Year 1 Maths: What Your Child Should Know by the End of the Year

Starting school is a milestone for every family, and Year 1 marks the beginning of a more structured approach to mathematics. If you are a parent wondering exactly what your child is expected to learn during this important year, you are not alone. The England National Curriculum sets out clear expectations for mathematics at every year group, and understanding these can help you support your child's learning at home with confidence.

In this guide, we will walk through every major area of the Year 1 maths curriculum. We will explain what the National Curriculum expects, give practical examples of the kinds of questions your child might encounter, and suggest ways you can help at home. Whether your child is thriving or finding maths a challenge, knowing what to expect will put you in the best possible position to help.

Number and Place Value

Number and place value is the foundation of everything else in primary mathematics. In Year 1, children are expected to count reliably to and across 100, both forwards and backwards, starting from any given number. They should be able to count in multiples of twos, fives, and tens. This means your child should be comfortable reciting sequences such as 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 or 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 by the end of the year.

Children also learn to read and write numbers to 100 in both numerals and words. For example, they should be able to write the number 47 and know that it is made up of four tens and seven ones. This understanding of place value, knowing what each digit in a number represents, is absolutely crucial for later mathematics.

The curriculum also requires Year 1 children to identify one more and one less than any given number up to 100. This is a deceptively important skill: it underpins addition and subtraction and helps children develop a strong sense of the number line.

How Parents Can Help

Counting opportunities are everywhere in daily life. Count steps as you walk up them, count pieces of fruit in a bowl, or play games where you take turns counting on from a given number. Ask questions like "What is one more than 36?" or "Can you count backwards from 20?" during car journeys or mealtimes. You can also practise number recognition by pointing out numbers on doors, buses, and price tags while you are out and about.

Addition and Subtraction

Addition and subtraction form a major part of the Year 1 curriculum. By the end of the year, children should be able to read, write, and interpret mathematical statements involving the addition (+), subtraction (-), and equals (=) signs. They should be able to represent and use number bonds and related subtraction facts within 20.

The curriculum expects children to add and subtract one-digit and two-digit numbers to 20, including zero. This means your child should be able to work out calculations such as 7 + 5, 14 - 6, and 8 + 0 with increasing fluency. Children also learn to solve one-step problems that involve addition and subtraction, using concrete objects, pictorial representations, and missing number problems.

Number bonds are particularly important at this stage. A number bond is a pair of numbers that add together to make a specific total. For example, the number bonds for 10 are 0 + 10, 1 + 9, 2 + 8, 3 + 7, 4 + 6, and 5 + 5. Knowing these by heart gives children a powerful tool for mental arithmetic.

How Parents Can Help

Practise number bonds regularly. You can make it into a game: hold up a number of fingers and ask your child how many more are needed to make 10. Use physical objects such as building blocks or buttons to make addition and subtraction tangible. Our Year 1 Addition and Subtraction worksheets provide structured daily practice that builds fluency progressively over five weeks.

Measurement

Measurement in Year 1 covers a surprisingly wide range of skills. Children learn to compare, describe, and solve practical problems for lengths and heights (for example, long/short, longer/shorter, tall/short, double/half), mass and weight (for example, heavy/light, heavier than, lighter than), capacity and volume (for example, full/empty, more than, less than, half full, quarter full), and time (for example, quicker, slower, earlier, later).

Children also learn to measure and begin to record lengths and heights, mass and weight, and capacity and volume. They are introduced to standard units including centimetres, metres, kilograms, and litres, though much of the early work uses non-standard units such as hand spans or cubes.

Time is another key area. By the end of Year 1, children should be able to tell the time to the hour and half past the hour, and they should be able to draw the hands on a clock face to show these times. They also learn to sequence events in chronological order and to recognise and use language relating to dates, including days of the week, weeks, months, and years.

How Parents Can Help

Measurement is one of the easiest topics to practise at home because it connects so naturally to everyday activities. Involve your child in cooking (measuring ingredients), gardening (measuring plant growth), and shopping (comparing weights of items). Talk about time throughout the day: "It is half past three, time for your snack" or "Bedtime is at seven o'clock." Our Year 1 Measurements worksheets and Telling Time worksheets provide additional structured practice.

Geometry: Properties of Shapes

In Year 1, children learn to recognise and name common two-dimensional shapes, including rectangles (and squares), circles, and triangles. They also learn to recognise and name common three-dimensional shapes, including cuboids (and cubes), pyramids, spheres, cylinders, and cones.

The curriculum does not simply require children to name shapes; it also expects them to describe properties in everyday language. For example, a child might describe a triangle as having three straight sides and three corners (vertices). This descriptive work builds the mathematical vocabulary that children will use throughout their education.

How Parents Can Help

Shape is all around us. Go on a shape hunt around your home or local area. Can your child spot rectangles in windows, circles in wheels, or cylinders in tin cans? Building with blocks and construction toys naturally develops understanding of 3D shapes. Our Year 1 Shapes worksheets provide focused practice in recognising and naming both 2D and 3D shapes.

Geometry: Position and Direction

Year 1 children learn to describe position, direction, and movement. This includes using terms such as left and right, top, middle and bottom, on top of, in front of, above, between, around, near, close and far, up and down, forwards and backwards, and inside and outside.

They also learn about whole, half, quarter, and three-quarter turns, and can describe movement in these terms. For example, "Turn a quarter turn to the right."

How Parents Can Help

Give your child directions using positional language: "Put the book on top of the table," "Stand behind the chair," or "Can you turn a half turn?" Playing games like Simon Says with directional instructions is excellent practice. Our Position and Direction worksheets offer structured activities for this topic.

Fractions

Fractions are introduced gently in Year 1. Children learn to recognise, find, and name a half as one of two equal parts of an object, shape, or quantity. They also learn to recognise, find, and name a quarter as one of four equal parts.

At this stage, the emphasis is on understanding that fractions represent equal parts. Children might fold a piece of paper in half to show two equal parts, or share 12 sweets equally between two people to find that half of 12 is 6. They use visual models extensively: shading half of a shape, circling a quarter of a group of objects, and so on.

How Parents Can Help

Use everyday situations to explore halves and quarters. Cut a sandwich into two equal halves or four equal quarters. Share items equally between two or four people. Ask questions like "Can you find half of 8 grapes?" Our Year 1 Fractions worksheets reinforce these concepts with varied visual and numerical activities.

Bringing It All Together

The Year 1 maths curriculum is broader and more demanding than many parents expect. However, the good news is that children do not need to master everything overnight. The curriculum is designed to be taught progressively throughout the year, with concepts revisited and reinforced regularly.

The most effective way to support your child is through short, regular practice. Research shows that 10 to 15 minutes of daily maths practice is far more effective than longer, less frequent sessions. This is exactly the approach our worksheets are designed around: each one takes approximately 10 to 15 minutes and covers fluency, word problems, and reasoning for a specific topic.

If your child is finding a particular area challenging, do not worry. Every child develops at their own pace, and the most important thing is to keep practice positive and encouraging. Celebrate effort as much as results, and never be afraid to revisit earlier concepts if your child needs more time to consolidate their understanding.

Browse our complete collection of Year 1 maths worksheets to find structured, curriculum-aligned practice for every topic covered in this guide. Every worksheet is completely free to download and print, with no registration required.