Gareth Metcalfe

Only 11 days to go!
The aim: build understanding, start conversations, generate curiosity and make KS1 maths more playful 🙌
Full details next week, this blog gives a taster: garethmetcalfe.com/2025/06/09/i...

I See Reasoning - Y1 and Y2 needs about 2/3 weeks for me to finish. Any longer than that and I will release in January. Sorry for me being so slow! Life has a way of throwing urgent things in my path. Hope it will be worth the wait!

Working with a Year 5/6 class & teachers in Oxford on this fantastic @gareth-metcalfe.bsky.social ‘Explore’ task. Children worked practically & commonly made connections between several concepts. They demonstrated varying degrees of mathematical reasoning, including in their journalling.

Loved my day today, working with a school to develop children as problem-solvers. I’m thinking a lot about how these values (especially the last 2) can be developed in maths lessons. How care is not just pastoral but is also evident in lesson design. My next big thing…

Here are all the calculations needed to answer the final 5 questions of the 2025 SATS papers 2&3. For me, it says that the challenge lies in understanding the questions (rather than calculation fluency). I’m designing more resources to help with this!

The EEF are looking for those involved at Primary & Secondary to complete this 12-min survey about your views on the teaching and learning of mathematics: forms.office.com/pages/respon...
Please share!

I've finished I See Reasoning - Y1 and am most way with I See Reasoning - Y2! A range of techniques for getting children thinking, talking and being challenged. Lots of scope for creativity. I'm aiming for an October launch. Will share lots of examples soon😃

Really enjoyed this today, the extension used with a brilliant Y5 class:

Today, from Deconstructing Word Questions - Y6, looking at how questions that look very different can have similar/the same structure. Helping children to make connections:

In #MathsToday I did this as a starter on estimation.

With the aim of getting pupils to consider which counters are the 'significant' ones.

Enjoyed trialling a problem-solving task around flexible partitioning. Finished with this image, to show how being able to partition 342 in different ways is useful when subtracting:

Maths should develop children personally and be emotionally rich, I'm going to give teachers the tools to make that a reality. From January, free stuff weekly on the website. I want to write a book. I feel like there is so much more to be done!

The all-new I See Reasoning for Y1 and Y2 will be out in October! Final stretches of the writing/trialling now. Very different to the original. After that, I'm going to start on a 4-year writing project developing sequences of problem-solving tasks, with some really diverse, extended challenges.

I'm off social media now for the summer. Everyone, have a great break. Lots of plans for 25/26, including the release of I See Reasoning - Y1 and Y2.

After that, more divergent problem-solving tasks coming for Y5 and Y6.

Much love - Gareth

You are a force Emma, get well soon

When you have a pair of word questions that are subtly different, a spotlight is shone on those 'key words', the key differences:

Final call: 90 minutes, how to teach children to break down multi-step word questions. Join live or use the recording any time:

A big part of the Deconstructing Word Questions resources are the 'Which Picture' discussion prompts. Examples below from the Y2 and Y6 resources:

To finish this year, a series of 7 posts from me looking at the Deconstructing Word Questions techniques. Firstly, 'Which Bar Model'. The discussion is better for having a number removed so children don't simply say what the answer is.

The four videos on this page, each about 3 mins, explain the key principles for helping children to break down word questions. So many great classroom moments for me!

The last thing I've drawn out are the suggested changes to the KS2 SATS tests. Crucially important.

Then, the importance of teaching children to problem-solve:

The Maths Horizons report gives a clear, compelling vision for the future of maths education. I've draw out 3 points. Firstly, the broad recommendations:

I See Reasoning - Y1 will have LOADS of examples of questions that can be answered in different ways, lead to discussion, lead to practical exploration. Making progress every day! garethmetcalfe.com/2025/06/09/i...

A favourite multiplication investigation Here’s a multiplication investigation that I used with a mixed-age Y5/6 class. Before the task we recapped on the grid method (it will become apparent why the grid method was used). Then, the…

A 6 year-old blog that I hope is timeless! Some great multiplication investigations: garethmetcalfe.com/2019/11/01/a...

The pie chart SATS question from this year - using my resources to understand the big idea behind the question:

I've got to page 94 on I See Reasoning - Y1. Extremely visual and introducing children to a wide range of reasoning techniques. Lots to discuss, laying the crucial reasoning foundations: garethmetcalfe.com/2025/06/09/i...

Why the true effectiveness of teaching can't be judged from an end-of-year assessment. And the long-term impact of expert teaching: garethmetcalfe.com/2023/05/17/l...

How the I See Reasoning fractions examples help children understand a SATS reasoning question:

I like this one, an idea a Y6 teacher shared with me this week. Give other coordinates that could go on the red line. What would a common incorrect answer be?