England · Key Stage 1 · Ages 5–7

Key Stage 1 maths:
two years, and one idea
that has to stick

A parent's map of Key Stage 1 maths in England — what Years 1 and 2 each cover, why number bonds and place value carry more weight than everything else put together, and what the optional end-of-key-stage tests are now.

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The short answer

What is Key Stage 1 maths?

Key Stage 1 is Years 1 and 2 in England — ages 5 to 7, the first two years of the national curriculum. Reception comes before it and follows the early years foundation stage framework instead, which is why Reception is not part of this key stage.

The curriculum states the focus plainly: key stage 1 is about developing confidence and mental fluency with whole numbers, counting and place value, working with numerals, words and the four operations, including with practical resources. And it names the finish line — by the end of Year 2, pupils should know the number bonds to 20 and be precise in using and understanding place value.

That is the whole key stage in one sentence, and it is worth taking literally. Most of what we are called in for in Years 3 to 6 traces back to one of those two things not being automatic.

There is no statutory maths test in either year. The phonics screening check in Year 1 is about reading. The end-of-key-stage-1 tests became optional in the 2023 to 2024 school year, so whether your child sits them is the school's decision.

Source: the national curriculum mathematics programmes of study, published by the Department for Education.

Year by year

What each year of Key Stage 1 maths covers

The headline content of each year, and the one thing from it that later years assume.

Year 1 (ages 5–6)

Counting to 100 and back from any number, number bonds within 20, and the first fractions, measures and shapes.

  • Count to and across 100 forwards and backwards; count in 2s, 5s and 10s; read and write numbers to 100, and to 20 in words
  • Number bonds and related subtraction facts within 20; add and subtract to 20; missing-number problems
  • Grouping and sharing with objects and arrays — no times tables yet
  • Halves and quarters of an object, shape or quantity
  • Compare lengths, mass and capacity; recognise coins and notes; tell the time to the hour and half past
  • Name common 2-D and 3-D shapes; describe whole, half, quarter and three-quarter turns
The thing that comes back

Number bonds within 20.

Not a Year 1 topic that ends in Year 1. Column addition, mental methods and every later fluency question stand on it.

Where it usually goes wrong Counting on from one rather than from the larger number. It works at five and it does not scale, so it is worth noticing early. Our Year 1 maths page covers the year in full.

Year 2 (ages 6–7)

Two-digit numbers as tens and ones, facts to 20 by recall, and the first times tables and charts.

  • Place value in two-digit numbers; compare and order to 100 using <, > and =; count in 2s, 3s, 5s and tens
  • Recall addition and subtraction facts to 20 fluently and derive related facts to 100; the inverse relationship
  • The 2, 5 and 10 times tables and their division facts; commutativity
  • Thirds, quarters and three quarters, and the first equivalence: 2/4 = ½
  • Standard units for length, mass, temperature and capacity; money and change; time to five minutes
  • Shape properties, symmetry, and 2-D shapes on the surface of 3-D shapes
  • Pictograms, tally charts, block diagrams and tables
The thing that comes back

Place value: 47 is four tens and seven ones.

Every column method in key stage 2 is this idea, extended. A child who reads 47 as "four, seven" will find Year 3 hard.

Where it usually goes wrong Times tables recited in order but not known out of order. Our Year 2 maths page covers the year in full, including the optional tests.

Content from the national curriculum programmes of study for Years 1 and 2 (Department for Education). The "thing that comes back" notes are ours, from teaching the later years.

Assessment

What is actually assessed in Key Stage 1

Less than most parents expect, and none of it in the way people remember.

AssessmentYearWhat it is
Reception baseline assessmentReception, before the key stage beginsA short, statutory activity-based check in the first weeks of school, covering early maths and literacy. It is used to measure the school's progress from Reception to Year 6 — not reported to parents as a score.
Phonics screening checkYear 1Statutory, in June. Reading words aloud, not maths. Children who do not meet the standard take it again in Year 2.
End-of-key-stage-1 testsYear 2Optional since the 2023 to 2024 school year. Maths papers are arithmetic and reasoning, usually in May. The school decides whether to use them and whether to share results.
Teacher assessmentYear 2Also optional since the 2023 to 2024 school year, though schools are encouraged to keep using the frameworks. Your child's teacher's judgement is the thing worth asking about at parents' evening.
Multiplication tables checkYear 4The next statutory maths assessment after key stage 1 — two years later.

Assessment details from the Standards and Testing Agency. Because the key stage 1 tests are optional, results are no longer collected nationally.

The one thing

Why number bonds and place value matter more than the rest

Key stage 1 looks like a long list of topics — shapes, money, time, charts, fractions. It is not. Two ideas do most of the work, and the rest is context.

Number bonds. Knowing, without counting, that 7 and 3 make 10 and that 9 and 7 make 16. In Year 3 a child adds 348 and 276 in columns; every single step of that is a bond within 20. A child who has to count each one will be slow, will lose their place, and will look like they cannot do column addition when the problem is somewhere else entirely.

Place value. Knowing that in 47 the 4 means four tens. That is the same idea as knowing the 4 in 4,700 means four thousands, and the 4 in 0.47 means four tenths. Nearly every decimals misconception we meet in Year 5 is this idea, unfinished.

If you do one thing across these two years, make those two automatic and comfortable. Everything else in key stage 1 — the coins, the clocks, the pictograms — is worth doing, and none of it carries the same weight.

Signs worth noticing

When a Key Stage 1 wobble is worth attention

Almost everything at five and six is normal variation. These are the few things we would look at rather than wait out.

