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Year 5 maths: what your child learns

Kitchen scales
From probability to polygons, find out what your child will learn about in maths in Year 5.

By Year 5, children should be confident with one- and two-step problems and using addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, and they will be able to decide on the best way of solving a problem.

There is still a focus on times tables, as not all children are completely sure of these. Set squares and protractors are being used for work with angles and shapes, and percentages are introduced now.

Children will be practising their mental maths, as well as using written and practical methods to help them calculate. It’s also important for the children to see how their maths work links to life outside school, and to other areas of the curriculum.

Year 5 maths – your child will be:

Number and place value

  • Reading, writing, ordering and comparing numbers to at least 1,000,000
  • Counting forwards and backwards with positive and negative numbers
  • Rounding any number up to one million to the nearest 10, 100, 1000, 10,000, 100,000

Calculating

Fractions, decimals and percentages

  • Comparing and ordering fractions whose denominators are all multiples of the same number
  • Converting from mixed numbers to improper fractions
  • Adding and subtracting fractions whose denominators are multiples of the same number
  • Mutiplying proper fractions and mixed numbers by whole numbers
  • Rounding decimals with two places to the nearest whole number and to one decimal place
  • Comparing numbers with up to three decimal places
  • Begining to understand percentages
  • Knowing percentage and decimal equivalents of 1/2, 1/4, 1/5, 2/5 and 4/5

Measuring

Geometry

  • Drawing and measuring angles
  • Finding angles around a point, on a straight line and within a right angle

Statistics

  • Solving comparison, sum and difference problems using information presented in a line graph
  • Completing and interpreting information in tables, including timetables

Try this at home

  • If your child has a watch, encourage them to wear it and get in the habit of looking at the time – it could be analogue or digital
  • Card games are perfect for playing with numbers. If you’re struggling to remember the games you played as a child, try asking the grandparents!
  • Most children love cooking. Following a simple recipe will give them valuable practice in measuring and weighing the ingredients and calculating cooking time. If you want to make it trickier, ask them to double or halve the quantities

Put your child's learning into practice with our Year 5 maths worksheets, which cover all the topics taught as part of the curriculum, or try our Y5 mental maths mini-test.

Check your Y5 child's progress in maths with our free Y5 maths Progress checks, three mini-tests for the autumn, spring and summer terms.


Explore the Year 5 English and Maths Learning Journey programmes.

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