Times tables begin, written methods start to appear, and fractions get more precise. Here's what's actually covered.
25 August 2026 · 6 min read
Year 2 is the year the National Curriculum starts to feel more like "school maths" — times tables are formally introduced, the 2020s question format (missing numbers, two-step problems) becomes more common, and by May, most schools use SATs-style assessments to check where children stand at the end of Key Stage 1. Here's what's actually in the curriculum.
Children work confidently with numbers to 100: reading, writing, comparing and ordering them, and understanding place value in terms of tens and ones (that 47 is 4 tens and 7 ones, not just "forty-seven"). They count in steps of 2, 3 and 5 from any number, and in tens from any number, forwards and backwards.
This builds directly on Year 1: recalling addition and subtraction facts to 20 fluently, and using those facts to derive related facts to 100 (knowing 6 + 7 = 13 helps with 60 + 70 = 130). Children add and subtract two-digit numbers using concrete objects, pictures and mental methods, including a two-digit number and ones, a two-digit number and tens, and two two-digit numbers.
The 2, 5 and 10 times tables are formally introduced this year, with an expectation that children recall and use them fluently by the end of Year 2, alongside the related division facts. Multiplication and division are taught using arrays, repeated addition, and grouping and sharing contexts, laying the groundwork for written methods that come in Year 3.
Fractions become more precise: finding 1/3, 1/4, 2/4 and 3/4 of a length, shape, set of objects or quantity, and — importantly — recognising the equivalence of 2/4 and 1/2. This is often a child's first real encounter with the idea that two fractions can look different but represent the same amount.
Children use £ and p in practical contexts, including finding different combinations of coins that make the same amount and giving change. Time moves on to telling it to five minutes, including quarter past and quarter to, and knowing there are 60 minutes in an hour and 24 hours in a day. In geometry, children describe properties of 2D and 3D shapes in more detail, and learn about rotation (a quarter turn, a half turn) and direction. New this year: interpreting and constructing simple pictograms, tally charts, block diagrams and tables.
The 2, 5 and 10 times tables are usually manageable, but the jump from "counting in multiples" to genuinely instant recall — without counting up each time — is where a lot of Year 2 children need more practice than expected. Two-digit subtraction that requires exchanging (like 42 − 17) is also a common sticking point, often because the underlying place value understanding isn't quite secure enough yet to support it.
Grasp Maths tracks times-table recall speed as well as accuracy, since instant recall and "getting there eventually by counting" look identical on a simple right/wrong mark but need very different amounts of practice to fully secure.
Looking for printable practice too? See our Year 2 maths worksheets.
Try a free Grasp Maths practice session, matched to the Year 2 curriculum.