Frequently asked questions
Please find below a list of frequently asked questions grouped by audience - SLT & School Leaders, SENCOs, Teachers & Teaching Assistants, and Parents & Carers.
The following pages on our website may also be helpful:
What is Maths For Life? | Who is it designed for? | How does it work? | How much does it cost? | The Levels
If you can't find an answer to your question, please do not hesitate to contact us or book a session to talk to us.
SLT & School Leaders
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Maths For Life is designed as a complete, differentiated maths curriculum rather than a short-term catch-up intervention. It is for students with and without SEND who cannot access the timescale or structure of a standard national curriculum. Schools can use Maths For Life as the student’s planned maths pathway, focusing on secure foundations, practical application and greater independence. The precise timetable and relationship with wider class teaching should be agreed by school leaders, the SENCO and teaching staff.
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Begin by ensuring that teaching starts at the right point in the learning sequence. Students may need missing foundations taught explicitly rather than more practice of content they do not yet understand. Leaders should provide a coherent curriculum, protected teaching time, consistent approaches and progress measures that recognise retention, practical application and independence. Maths For Life supports this through six levels, from Foundations to Level 5, with educator guides, resources and assessment tools.
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Closing the gap requires more than additional worksheets or faster coverage. Schools need to identify gaps in prerequisite knowledge, teach through carefully sequenced steps, revisit concepts and measure progress from each student’s starting point. Maths For Life provides an alternative pathway for students who cannot access the expected pace of a standard national curriculum. Success should include stronger understanding, retention, real-life application and reduced reliance on adult support, even where a student remains below age-related expectations.
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Provide an ambitious, age-respectful but developmentally appropriate curriculum. Start with what the student understands and can apply, identify the next essential building blocks, and teach them through concrete experience, visual representation, clear language and repeated use. Maths For Life allows students to work across different levels in different topics and to progress at their own pace. Schools should protect delivery time and coordinate the work of teachers, teaching assistants, SENCOs, maths leaders and families.
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Adaptive teaching changes the route, pace, representation, language, examples and support while retaining a purposeful mathematical goal. It does not always require multiple worksheets. Some students can access the class sequence with adaptations; others need an earlier sequence of prerequisite content. Maths For Life supports this deeper adaptation because its educator guides provide structure without imposing rigid lesson plans, and support can be reduced as students become more independent.
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Yes, the new Inclusive Mainstream Fund (IMF) is explicitly intended to help schools become "inclusive by design", provide early support without requiring diagnosis, remove barriers to learning, and strengthen universal provision for pupils with SEND. This aligns exceptionally well with the Maths For Life philosophy.
The government has committed over £500 million per year, including £400 million annually for schools, and schools will be required to publish an Inclusion Strategy explaining how they are identifying and meeting predictable needs across their cohort. Schools must develop and publish an inclusion strategy. An inclusion strategy is a plan to use their overall school funding allocation to identify and meet the needs of their cohort and make meaningful steps to embed inclusive practice. This activity is funded by their core funding allocations, including their notional SEN budget calculated and communicated by their local authority, as well as the inclusive mainstream fund for schools.
Schools must publish their inclusion strategy statement by 31 December 2026.
If you are a school that is currently or considering using Maths For Life, we have created a helpful document to outline how the programme aligns with fund requirements and can contribute directly to the inclusion strategy. There is also an example ‘copy & paste’ statement for a school application.
Download the Maths For Life IMF document | Government guidance
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When comparing programmes, schools should examine the type of evaluation, the participating students and schools, the outcomes measured, the implementation period and the relevance to their own setting.
Maths For Life is an educator-led curriculum that fundamentally rethinks how to teach maths. Inclusive and equitable, it is designed to meet the needs of students who find a standard national curriculum structure and timescale unattainable. The impact of Maths For Life is best demonstrated through case studies, testimonials, and a developing evidence base that includes work with Down’s Syndrome Oxford, academic researchers and an Oxfordshire County Council schools’ pilot.
Iffley Academy case study | Testimonials | Oxfordshire pilot summary
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Yes. Maths For Life has been implemented in a range of mainstream and specialist educational settings that have subsequently been inspected by Ofsted. While Ofsted does not formally endorse commercial programmes, inspectors have seen approaches aligned to the Maths For Life philosophy in practice within schools using the programme. This includes both special schools and mainstream schools supporting pupils with SEND.
We are delighted to share examples from Ofsted reports and quotes from schools using the Maths For Life programme:
“Both mathematics and physical education (PE), including physical well-being, are taught well, and take into consideration very sharply the individual needs of pupils across the school. Elements of the PE and physical well-being curriculum, including swimming, are exemplary, and are being shared with other schools. However, teaching in mathematics is in a period of evolution from a strong starting point. Pupils are beginning to benefit from a carefully planned transition to an approach that focuses more on mathematics in real life, while maintaining the academic rigour for those pupils who require it.” – Treloar’s School & College, Ofsted Inspection February 2024 – Overall 'OUTSTANDING' OFSTED and CQC, part way through the implementation of the Maths For Life programme.
“Given what they heard about the Maths For Life programme and learnt about our students, Ofsted agreed with us that Maths For Life was a programme that would really make a difference.” – Lisa Bond, Headteacher, Treloar’s School & College
“The school has identified the most important learning to prepare pupils for independent adult lives. For example, the mathematics curriculum has been adapted so that pupils spend more time learning about time and money. Pupils regularly repeat and revisit this key learning. This helps them to remember and gives them confidence with routines and transactions.” – Pathfield School, Ofsted Inspection October 2024, delivering Maths For Life as its core mathematics curriculum.
