What parents often notice and what we see at Mathnasium too, is that children can return to maths in September with both their skills and their confidence a little shakier than they were in July.
Educational research calls this the "summer maths slide" or the gradual loss of number skills and confidence that happens when children spend six weeks away from regular practice.
It affects maths more than most other subjects, because maths knowledge builds step by step and a gap left over the summer can make new topics harder to grasp in the autumn term.
To help your child head into September on the front foot, Mathnasium's education specialists have put together a six-week plan designed to keep KS1 and KS2 skills sharp over the summer break.
The summer maths slide is the gradual loss of maths knowledge and confidence that can happen during the long school holiday when children spend weeks without practising key skills.
The term describes learning loss over the summer break and it shows up in maths more clearly than in most other subjects.
Research suggests that maths skills fade faster than reading skills over the summer break. A Harvard Graduate School of Education summary reports that students lose an average of around 2.6 months of maths learning over the holidays, largely because mathematical procedures require regular practice to stay automatic.
It's also important to say plainly that this is normal. The summer slide affects many children, regardless of how well they were doing before the holidays and it isn't a sign that your child wasn't learning or that something went wrong during the school year.
Although maths summer slide is common, it doesn't mean it should be ignored. Left unaddressed, it could make the return to school in September more difficult than it needs to be. This is because maths is affected by the summer break differently from most other school subjects.
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Not all school subjects are affected equally by the summer break. There are several reasons maths is more affected by the summer break than most other subjects. Together, they explain why even a short gap in practice can make returning to school more challenging.
Maths Is a Cumulative Subject: A gap in number fluency in June can affect fractions, measurement or problem-solving by September, since the earlier skill was meant to support the later one.
Summer Learning Loss Doesn't Stay in One Topic: A young learner returning below where they left off in June doesn't simply pick up where they stopped. They start the new year needing to rebuild lost ground before new learning can properly stick, which is a different task from catching up on a single topic.
Different Maths Skills Fade at Different Ages: Our Mathnasium instructors find that KS1 children tend to lose number fluency, while KS2 students are more likely to need extra support with multi-step reasoning and problem-solving. Those capabilities rely on several connected skills and that’s what makes them harder to retain without regular practice.
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Our education specialists have organised this six-week plan into simple weekly themes, each with short "maths moments" that fit around family life and can be easily adapted for both KS1 and KS2, so children keep their skills and confidence ticking over without turning summer into school at home.
For the first week, your focus should be on gently bringing maths back into the week and noticing where your child feels confident or a little rusty.
We suggest choosing a regular “maths moment”: a 10–15 minute slot after breakfast or before screen time, on three days this week.
Because this is the start of the plan, aim to keep it light and playful rather than formal practice.
For KS1 children, those maths moments might be simple counting and number bond games, such as asking “Which two numbers make 10?” using toys or snacks.
For KS2, you can use the same time for quick-fire times tables and short mental calculations in the car, on walks or while you’re waiting together.
Alongside this, try one everyday maths task with your child, such as involving them in paying at the shop, counting coins or reading prices. Older children can estimate the total before you pay and then check their estimate against the receipt to start reconnecting fluency and reasoning.
Most importantly, use this week to observe how your child responds: do they hesitate over number facts, struggle to explain their thinking or avoid particular questions and where do they seem most confident and engaged?
In the second week, you’re aiming to rebuild core number facts so that later topics like fractions, measures and word problems feel easier when school starts again. You can keep using the same three short “maths moments” as last week, but this time give them a clear focus on fluency.
For KS1, we recommend:
Using games like “number bond snap” with cards, dominoes or small objects where your child finds pairs that make 10 or 20.
Playing “toy shop maths” with coins: put prices on toys or household items and let your child count out the right coins to make totals up to 20.
Building quick-fire questions into everyday moments, such as asking “What goes with 7 to make 10?” or “What is 1 less than 9?” and celebrating fast, confident answers.
For KS2, you can focus on:
Short, targeted bursts of times tables, especially those your child finds harder and the matching division facts.
A “beat the clock” game where you set a 2-minute timer and ask as many multiplication or number bond questions as you can, then see if they can gently improve their score later in the week.
One brief online game (around 10 minutes) midweek, using an age-appropriate times tables or number facts activity they already know, so practice feels more like play than a test.
To build on this, you might create a small “fact wall” at home where your child can add sticky notes for any facts they want to remember, updating it across the week.
By the end of Week 2, most children should feel a little quicker and more confident with core facts. This is exactly what can make more complex work in autumn feel less daunting.
This week is about using maths to make sense of everyday situations. Look for moments where your child is already making choices or helping you and bring a short maths question into that context.
With KS1 children, you might:
Use streaming choices as a counting task: “We have time for 2 episodes; if each is 10 minutes, how many minutes is that altogether?”
Turn tidying into simple problem-solving: “There are 5 cars on the floor and 3 in the box; how many will there be if we put them all away?”
Make sharing very concrete: “We have 10 grapes and 4 people; can you work out how many each person can have so it is fair?”
For KS2 learners, it can work well to:
Ask them to plan part of a budget for a small treat, such as “You have £5 for snacks; how could you spend it to get the most for your money?” and compare different options together.
Use travel or activity planning as a time problem: “If the film starts at 3:30 and takes 30 minutes to get there, what time should we leave?”
Pick one short word problem from a trusted curriculum website like BBC Bitesize and say, “Show me how you’d tackle this,” then discuss which information is important and whether the final answer is reasonable.
