Professor Green need not worry about the state of maths education at secondary level. The National STEM Centre for science, technology, engineering and maths at York University has archived several exciting secondary maths schemes, including SMILE (Secondary Mathematics Inclusive Learning Experience) - activities built up in the Inner London Education Authority (ILEA) from 1972 when teachers had the freedom to do their own thing.

SMILE was so popular at North Westminster Community School in the 1970s and ‘80s that pupils who had bunked off school would slip in just for the maths lesson.

Rachel Gibbons, Retired ILEA inspector, Hove.