Keeping kids in from play at lunchtime.

It’s for MTCs I imagine. Chill out. I’d personally have no issue for the extra attention my child got at school. Some parents have zero aspirations for their kids.

I totally disagree with this. Children need more time to play,outdoors especially and teachers need their break. TTR is something that can easily be done at home, in the car, wherever.

They're not going to be doing tables for the whole of the lunch break. I'd put money on it being for 15 mins max, and probably less. No one wants children to miss break, they get all ansty and are difficult to teach if they haven't had the opportunity to run around and let off steam.

You said you could see how knowing times tables could help with the tests in this country. I want to rephrase what I said. Knowing times tables is imperative for doing so many calculations in maths. Knowing times tables has always been important and the parents of my generation didn’t push back. They did what they could. Parents these days are spoiled. They just need to make sure their dcs make use of the many apps available.

TT Jockstraps

Free extra tuition? What’s not to like!

And why are you not reinforcing his learning at home if your son is falling behind at school?

That's great. Many schools don't though. Interventions where groups go out for catch up/pre-teaching is a thing of the past in many schools.

No. It's because you struggle with pretty much every other number topic in Maths if you can't quickly recall your times tables. You need times tables for column multiplication, division, fractions, statistics and data, area, and many others.

Right now the class has TA's and a student teacher. My son has 2:1 TA's due to a physical disability (a reason for his long absence).

Fgs. Knowing times tables enables children to do so many maths questions so much more quickly. That’s why they get tested. It’s not about teaching something because there’s a test coming up. It’s a very important skill.

That's great if a school has funding for TAs to run intervention groups.

Many don't.

At my son's school it is during standard class time with intervention groups. My son is behind in pretty much everything due to missing most of Year 3 and almost all of Year 4 because of medical reasons, he only started Year 4 for the first time after the Easter holidays and is now in Year 5.

He does a maths intervention group and a handwriting intervention group. He also has maths work adapted when necessary because it's just too much for him otherwise but he does cope fine with other work at Year 5 level.

It's a real challenge and we're working closely with the school to help catch him up. Taking away his break times has never been suggested.

Even If he is good at maths, not knowing time tables will slow him down and set him back. I'm surprised it hasn't come up already - our school was quite clear they don't have time for times tables on the curriculum and asked parents to work on them at home. It's great they are supporting kids at lunchtime that still don't know them though.

At our school those that need it do additional maths before school - they come in at 8.10 rather than 8.50 2 or 3 days per week. Which is a bit of a challenge when have 2 children in same school starting at different times, but I'm extremely grateful as these small group sessions really helped my daughter.

OP, when do you think the teacher should be doing these sessions if not at lunch? Doing them during standard class time isn't fair on those who do know their timetables already.

Eating isn’t play - it’s a basic need. Expecting young children to manage on two 15-minute breaks plus enough time to eat simply isn’t enough, and it’s unrealistic to think otherwise. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve seen break time removed as a consequence for young children, or 4 and 5 year olds told that “good listening” means sitting still with their legs crossed for 30 minutes. We then expect children to stay regulated when, in reality, what their bodies need in order to regulate is movement. It’s bonkers. Movement and play at break times and lunchtime should never be negotiable.

The issue isn’t with teachers - I have a great deal of respect for them - it’s the system and all the pointless testing. I also don't know all of my timetables off by heart and when I was about 8 I was moved down several year groups to my little sisters class (mortifying) to do Maths, probably partly because I couldn't recite them! I couldn't grasp how to tell the time - I remember being told this was why and how wonderful my sister was at Maths in comparison. I got A's at A level, a first class BSc and have almost finished my Masters in a field closely related to child development - the evidence points to the need for sufficient physical activity and meaningful play to support learning not cramming an extra lesson in at lunch.

You can reinforce times tables at home - and you should.

You think knowing multiplication tables is "old fashioned"?

🙄

Fast, automatic recall of multiplication facts is a fundamental skill needed for any maths past year 3. In primary alone he will need them for fractions, area and perimeter, ratio and proportion, column multiplication, algebra, factors, prime numbers….the list is endless. Not knowing times tables can cause real cognitive overload when they are trying to master any of the maths skills listed above.

Well done to the school for introducing this. If you don't want him to miss his lunchtime playtime then help him learn his times tables at home. It's not rocket science.

So what would your child and any other child who does know their tables, be doing while the ones that don't are having this catch up session with the teacher? What lesson will your child forfeit so those children whose parents can't be bothered, get this extra session?

Times tables have been a "thing" since before compulsory education was mandated.

Phonics has been a "thing" since the Victorian times. There was a blip in the 60s/70s/80s with the whole word approach, but back to phonics by the 90s.

My family did too. I can do them all by rote except my nines because my mam taught me to do them on my fingers (so easy)! She always made it into a game for us in the days before apps. Both of my parents can recite theirs too and they are late 70s and one almost 80.

It’s good the teachers give up their break I suppose. I don’t understand the obsession with learning them though, I don’t know move off by heart and have 2 degrees! Wasn’t a “thing” when I was at school. Ditto the phonics “thing”