Supporting Your Child In Maths

We all use maths every day, often without realising it. We believe that every child can develop the numeracy skills they will need, both at school and throughout their lives. Helping your child feel confident about maths now gives them a head start.

"Parental involvement has a large and positive impact on children's learning"

Review of Best Practice in Parental Engagement" (Department for Education, 2010)

"The effect of parental involvement at home was stronger than that of either socio-economic status or parents' level of education"

The impact of parental involvement, parental support and family education on pupil achievement and adjustment (Desforges and Abouchaar, 2003)

Top tips:

• Talk positively about maths. Children learn from example, so avoid saying things like “I can’t do maths” or “I hated maths at school.” It’s easy for children to take that on board themselves. Keeping things positive is more likely to help children develop confidence with maths.
• Point out the maths in everyday life. Maths is all around us – it’s not just something that happens in school! Showing children the numbers in things like cooking, using money and travelling is a simple way to bring maths to life. This will help children see the value of learning maths.
• Praise children for effort rather than talent. Giving children praise is important, but the type of praise we use can have an impact on how they feel about maths. Praising children for the hard work they’ve put in, or for working out the steps to get to an answer, is more helpful than simply telling them they’re clever. It helps them see that it’s not about natural ability – but that by working hard they can always improve.
• Asking your child to explain their method – get them to teach it to you.
• Explaining that with maths there is often more than one way to solve a problem. Show each other how you do it – and remember, neither of you are wrong!

• Whatever the method, remember that being positive about maths is just as important in supporting your child’s learning! Make sure you talk positively about maths and how you use it in real life – this will help your child stick with it.