KS1 maths: a parent's guide to Years 1 and 2

What is KS1 maths?

Key stage 1 (KS1) is the name for Years 1 and 2 of primary school in England, and KS1 maths is the part of the national curriculum taught in those two years. The curriculum says the main aim is for children to become confident and quick with whole numbers, counting and place value. They work with numbers written as numerals and as words, and with adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing, using real objects like counters, cubes and measuring tools.

Children also learn to recognise, describe, draw, compare and sort shapes, and to use measures for length, weight, capacity, time and money. By the end of Year 2, the curriculum says children should know the number bonds to 20 and be precise about place value. It also says that plenty of practice at this stage helps children become fluent.

What's in the KS1 maths curriculum?

Here's how each area of the maths national curriculum for KS1 grows from Year 1 to Year 2, in plain words. Schools choose the order and the pace.

Area	Year 1	Year 2
Counting and place value	Count to 100 forwards and backwards, find one more and one less, read and write numbers to 20 in words	Tens and ones in two-digit numbers, compare numbers to 100 with <, > and =, count in 2s, 3s, 5s and 10s
Adding and subtracting	Number bonds and subtraction facts within 20, adding and subtracting up to 20	Facts to 20 learned well, adding and subtracting two-digit numbers in their heads, checking with the inverse
Multiplying and dividing	Grouping and sharing objects, arrays, counting in 2s, 5s and 10s	The 2, 5 and 10 times tables and their division facts, odd and even numbers, the × and ÷ signs
Fractions	Halves and quarters of shapes, objects and amounts	Thirds, quarters, two quarters and three quarters; a half of 6 is 3
Measures, money and time	Compare lengths, weights, capacity and time; coins and notes; o'clock and half past	Measure in cm, m, g, kg, ml, litres and °C; £ and p and giving change; time to five minutes
Shapes	Name common 2-D and 3-D shapes	Sides, faces, edges and vertices, and vertical lines of symmetry
Position and direction	Whole, half, quarter and three-quarter turns	Turns as right angles, clockwise and anticlockwise, patterns and sequences
Statistics	Not in Year 1	Pictograms, tally charts, block diagrams and simple tables

How the Year 1 and Year 2 guides fit

Each year has its own guide that goes through the curriculum strand by strand, with what matters most by the summer, the maths words for that year, questions to try with answers, and ideas for home:

• Year 1 maths: counting to 100, number bonds within 10 and 20, halves and quarters, and o'clock and half past.
• Year 2 maths: tens and ones, adding and subtracting two-digit numbers, the 2, 5 and 10 times tables, and thirds and quarters.

After KS1, children move on to KS2 maths, starting with Year 3 maths. The links further down this page list every guide on this site for Years 1 and 2.

KS1 maths SATs and other assessments

The KS1 maths SATs are now optional: schools can choose whether to use the tests at the end of Year 2. The tests and teacher assessments at the end of KS1 used to be compulsory, but they became optional from the 2023 to 2024 school year. The recommended time to run them is during May, so for this school year that means May 2027.

There are two maths papers: Paper 1 is arithmetic and Paper 2 is reasoning. They aren't strictly timed. Schools use them, alongside everyday class work, to see where children need more support as they move into key stage 2. Your child's school decides whether to share the results with you, and how. There is no national maths test in Year 1.

The government says assessment arrangements for the 2026 to 2027 school year are unchanged, while future arrangements are reviewed. The papers from earlier years, with mark schemes, are published on GOV.UK, for example the 2026 key stage 1 mathematics test materials.

The next national maths assessment is the multiplication tables check in June of Year 4. You can find out more on our tables check practice page.

How to help with KS1 maths at home

• Count everything. Count stairs, toys and steps, forwards and backwards, and sometimes start from a number other than 1.
• Play with number bonds. Hide some of 10 objects under a cup and ask how many are hidden. Then try it with 20.
• Practise the first times tables. The 2 times table, 5 times table and 10 times table pages each have the facts and an interactive practice round. Our guide on how to learn times tables explains the order.
• Ask how they worked it out. Explaining out loud helps it stick, and shows you the methods your child's school uses. It's worth sticking to those rather than teaching a different way.
• Use money, clocks and the kitchen. Paying with coins, reading the time and weighing ingredients are all KS1 maths.
• Spot shapes and share fairly. Look for cubes, cylinders and spheres, and split snacks into halves and quarters.

See all our maths guides, from Year 1 to GCSE