It can be particularly difficult to know how to support your child with maths at home. Please find below information to help you develop your child's maths skills at home, which will help them in school and with everyday life.

1. Start with a positive mindset

- try and use positive language about maths around your children. Be as patient as possible and let them know that it is ok to make mistakes.

2. Use maths talk everyday
- whenever you have the opportunity, try to use maths talk in everyday language. Reinforcing counting skills and practising mental arithmetic skills are two areas which can easily be included in conversation. For example, when setting the dinner table ask how many more forks you might need to finish setting the table.

3. Play maths games together

- many games use mathematical and logical skills that your children will need in later life. Even a jigsaw puzzle helps children to develop logical and spatial awareness skills. Board games with dice develop children’s counting skills. Other games that may help develop your child’s maths skills are darts, scrabble, and chess.

4. Learn their maths methods

- You can also support your child’s learning by getting to grips with the maths they learn, like the grid method and bar modelling. This helps to ensure continuity between the methods the children are practising at school and at home. At Oak Tree, our calculation policy is in line with White Rose Maths. Use the link below to access the White Rose booklets or ask your child's teacher about our Calculation Policy. 

5. Practise reading the time

As we move into the digital, many children are growing up not reading analogue clocks. Helping them read clocks in the home, or ones you may walk past on the street, will help them to tell the time in analogue and digital form.