As humans, we all experience the full gamut of emotions. And that is totally OK – it’s an important part of what makes us, us. Added to that are the myriad factors that influence our emotions – personally, hunger affects me in an extreme way!

At Kensington, we endeavour to be aware of all this. So, when a team member reacts in an unusual way – for example, if they’re angry or distressed – we try to step back from the specific reaction, identify the emotion for what it is (or what it’s caused by) and then provide the appropriate support and guidance.

Often, a bit of time to breathe and reflect is enough. When it isn’t, work together to find solutions. All of this creates a more positive, calm environment, where issues are less likely to escalate.

Intrinsic motivation

This supportive route has opened up lots of very interesting conversations at Kensington. We abandoned formal observations a long time ago.

But after realising that the monitoring systems we used not only didn’t improve the quality of teaching and learning, but, arguably, detracted from it, we also decided to get rid of the formal monitoring we had in place.

Instead, we’ve developed a system where we work together, providing a supportive, reflective environment with a ‘we’re all in this together’ vibe, creating the best possible learning experiences for our children.

We’ve embraced more collaboration, more conversation, and less direction and control. Rather than ‘checking up’ and ‘feeding back’, we spend time together in lessons, looking at the learning and then discussing what we saw.

Which children were finding it hard and why? Who could have done with more challenge? Did that way of modelling work? Why? Why not? It’s a small tweak but it works.

The quality of teaching and learning is better than ever, as evidenced by a wide range of metrics – from speaking to children and staff, to awards, visitor feedback, and our own reflections of what goes on in the classroom.

We have also overhauled our performance management systems to give staff control over their own development, rather than setting punitive targets.

Everyone now identifies areas they want to develop, and then works towards their goals in their own way, supported by the team.

Some have chosen to improve their knowledge of phonics teaching, others want to improve their use of assessment for learning, and others want to develop skills in having those challenging conversations with colleagues. Whatever it is, it’s driven by individuals for their own development.

Good to talk

So much of what we’ve done is based on trust, which comes from open and honest communication. We support a variety of mechanisms for people to communicate at school, including our Kensington Matters focus groups, team meetings, and staff surveys. But most important are the relationships we’ve fostered together.

Ultimately, all this means everyone has a voice, and ensures that what we’re building is truly based on the team. Everyone has a clarity of purpose and the knowledge that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

It has been a testing 16 months, but we’ve managed to build resilience to deal with the challenges through support and understanding. Now, we’re emerging stronger, more united, and more able to provide the best possible education to our pupils.

Ben Levinson OBE is headteacher at Kensington Primary School. He is a founding member of the Well Schools movement, part of the Department for Education’s expert advisory group on school staff wellbeing, and a TeachActive ambassador. Follow Ben on Twitter at @mrlev.

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We set about completely overhauling the school – a significant part of which was about changing attitudes.

Fast forward to a hot day in May 2016. Much of what was rotten had been stripped away. Kensington was now in the top 5% of schools for progress, and nearly 1,000 children, parents and staff were gathered in the school playground to celebrate the Queen’s birthday.

While we knew that attitudes had changed significantly – evident in the transformed confidence of our girls – there was still a need to further engage with the outside world.

Little did I know that a chance conversation (while dressed as the Queen!) would prove the catalyst for the next stage in our development.

Andrew Richardson, head of the Manor Park community team, was a guest that day and we discussed the idea of an intergenerational project.

Andrew used his connections in the community and got a few local elderly people interested. At school, we identified children who would benefit from developing greater empathy and seeing the world from a new perspective.

In June we welcomed our first group of elderly people to the school. It had taken significant persuasion from Andrew and his team to get them along.

Many lacked confidence, one had experienced a recent bereavement, others just felt it, ‘wasn’t for them’.

The first few minutes were tentative – the children were keen to interact but found they couldn’t be heard or understood, and weren’t sure how to deal with this. Our visitors were equally uncertain.

After some time, I was called away. I left Eddie and his wife – a couple who’d lived across the road from the school for over 50 years – with a couple of Y5 children.

I returned shortly after, apprehensive of what I would find. I needn’t have been.

A dozen Kensington children were engrossed in conversation with our visitors. Some were describing the changes they had seen in the area. At another table, the children were discussing their recent topic on WWII.

Eddie and his wife had brought a book all about the area and were showing the children century-old photos of the school and Manor Park – the children couldn’t believe the changes, or the horse-drawn carts!

Since then, the Kensington Cares project has flourished. The group has grown and relationships have developed. The elderly people have visited us for lunch and there is a ‘skill sharing’ afternoon planned, where they are going to teach the children Indian dance moves.

There is no doubt it has transformed the thinking of both groups. Asha Chaudhri, 72, said, ‘I like the children. They are always polite and even speak to me in the street now’.

Grace Smith, 82 said, ‘I feel like I have new friends nearby. I live on my own so this has helped me to meet new people’.

Aysha in Y6 says, ‘I talked to Sheila about maths. I don’t always find maths very exciting but after listening to Sheila, I have been inspired and now have a greater enthusiasm. After meeting with the older people I feel good about myself.’

Kensington Cares has expanded beyond this project. The school choir has visited a local housing project to sing for people in sheltered accommodation, and has also sung for the Chelsea pensioners. We have also started working with RAMP, a local charity that provides support to refugees.

All of this is about developing our children’s empathy and providing them with the skills they need to make a difference and be truly global citizens.

With everything that is going on in the world at the moment, it is more important than ever that we equip our young people with this broader world view.

One of the things we are most proud of as a school is the regular feedback we get from visitors telling us how polite, caring, positive and confident our children are.

Kensington Cares is at the heart of this and something we will develop even further over the next few years.

Ben Levinson is headteacher of Kensington Primary School in London.

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