Why do we teach times tables in primary school?

Although all primary aged children will now complete the Year Four multiplication check when they reach the summer term in that year, this is not the reason why we want children to know their times tables. 

Knowing your times tables makes many other areas of maths easier to grasp and helps children to feel confident when tackling new concepts. If we can help children to transition times tables facts into their long term memory, this will free up their working memory, allowing them to tackle more complex problems. Multiplication and decision feature very highly in the KS2 SATs papers. Pupils will find the three maths tests they complete as part of their KS2 SATs a lot easier if they know their times tables. 

Counting in 2s, 5s and 10s starts early on in primary school and each year, the children build on their knowledge of the times tables, going up to and including the 12 times table. Practicing their tables happens regularly in school but it is another area that parents can help with at home. The main purpose of this page of our school website is to provide families with the tools they need to help our pupils strengthen their knowledge of the times tables. 

There are lots of free online games to help children practice their times tables. These are some of our favourites: 

A common method we use in school to help children learn a new times table is the metre stick method. The video below demonstrates this for the 3 times table.