24 th January 2014
Every child has now had a Mental Arithmetic book for a few weeks now. They have been very good at completing their task each week. Please ensure that your child has an opportunity to work on these at home.
Your child should spend NO MORE than 30 minutes a week on their maths home learning. This could be broken into blocks of 10 minutes or undertaken in one go. There is no expectation that your child will be able to complete all three sections in 30 minutes, although some will be able to.
The aims of the books are:
 to increase parental involvement in their child's mathematics, and to become more familiar with the types of language and numbers that we work with in school.
 to allow children the opportunity to rehearse and practice skills learnt in class
 to introduce some new concepts for the children to have a go at before they are taught in class.
Every parent has had the opportunity to talk to their child's maths teacher this week. We asked for feedback about the new Mental Arithmetic books and found that the overwhelming majority of parents were positive about them. One of the main comments was that the children aren't able to understand the mathematical language used in the questions. As a school, this is something that the teachers are aware of, and are spending more time teaching mathematical vocabulary in class.
All children sat an entry test to find out which level book to begin on.
 The First Mental Arithmetic series are aimed at KS1
 Book 1 is aimed at Year 3
 Book 2 is aimed at Year 4
 Book 3 is aimed at Year 5
 Book 4 is aimed at Year 6
 Books 5 and 6 are aimed towards KS3 pupils.
If your child has started on a book which is aimed at higher than their Year group, then there will be concepts that have not been taught in class. We would like the children to read the questions in this case, and have a go at any they think they can tackle. If they don't understand, then the teachers can talk through with the child when the books are being marked.
The books are marked every week. Please check with your child's teacher to find out which day they need to hand it in. Most classes will mark their own homework. It is beneficial for the child to have their own work in front of them when the answers are being explained, in order to move their own learning forwards.
The school spent a large amount of money on these books, and we consider them to be an important element of our maths teaching and learning, so please encourage your child to take care of them. Any lost books will need to be replaced. Please see Mr Wilkinson if your child has lost their book.
We hope that the children are enjoying using these books. If your child is becoming anxious or worried about their home learning, please come and see their maths teacher as soon as possible so that we can help out.