Year 2 maths: what your child learns and how to help

What's in the Year 2 maths curriculum?

This is everything in the national curriculum for England for Year 2, in plain words. Schools choose the order and the pace, so your child won't meet these in the order below.

Number and place value

• Count in 2s, 3s and 5s from 0, and in 10s from any number, forwards and backwards.
• Know what each digit in a two-digit number is worth: tens and ones.
• Split numbers in different ways, like 23 = 20 + 3 and 23 = 10 + 13.
• Show and estimate numbers in different ways, including on a number line.
• Compare and order numbers from 0 to 100, using the <, > and = signs.
• Read and write numbers to at least 100 in numerals and in words.
• Start to understand zero as a place holder, as in 30.

Addition and subtraction

• Know the addition and subtraction facts to 20 quickly, and use them to work out related facts to 100: if 3 + 7 = 10, then 30 + 70 = 100.
• Add and subtract in their heads, and with objects and pictures: a two-digit number and ones, a two-digit number and tens, two two-digit numbers, and three one-digit numbers.
• Know that adding can be done in any order but subtracting can't: 5 + 2 is the same as 2 + 5, but 5 − 2 is not the same as 2 − 5.
• Use the inverse to check answers and solve missing number problems: check a subtraction by adding.
• Solve problems with numbers, amounts and measures, using the words sum and difference.

Multiplication and division

• Know the multiplication and division facts for the 2, 5 and 10 times tables.
• Recognise odd and even numbers.
• Write multiplication and division number sentences with the ×, ÷ and = signs.
• Know that multiplying can be done in any order but dividing can't: 4 × 5 = 20 and 5 × 4 = 20, but 20 ÷ 5 is not the same as 5 ÷ 20.
• Solve problems using objects, arrays, repeated addition and the facts they know.

Fractions

• Recognise, find, name and write a third, a quarter, two quarters and three quarters of a length, shape, set of objects or amount.
• Write simple fractions of amounts, like a half of 6 is 3.
• Know that two quarters is the same as a half.
• Count in halves and quarters, for example 1 and a quarter, 1 and a half, 1 and three quarters, 2.

Measurement

• Choose and use the right units to estimate and measure length (m and cm), mass (kg and g), temperature (°C) and capacity (litres and ml), with rulers, scales, thermometers and measuring jugs.
• Compare and order lengths, masses and capacities, and record the results with >, < and =.
• Use the symbols for pounds (£) and pence (p), and combine coins to make an amount.
• Find different sets of coins that make the same amount.
• Solve simple money problems, including giving change.
• Compare and put intervals of time in order.
• Tell and write the time to five minutes, including quarter past and quarter to, and draw the hands on a clock.
• Know there are 60 minutes in an hour and 24 hours in a day.

Geometry: shapes

• Describe 2-D shapes by their number of sides and whether they have a vertical line of symmetry.
• Describe 3-D shapes by their number of edges, vertices and faces.
• Spot 2-D shapes on the surface of 3-D shapes, like a circle on a cylinder or a triangle on a pyramid.
• Compare and sort 2-D and 3-D shapes and everyday objects.

Geometry: position and direction

• Arrange shapes and objects in patterns and sequences.
• Describe position, direction and movement, including moving in a straight line and turning.
• Describe quarter, half and three-quarter turns as right angles, clockwise and anticlockwise.

Statistics

• Read and make simple pictograms, tally charts, block diagrams and tables.
• Answer questions by counting the objects in each group and sorting the groups by size.
• Answer questions that total and compare the data.

The 2, 5 and 10 times tables

The 2, 5 and 10 times tables are the first ones children learn, in Year 2. The curriculum asks children to connect them to each other, to link the 10s to place value and to link the 5s to the five-minute marks on a clock. Children learn the division facts alongside: 4 × 5 = 20, so 20 ÷ 5 = 4.

Each table has its own page with the facts, the patterns to spot and a practice round: the 2 times table, the 5 times table and the 10 times table. Our guide on how to learn times tables explains the order and a short daily routine.

What should a Year 2 child know by the summer?