By the end of Week 3, the aim is for your child to start spotting that they are already using maths when they plan, tidy, share, choose and keep their problem-solving muscles working in those everyday decisions.
In the fourth week, the spotlight moves to shapes, measures and simple data, which often get less practice at home but sit underneath a lot of work in the autumn term.
If your child is in KS1, you could:
Turn a walk to the park or around your local streets into a “shape hunt,” asking them to spot circles, squares, rectangles and triangles in signs, windows and playground equipment.
Measure favourite objects using everyday items, such as “How many Lego bricks long is your book?” or “How many footsteps is it from the sofa to the door?” and then compare which is longer or shorter.
Collect a small set of information together – for example, the colours of parked cars on your street or favourite fruit in the family – and draw a simple pictogram to show what you found.
For a KS2 child, you might instead:
Take the same “shape hunt” further by looking for right angles, lines of symmetry or different quadrilaterals (such as rectangles and parallelograms) in buildings and street layouts.
Use rulers, kitchen scales and timers to measure length, mass and time accurately while baking, building or timing short activities and talk about why those units are sensible for the job.
Record data more formally – for instance, tally marks for the colours of cars passing in 10 minutes or preferred weekend activities in the family – then represent it with a bar chart and, if they’re ready, calculate the mean of one set of numbers and discuss what it shows.
Across the week, the aim is for shapes, measures and data to feel like part of how your child describes the world around them, not just topics they encounter in class.
By week 5, most families are deep into summer mode, so this part of the plan leans into fun first and maths second. The idea is to keep motivation high with games that build logic, pattern-spotting and strategic thinking, while quietly reinforcing number skills.
For KS1, you might choose simple jigsaw puzzles, building blocks or matching games that encourage spatial awareness and spotting patterns, alongside a quick daily counting or number bond game to keep facts familiar.
For KS2, you can try short logic puzzles or “number target” games where your child combines numbers and operations to reach a given total and keep one brief number facts practice slot in the week so fluency doesn’t fade while the focus is on games.
If your child enjoys a challenge, you can also invite them to design their own maths game – a KS1 child might create a simple counting board or matching game, while a KS2 learner can invent rules that use times tables, fractions or number targets.
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Start by looking back with your child at which activities they enjoyed and which felt more challenging and talk about how much maths they’ve actually been doing without needing “school work” every day.
For your KS1 child, you can mix short counting, number bond and simple word problems across three light sessions this week, using familiar toys or picture stories so it still feels playful.
For a KS2 learner, try a mini “September warm-up” with a small set of arithmetic questions and one or two reasoning problems from trusted school packs or curriculum websites.
We’d also suggest slowly re-establishing a school-week rhythm. This might mean setting more consistent bedtimes and choosing a regular slot where term-time homework or tutoring will happen, keeping it brief but predictable.
When September arrives, you’ll have a clearer picture of your child’s strengths, a few gentle routines already in place and a child who sees maths as part of everyday life, not a sudden shock after the holidays.
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When gaps run deeper, home practice alone may not always close them. Some children benefit from working with a specialist who can get to the root of the difficulty and provide support that is targeted to them instead of just a general run-through of the curriculum.
That is exactly what Mathnasium is here for. Our diagnostic assessment gets to the bottom of where the gaps are and what is driving them. From there, we build a personalised learning plan that addresses those gaps directly, helping children head into September feeling ready and confident in maths.
Mathnasium instructors help children explore maths in a fun, stress-free environment.
Mathnasium is a maths-only learning centre helping students of all skill levels build confidence and excel in maths.
We work with students throughout the year, including over the summer, to help them hold onto their skills and head into the new school year prepared. At Mathnasium of Clapham, that support takes the form of our six-week Summer Maths Programme, designed specifically to keep KS1 and KS2 children on track between July and September.
Behind every programme at Mathnasium is the Mathnasium Method™, our proprietary teaching approach built around each child's individual needs and the way they learn best.
It begins with a diagnostic assessment that tells us exactly where your child stands: what they know securely, where the gaps are and what needs attention first. From those insights, we build a personalised learning plan targeted to their needs and goals.
Our specially trained instructors follow the plan closely, teaching maths face-to-face in a supportive and fun small-group setting. We teach for understanding, which means working through each concept using a mix of verbal, visual, mental, tactile and written approaches until it makes sense to that child.
When a student comes up against a concept they find difficult, we break it down into manageable steps, explaining both the how and the why behind the answer. In time, students develop their own problem-solving skills and critical thinking tools they can draw on in maths and beyond.
Fun is built into our approach too. Our activities are often game-based and we let children earn rewards along the way, celebrating every step of their progress and building confidence with each session.
Parents report measurable results:
94% of parents report an improvement in their child's maths skills and understanding
93% of parents report their child's improved attitude towards maths after attending Mathnasium
90% of students saw an improvement in their school grades
With over 1,250 centres worldwide, including over 40 across the UK, there's likely a Mathnasium near you.
Mathnasium of Clapham serves families across Clapham, Balham, Battersea, Wandsworth and other nearby communities who trust our centre to help their children catch up, keep up and get ahead.
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Mathnasium of Clapham is a math-only learning centre for K-12 students in London, . Trusted by over a million parents, Mathnasium uses personalized learning plans and the proprietary Mathnasium Method™ to help students catch up, keep up, and get ahead on their math journey.
Our specially trained tutors deliver face-to-face instruction in a supportive and fun small-group environment, working with students both in centre and online to develop a deep understanding of math, build confidence, and improve academic performance.
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