Meet another member of the White Rose Maths team
Posted 17th May 2022
We are so proud of our team at White Rose Maths – all 90 of them!
The brilliant work they produce to help millions of teachers, pupils and parents to embrace maths is no mean feat. It takes all kinds of people across multiple departments to make the White Rose Maths magic happen, and we think it's time to celebrate the many different individuals who are all making a difference.
Let's meet another member of the White Rose Maths team?
Introducing Charlotte Cooper!
What is your job role at White Rose Maths?
I’m an Early Years Maths Specialist, which mainly involves training teachers to develop their maths subject knowledge and effective practice. I joined last October after spending several years teaching the Reception class at a school in Oldham.
What does a typical day at work look like?
So, when I first joined White Rose Maths, the team had begun creating videos for Reception children to access from home. I was really nervous to begin with; being filmed was way outside my comfort zone! But I settled into it, and it became a lot of fun. Now, my key responsibility is delivering our work in schools and training teachers on our 5-piece Reception Jigsaw to give them the skills and confidence to teach maths in class. I’m currently working with ten schools, which involves a sequence of twilight training sessions full of practical ideas to take back to the classroom. In between these twilights, we have school visits to recap key points from the training and see these in action within the classroom. I really enjoy these visits as I get chance to engage with the children as well as the teachers!
What do you find most rewarding about your job?
Where do I begin?! The role is brilliant and so mixed, with many satisfying elements. I enjoy hearing teachers’ confidence in teaching maths increase throughout the CPD sessions. The twilight sessions are excellent and provide a great buzz – teachers are excited to get back and try out new ideas in the classroom. Then seeing these in action and how much the children enjoy maths makes me feel satisfied about what I do.
Tell us what you love the most about the 1-Minute Maths App.
As a Reception specialist, I’ve spent lots of time on the app recently, and I love to play it! For me, the subitising games are great, the pictorial representations are really engaging. Also, I like the hint feature as it shows visual aids to help children answer the question. It’s a lot of fun and really helpful to the children in my specialist age group.
If you could learn a new skill, what would it be?
Well, I was reflecting recently on how much I love music and yet my skills at playing an instrument stretch as far as the recorder in primary school! If I found myself with spare time on my hands, I think I would like to pick up learning a new instrument. Probably the piano, I think. Or maybe the saxophone – it looks and sounds incredible!
Finally (just for fun!), where would we find you if money was no object?
Hmm. I wonder! To be fair, I love our wonderful countryside, so I think I’d be a happy lady staying here in the UK and living in a country cottage, either in Yorkshire or the Cotswolds. I have a 1-year black Labrador, Freddie, who would be pretty keen on having a friend to play with. A place in the country with some land and more dogs. Yep, that would be me nicely content, thanks very much!