The curriculum describes what children are taught across the year, and every child moves through it at their own pace. It says that by the end of Year 2, children should know the number bonds to 20 and understand place value well. Government guidance for teachers picks out the ideas that the rest of primary maths builds on most:

• what each digit in a two-digit number is worth, and splitting numbers in more than one way (23 is 20 and 3, or 10 and 13)
• where any two-digit number sits on a number line, and the multiples of 10 either side of it
• adding and subtracting within 10 without having to think, from lots of practice
• adding and subtracting across 10, like 7 + 5 and 15 − 9
• finding the difference, and answering "how many more?" questions
• adding and subtracting two-digit numbers, starting with just ones or just tens (34 + 5, 34 + 50) and then any two two-digit numbers
• seeing repeated addition as multiplication, within the 2, 5 and 10 times tables
• using exact words for the properties of shapes, like sides, edges, vertices and faces

Adding across 10

The guidance suggests making 10 first. For 7 + 5, split the 5 into 3 and 2. Then 7 + 3 = 10, and 10 + 2 = 12. The guidance shows this with tens frames (grids of 10 boxes) and counters, or with a part-whole model, which shows a whole number split into two parts.

Are there Year 2 maths tests?

There are optional KS1 maths tests that schools can choose to use at the end of Year 2. They're often called the KS1 SATs. They used to be compulsory, but they became optional from the 2023 to 2024 school year, so not every school uses them. If your child's school does, the recommended time is May 2027.

There are two maths papers: Paper 1 is arithmetic and Paper 2 is reasoning. They aren't strictly timed. Schools use them alongside everyday class work to see where children need more support as they move into Year 3. Your child's school decides whether to share the results with you, and how.

The government publishes the papers from past years, with their mark schemes, on GOV.UK: for example, the 2026 key stage 1 mathematics test materials. The KS1 maths guide has more about assessments across Years 1 and 2.

Maths words for Year 2

Tens and ones

The value of each digit in a two-digit number. In 47, the 4 is worth 4 tens (40) and the 7 is worth 7 ones.

Partition

To split a number into parts. 36 can be partitioned into 30 and 6.

Sum

The answer when you add. The sum of 8 and 5 is 13.

Difference

How much bigger one number is than another. The difference between 15 and 9 is 6.

Inverse

The operation that undoes another. Adding undoes subtracting, so you can check a subtraction by adding.

Multiply and divide

Multiplying is adding equal groups. Dividing is sharing into equal groups, or finding how many groups there are.

Repeated addition

Adding the same number again and again. 5 + 5 + 5 is the same as 3 × 5.

Array

Objects set out in equal rows and columns. An array of 2 rows of 5 shows 2 × 5.

Odd and even

Even numbers end in 0, 2, 4, 6 or 8. Odd numbers end in 1, 3, 5, 7 or 9.

Third and quarter

One of three equal parts, and one of four equal parts.

Greater than and less than signs

> means "is greater than" and < means "is less than". 52 > 25.

Faces, edges and vertices

The flat surfaces of a 3-D shape, the lines where two faces meet, and the corners. A cube has 6 faces, 12 edges and 8 vertices.

Line of symmetry

A mirror line: fold the shape along it and the two halves match.

Clockwise and anticlockwise

Turning the same way as the hands on a clock, and the opposite way.

Pictogram and tally chart

A pictogram uses pictures to show amounts. A tally chart records a count in marks, in groups of 5.

Year 2 maths questions to try

These are our own practice questions for Year 2, not a test from school, so there's no score to worry about. Try a few together, then open the answers to check.

1. 5 × 4
2. 35 ÷ 5
3. 46 + 27
4. 52 − 18
5. What is a third of 12?
6. You pay for a 35p apple with a 50p coin. How much change do you get?

Answers

1. 20
2. 7
3. 73
4. 34
5. 4
6. 15p

How to help with Year 2 maths at home

• Times tables, little and often. A few minutes on the 2s, 5s and 10s most days does more than a long session at the weekend. Say the division facts too.
• Ask how they worked it out. Explaining out loud helps it stick, and shows you the methods your child's school uses. It's worth sticking to those rather than teaching a different way.
• Use real money. Paying with coins and working out the change is adding, subtracting and place value all at once.
• Tell the time together. Read an analogue clock to five minutes, and count round the clock face in 5s.
• Measure things. Weigh ingredients for baking, read a thermometer, or measure how tall everyone is in centimetres.
• Make a tally chart. Count the colours of cars going past, then ask which colour was most common and how many more there were.