At Oak Meadow, we believe the best start in maths comes from helping children feel confident, curious, and enjoy exploring numbers from an early age. In EYFS, we focus on building number sense - understanding what numbers mean, how they work, and how they appear in everyday life.

On starting their learning journey, children begin learning the five key principles of counting through fun, hands-on activities: counting each item once, saying numbers in the correct order, recognising that the last number counted is the total, knowing that anything can be counted, and discovering that the total stays the same no matter where they start.

We also help children develop important early skills, such as recognising small groups of objects quickly (subitising) and understanding that one object can represent more than one (unitising), using resources like Numicon, coins, and Base 10 equipment.

Children explore these ideas through games, songs, practical challenges, and real-life experiences, making maths meaningful and enjoyable.

By the end of EYFS, most children achieve the Early Learning Goals:

• Number: Counting confidently to 20, putting numbers in order, adding and subtracting small amounts, and solving simple problems like doubling and sharing.

• Shape, Space and Measure: Using everyday language to describe size, weight, capacity, time, money, and distance, spotting and creating patterns, and exploring shapes and objects around them.