Summer maths practice: how to keep the learning going over the summer holidays

Research shows that pupils lose a noticeable share of the maths they learnt during the school year simply because they did not practise over the summer holidays. The good news: 15 minutes a day is enough to keep — and even improve — your child's skills.

The summer slide: the learning that disappears over the holidays

Every July and August a process takes place that education researchers call the summer slide — a cognitive slip caused by a long break from learning. Recent studies point to primary pupils losing a noticeable share of the maths built up over the school year. In maths the slide is especially steep: unlike reading, where exposure to everyday text carries on through the holidays, computational skills such as fractions, percentages and equations need active practice to stay sharp.

The most worrying figure: pupils who did not practise at all over the summer spend the first 4–6 weeks of the new school year 'going back over' — the teacher revisits last year's material instead of teaching new content. In other words, the summer holidays do not only wipe out learning — they mean a pupil starts Year 7 (or Year 5, or Year 6) at a disadvantage.

A RAND Corporation study (2011) found that pupils lose on average about a month of progress in maths over the summer break.

How much practice? The dose that changes everything

Parents who first notice this usually try to make up for the holidays with several hours a day. That is a mistake. The brain learns better from short, frequent intervals than from a rare study 'marathon'. The research is clear:

In practice, 15–20 minutes a day achieves three things at once: it keeps current knowledge alive, it strengthens basic skills such as mental arithmetic, and it puts the child in a ready position for the new year. More than 30 minutes a day without breaks starts to cause fatigue and resistance.

• 4–5 practice days a week (leave the weekend and one extra day free)
• 15–20 minutes per session, with a clear outcome (for example: 10 questions)
• A fixed time of day — the morning after breakfast works best for most children
• Immediate reinforcement — a star, a point, a sticker, or simply a warm word of approval

What to practise, by year group

Every year group reaches the summer with a different core of knowledge to keep and material it is possible — even desirable — to peek at ahead of the next year. Here is a summary by stage:

Years 3–4: building the foundations

Revise: times tables up to 10 (up to 12 by the end of Year 4, ready for the multiplication tables check), addition and subtraction up to 1,000, simple fraction ideas (½, ¼). Look ahead: multiplying two-digit numbers, equivalent fractions, area of a rectangle.

Year 5: the year of moving towards abstract thinking

Revise: fractions — adding, subtracting, multiplying; decimals; areas of basic shapes. Look ahead: percentages, ratio and proportion, more complex fractions.

Year 6: the key year before secondary school

Year 6 is the most critical transition year. Revise: percentages, area and volume, fractions and negative numbers. Look ahead: early algebra (simple variables), graphs, equations with one unknown — the Year 7 material.

Year 7 and above

Revise: equations, linear functions, basic coordinate geometry. Look ahead: if your child is in a higher set, it is worth touching on the idea of quadratic functions and Pythagoras' theorem.

How do you make practice fun?

The number one reason summer plans fail is not lack of time — it is lack of motivation. 'Another worksheet' feels like a punishment in the holidays. Here are tools that change the equation:

• Family challenges: who reaches 100 points first? Parent versus child creates healthy competition — and sometimes a surprising result
• Tiny rewards: not money — but 20 minutes of extra screen time, choosing dinner, an ice cream
• A scoreboard: write down together how many questions were solved this week — the rising graph is a motivator in itself
• 'Boss level' mode: solve a hard-looking question together, then have your child explain it to you — explaining strengthens their understanding more than anything
• The streak challenge: on MathsUK every child can see how many days in a row they have practised — breaking the streak hurts enough to keep it going

Leaderboards and streaks are not just gamification gimmicks — they are research-backed motivation mechanisms. When your child sees their name in the top 3 of their class on MathsUK, they are not 'playing' — they are building an identity as someone who succeeds at maths.

Maths in everyday life over the summer

Life in the summer holidays is full of maths opportunities — and most of them are completely free:

• Supermarket shopping: ask your child to work out the price per kilogram of an item sold in 500 g packs, or to compare two pack sizes
• Baking: halving a recipe (how much flour if we want half the amount?) — fractions in real life
• Car journeys: how many miles have we driven? How many more to the coast? On average, how many miles per hour?
• The energy bill: count together how many kWh you used this month, and what the price per kWh is
• Card games: rummy, pontoon (21) and poker (no money) are mental arithmetic practice in disguise
• Managing pocket money: if your child has £5 a week, plan together in a little spreadsheet how much they have spent so far

Recommended tools for the summer holidays

Here is a list of resources you can use — some of them completely free:

• MathsUK — adaptive practice by year group, with a streak, a leaderboard and instant feedback (completely free)
• Printable worksheets — on MathsUK you can print worksheets matched to the year group, ideal for a journey without Wi-Fi
• Websites: Khan Academy Kids, BBC Bitesize, Coolmath Games for Years 4–6
• Practice workbooks: the CGP and Collins summer maths workbooks sold in most bookshops and supermarkets
• Apps: Prodigy (ages 6–14), Photomath for understanding a method — but not for doing the work instead of the child

A structured 8-week plan (example: Year 6)

The table below shows an example plan for a pupil who has finished Year 6 and is moving up to Year 7. It can be adapted to any other year group on the same principle — 3 weeks of revision, 3 weeks of deepening, 2 weeks of looking ahead:

The summer holidays do not have to be a time of forgetting. With the right dose, suitable tools and a little creativity, you can turn July and August into a springboard for the year ahead — not a step backwards.

← Back to all articles