Learning is something that goes on all the time. For children, learning happens at home, at school, with friends, with teachers and with you the child's parents.

The SATs tests are 'snapshot' tests of what your child has learned in school over two or more years. To help your child prepare for the SATs you need to support the work done in school on a regular basis. 'A little help and often' is the best way to help your child at home.

Key Points

1. Make learning at home interesting and fun. Everyone learns better when he or she is happy.
2. Talk to your child about what they have done in school so you have a starting point.
3. When you are helping your child with a maths question, ask your child how he or she would work it out. Remember that they may have been shown a different method to the one you are used to. If you are unsure, ask the school about the methods they use, and use the same at home. If you try to teach your child another way, it may just confuse them.
4. Resist giving your child the answer. Encourage them to think through the problem with you so that they can tackle the same problems themselves in the future.
5. Work in short spells. 20 minutes on one activity is a good average to aim for. Checking tables, or doing some simple mental maths may take less time. It's not necessary to do something every night, but 'a little and often', especially when children are learning something new, is usually the best option.
6. Concentrate on one area at a time. The exercises on this site are designed to help you with this.
7. Use computers, CD-ROMs, games, calculators or other resources that can help. These all add to the fun of learning.
8. Record some of the Maths education programmes shown on the TV during the day and watch these with your children as a starting point for a discussion.

The Exercises

The questions are graded so that the easiest questions are first. Remember this Key Stage covers four school years so you should not expect your child to be able to tackle all the questions if they are in Years 3 or 4.

Print out the questions to use away from the computer.

Go to the Exercises

The Answers

Go to the Exercises

Resources

Useful items of equipment include: A calculator, dice, plastic cubes or counters, pencils, paper, squared paper

Books

Maths Games at Home and School - Pub Beam

Longmans Test Practice Kits For KS2 Maths - Pub. Longmans

Maths - What's It All About? - Pub. Nape

Children and Computers - Pub. NAPE

Helping Children at Home - Pub. NAPE

CD-ROMs

SATs Tests: Maths - Europress

Suppliers and Publishers

BEAM
Barnsbury Complex, Offord Road, London N1 1QH
Tel. 0171457 5535

EARLY LEARNING CENTRE
(Look in yellow pages for local store)

NAPE
Queens Building, Barrack Road, Northampton, NN2 6AF
Tel: 01604 36326, Fax: 01604 36328

LONGMANS
Web site http://www.awl-he.com/studyguides/
Check out the Parents Page for advice and info about Test Kits.

Web Links

The BBC Learning Station
http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/schools/
This is a service for children, teachers and parents at school and at home.

Maths at Home
http://www.ed.gov/pubs/parents/Math/
Ideas for helping your child learn Maths from the US Department of Education. Activities include 'Maths in the Home, 'Mathland' and 'Maths on the Go'.

Cornerstone
http://intergate.cccoe.k12.ca.us/corner/sum_math.htm
From Cornerstone Family School, a page for parents with ideas and activities available for home use that incorporate mathematics into everyday routines.

NAPE
http://www.nape.org.uk/
NAPE is an association that promotes a partnership between parents, teachers, school governors, inspectors, education officers and entire school communities. It produces a range of information books and advice for parents.

You will find other Web Links on Learning Exchange at BTHomeCampus