Maths by Year Group in England: What Children Learn from Year 1 to Year 13

If your child's school talks about "Year 5", "Key Stage 3" or "the Year 6 SATs" and you are not sure what that means for maths, this page sets it out year by year. It follows the national curriculum for England. Academies and private schools do not have to follow it, though academies must still teach a broad and balanced curriculum that includes maths.

Use the table to see what your child should be working on now, and the sections below for the tests that come up along the way and what to do if something looks shaky.

Maths in each school year at a glance

Years 1 and 2 (Key Stage 1): number sense

The first two years are about counting, place value and number facts. By the end of Year 2, children are expected to recall addition and subtraction facts to 20 fluently and to know the 2, 5 and 10 times tables. Fractions start early: a half and a quarter in Year 1, then thirds and three quarters in Year 2.

There is no national maths test in Key Stage 1 that every school must use. The Year 2 tests are optional, so the best guide to how your child is doing is the teacher's report and how confidently they handle number facts at home.

Years 3 to 6 (Key Stage 2): times tables, fractions and the SATs

Key Stage 2 is where gaps tend to open. Times tables build up through Year 3 until children are expected to recall all of them up to 12 × 12 by the end of Year 4, which is when the multiplication tables check takes place. Written methods, decimals and fractions then carry most of Years 5 and 6, and Year 6 adds ratio, algebra and the mean.

In May of Year 6, children sit the Key Stage 2 SATs: an arithmetic paper and two reasoning papers. Our KS2 SATs dates page has the 2027 timetable, and KS2 maths tutoring shows how one-to-one lessons work at this stage.

Years 7 to 9 (Key Stage 3): the step up to secondary

Secondary school maths moves faster and expects more independence. Key Stage 3 covers number, algebra, ratio and proportion, geometry and measures, probability and statistics, with formal algebra, graphs and geometric constructions introduced. The curriculum sets this as one programme for Years 7 to 9, so two schools can teach topics in a different order.

There is no national test in Key Stage 3, which means a slipping child can go unnoticed until GCSE sets begin. If fractions, negative numbers or times tables were shaky at primary school, Year 7 or 8 is the time to fix them. See KS3 maths tutoring for how we approach it.

Years 10 and 11 (Key Stage 4): GCSE Maths

Most students sit GCSE Maths at the end of Year 11. It has a Foundation tier, covering grades 1 to 5, and a Higher tier, covering grades 4 to 9. Our GCSE Maths guide for parents explains the papers, tiers and grades, and GCSE maths tutoring shows how one-to-one GCSE lessons work.

Years 12 and 13: A-level Maths, or GCSE again

In England, young people must stay in education or training until 18. Students who choose A-level Maths study pure maths, statistics and mechanics, with exams at the end of Year 13. Students in sixth form or college who did not reach grade 4 at GCSE must keep studying maths: in 2026 to 2027, full-time students with a grade 3 study towards GCSE maths again. A-level maths tutoring shows how one-to-one lessons work at this level.

UK years and US grades

Families moving between systems, or using American resources, often ask how the years line up. As a rough guide, the US grade is one lower than the English year:

This guide covers England. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland set their own curricula, and Scotland and Northern Ireland number school years differently.

How to tell if your child is behind

• Check the earlier year, not this one. Maths difficulty often comes from a gap one or two years back. A Year 6 child who struggles with fractions often never secured the Year 3 and 4 times tables.
• Use the times tables test at home. Ask ten mixed questions up to 12 × 12. Hesitation of more than a few seconds on most of them is worth acting on at any age from Year 5 up.
• Ask the teacher a specific question. "Which topics is she below the expected standard in?" gets a more useful answer than "how is she doing?"

TaleemSquare teaches one-to-one maths online for Years 1 to 13, following the national curriculum, from £69 a month for two 45-minute lessons a week. Every student starts with a free assessment that works back through earlier years to find where understanding stops. If you are comparing options, our UK maths tutor price guide sets out typical 2026 rates.