White Rose Maths: Free Resources, Worksheets & Guide

By Sarah Mitchell, Primary Mathematics Specialist | Updated: February 2026 | Reading Time: ~12 minutes

About the Author

Sarah Mitchell is a Primary Mathematics Specialist and former Year 5/6 teacher with over 14 years of classroom experience in Yorkshire and Greater Manchester. She holds a PGCE in Primary Education from the University of Leeds and a Level 3 Mathematics Mastery qualification from the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM). Sarah has worked as a maths lead in three different schools, leading White Rose Maths implementation across each one. She now works independently as a maths consultant, supporting schools with curriculum design, teacher CPD, and SATs preparation. She has delivered CPD sessions for over 200 teachers across the North of England and regularly writes on primary maths education.

Qualifications: PGCE (Primary), University of Leeds | NCETM Level 3 Mathematics Mastery | 14+ years classroom and specialist experience

Whether you are a primary school teacher trying to plan a strong maths lesson, a parent wondering how to support your child at home, or a student looking for extra practice, you have probably heard of White Rose Maths. It has become one of the most widely used mathematics frameworks in UK schools and for good reason. This guide breaks down everything worth knowing about it: what it actually is, how it works, where to find free resources, and how to get the most out of it in 2026.

What Is White Rose Maths?

White Rose Maths (now officially known as White Rose Education) is a mastery-based mathematics curriculum developed in the UK. Originally founded in 2012 as the White Rose Maths Hub in West Yorkshire, the organisation set out to raise standards in primary mathematics by focusing on deep conceptual understanding rather than rote memorisation.

Today, White Rose Education serves millions of teachers, parents, and students across England, Scotland, Wales, and even internationally — including an Australia-specific version of its curriculum. Its freely available schemes of learning cover Early Years (EYFS) right through to Key Stage 4 (Year 10–11), making it one of the most comprehensive maths frameworks available to UK educators.

At its heart, White Rose Maths is built on the principle that every child can succeed in mathematics. The approach draws heavily from research on maths mastery, including the methods used successfully in Singapore and Shanghai, and adapts them to fit the English National Curriculum.

How White Rose Maths Works: The Small Steps Approach

One of the things teachers consistently praise about White Rose Maths is its "small steps" structure. Rather than racing through broad topics, the scheme breaks each mathematical concept into smaller, digestible learning chunks. This allows teachers to identify exactly where a student is in their understanding and address gaps before moving on.

The three core principles behind the approach are:

• Concrete → Pictorial → Abstract (CPA): Students first explore a concept using physical objects (concrete), then diagrams (pictorial), and finally numbers and symbols (abstract). This progression helps build genuine understanding rather than procedural shortcuts.

• Whole-class teaching: The scheme encourages teaching a topic to the whole class together, with support and extension built in, rather than splitting children into rigid ability groups early on.

• Reasoning and problem-solving alongside fluency: Students are not just drilled on calculations. They are expected to explain their thinking, spot patterns, and apply knowledge to unfamiliar problems.

This combination has proven effective. Schools that adopt mastery-based frameworks consistently report stronger outcomes on national assessments, and anecdotal evidence from teachers across the UK suggests that students taught with White Rose Maths show greater confidence in explaining their mathematical reasoning.

For teachers looking to complement the White Rose approach with engaging digital practice, Hit the Button is one of the most popular maths games used alongside the scheme — it reinforces number facts and mental maths fluency in a fast-paced, enjoyable format that students genuinely look forward to.

White Rose Maths Free Resources: What's Available and Where to Find Them

One of the biggest questions teachers and parents ask is: "Is White Rose Maths free?" The short answer is yes partly. Here is a breakdown of what is available at no cost versus what requires a subscription.

Free Resources on the White Rose Education Website

The official White Rose Education website (whiteroseeducation.com) provides free access to:

• Schemes of learning for EYFS, Years 1–11, and GCSE

• Yearly and termly overviews for all year groups

• Free printable workbooks for Years 1–6 (available as PDFs)

• Home learning videos via the White Rose Maths YouTube channel

Premium Resources (Subscription Required)

For deeper teaching support, White Rose Education offers a premium subscription that unlocks lesson-by-lesson slides, lesson plans, assessments, and access to the White Rose Infinity platform — a digital tool designed to complement classroom lessons with interactive problem sets. Schools and individual teachers can purchase access through the website.

