Times tables check trials to begin in schools

A select number of schools across the country will start trialling the multiplication tables check from next month.

The multiplication tables check is designed to help ensure children in primary school know their times tables up to 12 off by heart.

In the primary assessment consultation run by the government last year, the majority of the sector said that Year 4 would be the best point to run a check on progress being made.

The check follows the successful introduction of the phonics screening check-in 2012. There are now 154,000 more six-year-olds on track to become fluent readers than in 2012 and England’s recent rise up the international PIRLS rankings puts the success of the government’s reforms on a global scale.

School Standards Minister Nick Gibb said: “Just as the phonics screening check helps children who are learning to read, the multiplication tables check will help teachers identify those pupils who require extra support.

“This will ensure that all pupils leave primary school knowing their times tables by heart and able to start secondary school with a secure grasp of fundamental arithmetic as a foundation for mathematics.”

The new on-screen check will last no longer than five minutes and is similar to the checks many schools use already.

It will enable teachers to monitor a child’s progress in a consistent and reliable way but has been carefully designed to avoid causing additional stress for children and teachers.

It will be sat by 8 and 9-year-olds in Year 4, after teachers and schools told the government this was the best point for it to be introduced.

Results from the check will not be published at school-level, and will not be used by Ofsted and others to force changes in schools.