So primary testing is to change yet again.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-4127474

Like many educators, I welcome the removal of KS1 SATs, which seem to take more time and energy than is justified by the perceived benefits. Good teachers know their classes and want the children to succeed. Teaching is a tough job and one of the main rewards is seeing your students thrive. It’s also not the most lucrative job ever – the pay’s not bad but when you work out the number of hours most teachers put in, the hourly rate isn’t great – and the teacher’s pay rise is performance related, so your child’s success is their pay rise. So a happy farewell to KS1 SATs from me.

Baseline assessments seem common sense to me – assuming they aren’t too prescriptive. One of my own children fail to tick the correct box because when he was asked to sort toy furniture into a set he decided to make the set of ‘our furniture at home’, rather than the expected sets of colour or size.

Times tables. Now here’s the one that will drive everyone demented. Times tables are a key skill and one that many children seem to pick up quickly.

Then forget instantly

There are lots of excellent ways to keep on top of times tables practice. My personal favourite is: https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button a super little game that allows the children to compete against themselves …or you, if you are brave enough. It has the facility to practice an individual table, to consolidate learning with mixed tables and to practice the inverse division facts. It’s great for number bonds too. There are also lots of fab videos on You Tube – my last class loved Mr R’s videos. Another favourite of mine is getting the children to create their own times tables board games; they often come up with really creative ideas and, because they made they game, they are usually keen to play it. Other ideas include getting them to set the tables to the tune of their favourite Bruno Mars or Little Mix track or making up a times tables dance.

As my last class use to sing ‘We’re all about the maths….’