Third-Party Supporting Resources

Several well-known educational platforms provide additional materials aligned to the White Rose Maths framework. Third Space Learning offers a detailed breakdown of the scheme with printable worksheets for every year group. Twinkl provides a comprehensive library of supporting classroom resources tagged to White Rose topics. Teachers also frequently share White Rose-aligned activities and adapted worksheets through community sites and social media groups.

If your students need structured digital maths practice beyond White Rose worksheets, DeltaMath is worth exploring — it provides an extensive problem bank with instant feedback, which works particularly well for consolidating algebraic thinking and secondary-level topics that White Rose introduces in upper KS2 and KS3.

White Rose Maths by Year Group: What Children Learn and When

The White Rose scheme sequences learning carefully across each year group. Here is a broad overview of what each key stage covers.

Early Years (EYFS)

The EYFS framework from White Rose focuses on number sense, counting, shape, and basic pattern recognition. The activities are play-based and designed to develop a child's natural curiosity about numbers from the very beginning of their school journey.

Key Stage 1 (Years 1–2)

In Years 1 and 2, children build foundations in place value, addition, subtraction, simple multiplication and division, measurement, and basic geometry. The White Rose scheme for this stage places strong emphasis on visual representations — using number lines, part-whole models, and tens frames — before transitioning to written methods.

Key Stage 2 (Years 3–6)

This is where the scheme really expands in depth. Year 3 and 4 students tackle multiplication tables, fractions, and geometry. By Years 5 and 6, topics include decimals, percentages, ratio, algebra, and statistical interpretation. The Year 5 and 6 content is specifically designed to prepare children for KS2 SATs while ensuring they have the mathematical foundations needed for secondary school.

Secondary (Years 7–11 and GCSE)

White Rose Education's secondary schemes cover the full KS3 and KS4 curriculum. The KS3 textbooks, published in partnership with Collins, have received strong reviews from secondary teachers for their clear structure and mastery-focused design. The GCSE content aligns with all major exam boards and builds systematically on the primary scheme, which makes the transition from primary to secondary noticeably smoother for students who have followed White Rose throughout.

White Rose Maths Home Learning: How Parents Can Use It

During the COVID-19 lockdowns, White Rose Maths became a household name as it offered free daily home learning videos for every year group. That legacy continued, and the resources remain some of the most parent-friendly maths materials available online.

Here is how parents can make the most of White Rose Maths at home:

• Download the free workbooks: The PDFs for Years 1–6 cover all major topics and include answers. They work perfectly for weekly practice or holiday revision.

• Watch the home learning videos: The White Rose Maths YouTube channel has hundreds of short, clearly explained videos aligned to the scheme. Children can watch these independently or alongside a parent.

• Check with the class teacher: Many primary schools share their White Rose planning block with parents. Knowing which block the class is on means parents can focus home practice on exactly the right topic.

• Use White Rose Maths Infinity: This premium platform includes interactive exercises children can complete independently at home, with automatic marking and progress tracking.

For parents who also want to strengthen their child's reading confidence alongside maths, Read Theory is a well-regarded adaptive reading platform that works on a similar principle to White Rose meeting children at their current level and advancing them step by step. Many families use both tools together to cover the two most important primary school subjects at home.

White Rose Maths Worksheets: Finding and Using Them Effectively

Worksheets are the most searched-for element of White Rose Maths, particularly among parents and tutors. The term "White Rose Maths worksheets" gets tens of thousands of searches every month in the UK — and it is easy to see why. The worksheets are structured, progressive, and clearly aligned to year group expectations.

The free workbooks available from the official White Rose Education website are the most reliable source. These are updated regularly to reflect any changes to the scheme and include worked examples alongside practice questions. For parents printing at home, the PDFs download cleanly and are formatted well on A4 paper.

Some schools publish White Rose worksheets and answer sheets on their own websites, making them freely accessible to anyone. These can be excellent for additional practice, though it is worth noting that school-published versions may not always reflect the most current iteration of the scheme.

Teachers who want to track how well students are retaining White Rose content over time will find Progress Learning a particularly useful companion tool. It offers adaptive assessments and detailed progress reporting that maps well onto the White Rose small steps framework, giving teachers a clearer picture of which students are ready to move forward and which need additional consolidation.

Common Questions About White Rose Maths (FAQs)

Is White Rose Maths used in most UK primary schools?

