What Does Maths Look Like in Year 1?

Year 1 can feel like quite a change from Reception — for parents as well as children! Worksheets may start coming home, the language can sound more formal, and you might come across methods or maths terms that you don’t remember from your own school days.

It can be easy to think that helping means practising more sums or making sure your child gets the right answer. But there’s a lot more going on underneath. Your child is learning how numbers fit together, noticing patterns and connections, explaining their ideas and beginning to work things out in different ways.

And home can be a lovely place for that understanding to grow. A game, a question, a moment of wondering together or simply giving your child time to work something out can all help them see maths in a different way.

What Your Child Is Beginning to Explore

In Year 1, you’ll probably start to notice your child doing more recognisable “school maths” — working with bigger numbers, addition and subtraction, grouping and sharing, money, time, measurement and shapes.

But what they’re learning goes beyond being able to complete a sum or remember a fact. For example, your child might know that 10 + 10 = 20, but when they can also see 20 as 10 + 5 + 5, or as double 10, they’re beginning to understand how numbers fit together — and that deeper understanding is what really matters.

Throughout Year 1, your child will be exploring:

  • Number & Place Value

    Getting to know numbers and how they fit together.

  • Addition & Subtraction

    Combining, taking away and finding different ways to work things out.

  • Multiplication, Division & Fractions

    Beginning to explore grouping, sharing, halves and quarters.

  • Measurement

    Exploring length, weight, capacity, money and time.

  • Geometry

    Getting to know shapes, position, direction and movement.

Feel Confident Supporting Your Child's Maths

Make sense of what your child is beginning to explore, why it matters and how their understanding develops, with practical guidance and plenty of simple ideas to enjoy together through play and everyday life.

Download your FREE Year 1 maths guide

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