Times Tables are at the heart of mental arithmetic, which in itself helps form the basis of a child’s understanding and ability when working with numbers. Once the children have learnt the times tables and related divisions by heart, they are able to work far more confidently – and efficiently – through a wide range of more advanced calculations.

At Youlgrave, All-Saints' Primary School, we believe that through a variety of interactive, visual, engaging and rote learning techniques, most children can achieve the full times tables knowledge required by the end of Year 4.  

It is therefore important that we approach the teaching and testing of times tables in a similar and progressive format from Year 2 to Year 6. 

According to the National Curriculum 2014 the expectation of times tables in each Year Group is as follows:

Year 2: 2x, 5x, 10x

Year 3: 3x, 4x, 8x

Year 4: 6x, 7x, 9x, 11x, 12x

Year 5: All x and ÷ facts (12x12)

Year 6: All x and ÷ facts (12x12) and related language/symbols e.g. % and square root

There is now a new Statutory Multiplication Times Table Check (MTC) administered to Year 4 which will take place in the Summer term.  The test is completed in school electronically , where any times table fact up to 12 x 12 is generated randomly. During the test children are required to mentally recall the multiplication fact and type in the answer with in a 6 second timeframe.  The check takes no longer then 5 mins to answer 25 questions.