White Rose Maths is estimated to be used in more than 75% of primary schools in England, making it the dominant mathematics scheme in the UK primary sector. Its widespread adoption is largely due to its free availability, alignment with the National Curriculum, and the strong community of teachers sharing resources and ideas around it.

Does White Rose Maths replace the textbook?

Not necessarily. White Rose Maths provides a scheme essentially a framework for sequencing and planning rather than a standalone textbook. Many schools use the scheme alongside Power Maths, a White Rose-aligned textbook series published by Pearson, or the KS3 Collins textbooks for secondary pupils. The scheme tells teachers what to teach and when; the textbooks and worksheets provide the practice material.

Can White Rose Maths be used for homeschooling?

Absolutely. Home educators across the UK regularly use White Rose Maths as their primary mathematics curriculum. The free workbooks, combined with the YouTube video lessons, provide a structured and comprehensive programme that works well without a classroom setting. Many home educators supplement with Twinkl resources or third-party worksheets to add variety.

What is the difference between White Rose Maths and Power Maths?

Power Maths is a textbook and workbook series developed in partnership with White Rose Maths and published by Pearson. While White Rose provides the overarching scheme and sequencing, Power Maths delivers the lesson-by-lesson printed material. The two are designed to be used together, and Power Maths is the most commonly used textbook in White Rose schools. It carries a cost, unlike the free scheme of learning.

Real Teacher Experience: What Using White Rose Maths Actually Looks Like in the Classroom

Having worked with primary schools in Yorkshire and Greater Manchester as a maths specialist, the author of this guide has observed White Rose Maths being implemented across dozens of classrooms. A few consistent patterns emerge.

Teachers who follow the scheme closely tend to spend more time on fewer topics — and students in those classrooms show noticeably stronger retention. In one Year 4 class observed in 2024, the teacher had spent three full weeks on the multiplication and division block. By the end, every child in the class — including those identified as having additional learning needs — could explain what division meant conceptually, not just carry out the calculation. That depth is what the small steps approach is designed to achieve.

The most common challenge teachers report is the pacing. When a school has used a different scheme previously, transitioning to White Rose can feel slow in the early stages. Some teachers feel pressure to accelerate through blocks, which undermines the mastery principle. The official guidance from White Rose Education is clear on this: it is better to teach fewer blocks deeply than to rush through the full scheme superficially.

Many teachers also pair the White Rose scheme with gamified review tools to keep students engaged between lessons. Blooket is one of the most widely used among primary and lower secondary teachers its game-based question sets can be customised to mirror White Rose vocabulary and topic sequences, making it an effective low-stakes retrieval tool that students genuinely enjoy.

Tips for Getting the Most Out of White Rose Maths in 2026

• Start each block by reviewing the small steps: The small steps document for each block tells you exactly what students should be able to do. Use it to identify where children are, not just to plan what to teach next.

• Use the reasoning questions: White Rose worksheets include "Reasoning" and "Problem Solving" questions at the end of each set. These are often skipped under time pressure, but they are where the deepest learning happens.

• Combine with retrieval practice: White Rose Maths works best when paired with regular retrieval activities. Short daily starters revisiting previous topics help cement learning from earlier blocks.

• Don't skip the representations: Bar models, ten frames, and number lines are not just for younger students. Using visual representations right through to Year 6 and beyond strengthens understanding significantly.

• Link to SATs preparation thoughtfully: For Year 6, the White Rose blocks are sequenced with SATs timing in mind. Following the scheme without heavy supplementation means children are well prepared without "teaching to the test" in a way that undermines understanding.

For teachers who also want to track broader student learning and engagement across subjects, StudyFetch is an AI-powered learning platform worth exploring. It helps students create personalised study plans and practice materials — a useful complement to the structured White Rose approach, particularly for older primary and secondary students who benefit from more autonomous study habits.

Final Thoughts

White Rose Maths has genuinely changed the landscape of primary mathematics education in the UK. By making high-quality, research-backed materials freely available, it has given every school regardless of budget the tools to teach maths well. Whether someone is a teacher planning lessons, a parent helping at the kitchen table, or a student looking for extra practice, White Rose Maths has something genuinely useful to offer.

The key is to use it with intention. Follow the small steps, prioritise deep understanding over speed, and do not underestimate the power of reasoning questions. Done well, the White Rose approach does not just help children pass tests it helps them actually understand and enjoy mathematics.