Things that are usually fine

Parents worry about these and they resolve with time far more often than not.

  • Counting on fingers
  • Reversing digits when writing numbers — a 2 or a 5 the wrong way round
  • Being slower than a classmate whose birthday is ten months earlier
  • Finding time and money harder than counting
  • Not liking maths this week
What to do

Nothing, mostly. Keep it light and keep talking about numbers.

Five- and six-year-olds develop unevenly, and a gap in September is often gone by June.

Where it usually goes wrong The risk at this age is over-correcting. A child pushed hard on maths at six can learn that maths is where they get things wrong.

Things worth acting on

Not emergencies, but worth a conversation with the class teacher rather than another term of waiting.

  • Still counting from one for every calculation by the end of Year 1
  • Reading two-digit numbers as separate digits well into Year 2
  • Facts to 20 still being worked out, not recalled, in the summer of Year 2
  • Real distress about maths — tears, avoidance, "I'm rubbish at it"
  • A child who has fallen behind after a house move, a long absence, or a change of curriculum
What to do

Ask the class teacher what they are seeing and what the school is doing.

Start there. School support is free, already in place, and sees your child every day.

Where it usually goes wrong The last item on the list — distress — is the one we would act on fastest, whatever the maths is doing. Maths anxiety that sets in this early tends to be hard to shift, and we would rather look at it at six than at eleven.

At home

How to support Key Stage 1 maths without a worksheet

Two years of useful habits, all of them short.

How we help

How ClassArc teaches Key Stage 1

Live one-to-one classes, taught to the England national curriculum — for the children who need more than school and home can give.

We say when it is not needed

Most five- and six-year-olds do not need weekly tutoring. After the free class we tell you what we found, including when the answer is that school has it in hand.

The two things first

Number bonds and place value, until both are automatic. Everything else in the key stage is taught around them, not instead of them.

Objects, pictures, then symbols

Everything is built or drawn on the shared worksheet before it is written as a number sentence — at this age that sequence is the teaching.

Short bursts inside the class

The class is built in short segments rather than one long stretch, and the teacher changes what is happening as soon as focus slips.

The same teacher every week

Young children work better for an adult they know. Keeping the same teacher takes the settling-in out of every class.

Built for Year 3, not for a test

The optional tests are not something we prepare children for. The work is the fluency that key stage 2's written methods will assume.

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Go deeper

The year your child is in

Each year page covers every topic, what is new, where children get stuck, and how to help at home.

Year 1 maths

Counting to 100, number bonds within 20, halves and quarters, first shapes and measures.

Year 1 in full

Year 2 maths

Tens and ones, facts to 20 by recall, the 2, 5 and 10 times tables, and the optional KS1 tests.

Year 2 in full

Key Stage 2 maths

What happens next: Years 3 to 6, the times tables check, and the SATs at the end of Year 6.

After Key Stage 1

Key Stage 1 maths questions

What years are Key Stage 1?
Years 1 and 2 in England, ages 5 to 7. Reception comes before it and follows the early years foundation stage framework rather than the national curriculum.
What maths is taught in Key Stage 1?
Counting and place value to 100; addition and subtraction, including number bonds within 20 and recall of facts to 20; multiplication and division through grouping, sharing and the 2, 5 and 10 times tables; halves, quarters and thirds; measurement including length, mass, capacity, money and time; shape, position and direction; and, in Year 2, simple charts and tables.
What should a child know by the end of Key Stage 1?
The curriculum's own answer: by the end of Year 2 pupils should know the number bonds to 20 and be precise in using and understanding place value. In practice that means recalling facts to 20 without counting, reading a two-digit number as tens and ones, knowing the 2, 5 and 10 times tables, and being able to talk about how they worked something out.
Are there SATs in Key Stage 1?
Not compulsory ones. The end-of-key-stage-1 tests became optional in the 2023 to 2024 school year. Schools may still use them, usually in May, and each school decides whether and how to share results. The only statutory assessment in the key stage is the Year 1 phonics screening check, which is about reading rather than maths.
What is the Reception baseline assessment?
A short, statutory, activity-based assessment taken in the first few weeks of Reception, covering early maths and early literacy, communication and language. It is used as the starting point for measuring the school's progress from Reception to the end of Year 6. It is not a test to prepare for and parents are not given a score — though the school receives a short set of statements about your child and must provide them if you ask.
My child is behind in Key Stage 1 maths. Should I worry?
Usually not yet. Children develop unevenly at five and six, and a summer-born child can be almost a year younger than a classmate in the same year group. What is worth acting on is a child still counting from one for every calculation at the end of Year 1, reading two-digit numbers as separate digits in Year 2, or showing real distress about maths. Start with the class teacher.
Does a Key Stage 1 child need a maths tutor?
Most do not. Tutoring is worth considering when the school has identified a need it cannot meet, when a child has moved between curricula or missed a lot of school, or when a young child has already decided they are bad at maths. The free first class is a low-cost way to find out, and we would rather tell you it is unnecessary than take the booking.
How can I help with Key Stage 1 maths at home?
Talk about numbers during the day, play hiding games with number bonds, keep an analogue clock visible, let your child handle money and give change, say "tens and ones" out loud, cut food into equal parts, and ask how they know. Short and frequent, and never at the end of a long day.
What does ClassArc cost in Key Stage 1?
Years 1 and 2 sit in our Years 1–8 band, from £11 per 55-minute one-to-one class on the largest plan. Nothing is charged for joining or for materials. Full details are on the UK pricing page.
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