Maths and numeracy are critical in a child’s educational programme. But inspirational maths teaching stems from very limited resources; even the best can be promoted and lost to front line teaching.

I was OK in maths in Saint Anne’s primary school in Wandsworth.  Fond memories of this delightful old Victorian school where for a 100 per cent attendance I was once given an extra 20 minutes play time after a lunch break.  Unfortunately I was the only soul to gain such an accolade on this occasion and those 20 minutes on my own in a deserted playground turned the reward into a misplaced penalty.  Solitary playtime is the epitome of Billy no mates but maybe helped me to enjoy my own company.  Needless to say my reward was seen by my peers as a deterrent. The rules rapidly changed in case it spurred a spate of deliberate absenteeism to avoid my fate.  And then of course I’d missed 20 minutes of the lesson, a true juxtaposition of the award itself. But I enjoyed numeracy and looked forward to the lessons. It would have been even greater fun to have played the many maths games now available at home.

My maths skill then took a hammering. The move up to secondary school saw me one of 1800 children at the brand spanking new Holland Park comprehensive (1958)  This was a culture shock par excellence.  The size of a small town there were four teaching blocks, each three storeys high.  Stair cases were colour coded to aid navigation.  A massive central resources building comprised of an assembly hall to house the whole school with even a dress circle for the sixth form, canteen facilities, four gymnasiums, a swimming pool and a technical block were I learnt to cook as the metal work classes were full.  It had two enormous playgrounds.  The only missing ingredient were playing fields.  These were five miles away at Barn Elms on the banks of the Thames, a great 30 minutes coach trip each way especially welcome when it ate into the available time for wretched cross country runs.

Holland Park was a streamed comprehensive, something that is there is re-emerging after years of ailing alternatives.  This meant classes comprised of children of similar ability. Simple to understand and effective. Children of lower academic ability could still aspire to be top of their class. It also meant that teachers could be a groomed with the skills to match class needs and expectations.  Disruptive children in any stream would move into centralised classes manned by teachers trained in the specific needs of the unruly. But my maths ability gained in primary school fell through the floor.

Partly traumatised by the massive increase in school size between primary and secondary school my maths ability had been savaged by a further aspect.  The sheer numbers of teachers led to frequent staff changes.  Trainees will come and inevitably go unable to adapt to the environment. Lessons progressed in truncated form as the stream of teachers familiarise themselves with the state of play.  Each term will see a legion of new teaching resources including, bizarrely, a replacement for the music musical teacher who had killed himself playing Russian roulette!

Two years later and I experienced a move to another groundbreaking school, Wolverstone Hall near Ipswich.  This boarding school operated by the then London County Council was an amalgam of schooling and social experiment. The manifest comprised of children from diverse social and academic backgrounds, and in this context it worked well. We would rub shoulders with no knowledge or concern of heritage.  But my maths education and general academic ability continued to flounder. Learning and I were not easy bedfellows. I eventually left Wolverstone Hall with a smattering of “O” levels, inversely proportional to the effort applied.  I left, transferring to the Gateway school in Leicester, to have another crack.  And there something odd happened.

The Headteacher Dr Fraser, a stern and much esteemed figure, commanded instant respect. Not only did he teach, but held a routine appraisal with each boy in the school.  Over the years he had honed the procedure such that in 15 minutes he could discover strengths, weaknesses and develop a personal action plan that proved incredibly forthright.  His teaching team were highly motivated and responded positively to the diagnosis of the sage.

And my performance in maths recovered.  Fuelled by a teacher who had the knack of putting maths across in an intriguing way my performance improved immeasurably and finally proven in the results.  The result of an enthusiastic teaching team led by an experienced teaching headmaster.  How things have changed.  The head teacher is now predominately a mix of administration and targets.  Their experienced teaching skill sadly missed in the trenches.  If only we could outsource the school administration, avoid the focus on targets and get Headteachers to use their teaching skill, maybe, just maybe we would see an improvement in numeracy and a love of maths.