Maths Practice at Home, Year 1 to Year 6: A Guide for UK Parents

Primary maths in England follows the National Curriculum, and each year builds on the last. A little practice at home, little and often, makes a real difference, especially before the two big checkpoints.

What each year covers

• Years 1 and 2: counting, place value to 100, adding and subtracting, halves and quarters, telling the time and simple money.
• Years 3 and 4: numbers to 10,000, column addition and subtraction, all the times tables to 12 × 12, fractions and decimals, area and perimeter.
• Years 5 and 6: numbers to ten million, long multiplication and division, fractions, decimals and percentages, ratio, simple algebra and statistics.

The two checkpoints

• Year 4 multiplication tables check. A short on-screen check of the times tables up to 12 × 12. Five minutes of times tables practice a day in Years 3 and 4 is the best preparation.
• Year 6 SATs. Arithmetic and reasoning papers at the end of Key Stage 2. Word problems and fractions are where most marks are lost.

Ten minutes a day

1. Find the level with the free placement check.
2. Practise one skill in your child’s year on maths practice for the UK, with UK year names, pounds and pence, and UK spelling.
3. Read one short passage from reading for the UK twice a week; reasoning questions are reading questions too.

Every skill is scored from 0 to 100 and explains each miss, and My progress shows what has been mastered.