These inspection findings reflect many of the principles that underpin Maths For Life, including real-life mathematics, preparation for adulthood, independence, functional numeracy, financial literacy, time and money skills, and adapting learning to meet individual needs. They demonstrate how schools are building mathematics curricula that help learners apply maths confidently in everyday life.
Discussions about curriculum design, implementation and inspection experiences are regularly shared through our SEN School Network and wider Maths For Life community, where school leaders and teachers exchange practical examples from both mainstream and specialist settings. If you would like to hear directly from schools using Maths For Life, join our free SEN School Network to learn from their implementation journeys, curriculum developments and experiences of inspection.
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Maths For Life is a continually evolving maths programme and has developed through proof-of-concept work, pilot activity and research collaboration. In 2020 proof of concept was developed with the support of Jos Smith and Down’s syndrome Oxford (DSO). This led to a pilot study with DSO in 2021 producing an evidence-based review of the effectiveness of Maths For Life and its positive impact on attainment. In 2022, Professor Jo Van Herwegen and Dr Katie Gilligan Lee in conjunction with the University College Dublin, University of Surrey and University College London explored the potential of Maths For Life providing the first evidence of the efficacy of the programme for improving maths skills in children with DS. This research was published in March 2025 in the peer-reviewed Frontiers in Education. Oxfordshire County Council supported a year-long pilot that took the research further asking, “Will Maths For Life work for all children with SEND?” The answer was a resounding ‘yes’.
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School leaders should identify the students who may benefit, agree how Maths For Life fits within the school’s curriculum, allocate suitable timetable time and ensure staff have the resources and support they need. Teachers and Maths Leads should oversee planning, review progress and help colleagues use consistent expectations. Schools can also share practice through the Maths For Life Community Forum and SEN School Network.
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No. The home user subscription is subsidised for parents and carers who are home educating and is not available for school use. A school should purchase the appropriate school subscription, even where it initially plans to support one student. The subscription may then support wider use in accordance with the current Terms and Conditions.
SENCOs
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The best support is the approach that matches the student’s starting point, learning profile and pace of progress. A short-term intervention may not be enough for a student working significantly below age-related expectations. Maths For Life is designed as a complete educator-led curriculum that builds mathematical understanding through small, connected steps, practical application and increasing independence. SENCOs should compare curriculum sequence, assessment, evidence, staff guidance, implementation requirements and suitability for the intended students.
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A suitable programme should offer a clear developmental sequence, manageable steps, meaningful repetition, visual and practical teaching, age-appropriate resources, and assessment that recognises independence as well as accuracy. Maths For Life covers six levels from Foundations – ‘a developmental age of 2’ - to Level 5 – ‘all the maths needed for life’ and is designed for students who need an individualised pathway. It can be delivered by teachers, teaching assistants and other educators using the educator guides, with appropriate oversight.
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An effective SEND maths curriculum is coherent, cumulative and responsive. It identifies essential prerequisite concepts, breaks learning into achievable steps, revisits knowledge and provides repeated opportunities to use maths meaningfully. It should value communication, reasoning, functional application and independence, not simply speed or coverage. Maths For Life offers this type of differentiated pathway for students who cannot access the pace and breadth of a standard national curriculum.
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Start by defining the student group, current attainment, barriers, desired outcomes and whether students need catch-up support or a different curriculum pathway. Compare developmental sequence, adaptability, assessment, evidence, staff guidance, reporting, implementation demands, cost and age range. Maths For Life may be suitable where students need more than a short intervention because it provides a complete differentiated curriculum, educator guides, resources, assessment and reporting. A demonstration and review of sample materials should form part of the decision making for a SENCO.
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No single programme will suit every special school. Leaders should look for ambition, meaningful progression, adaptability and sufficient structure for consistent delivery across diverse needs. Maths For Life is designed for learners with additional needs and those working significantly below age-related expectations. Students can work at different levels across different topics, and schools can use educator guides, practical and downloadable resources, assessment and reporting tools. Suitability should be judged against the school’s own cohort and teaching model. Maths For Life is used in special schools throughout the UK and further afield. Via our SEN School Network we support the sharing of best practice, collaboration and research.
SEN School Network | Iffley Academy case study | Testimonials
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Although the original motivation for the Maths For Life programme was to help her son Lance, who has Down syndrome, Karen developed it with a view to supporting learners with a wide range of additional learning needs, including autistic students. Its flexible pacing, small steps, repetition and real-life application can be adapted around an individual student’s strengths, communication and sensory profile.
In the Oxfordshire County Council schools’ pilot, 93% of participating students improved their maths attainment and 92% of participating students improved their independence. Autistic students made up 30% of the 124-student strong cohort and analysis by diagnosis showed that they improved more than the average in both categories. 81% of the autistic students improved their engagement in learning maths.
The team at Maths For Life know that a one size fits all approach doesn’t work and people learn in different ways. Some learners see things very black and white; right or wrong. We need to understand that there are different ways of viewing the maths world.
Maths For Life does not publish answers. This could be a struggle for some students (and educators!), especially those with autism, but we want to encourage reasoning, ruling in and ruling out options – there isn’t always just one answer, and you may be amazed to find the answers and explanations that some students give for a question. We call it the importance of why. What are you seeing? Explain if/when you see something different and reassure them that it is ok to see things differently. Validate their view of the world.
Autism Eye | Autism Eye Article | Oxfordshire pilot report | Testimonials - Autism -
Student assessments are educator-led and can be completed by any educator. As the independence is scored using the Hierarchy of Independence®, everyone is working to the same benchmark. In the ideal world, a baseline and a progression assessment for the same student would be completed by the same educator as this would give the most accurate results.
Completing the assessment training and moderating examples against the Hierarchy of Independence® can improve consistency and reduce differences in educator judgement.
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There is no fixed rate. Students should progress at a pace that allows understanding to become secure and useful. They may work at different levels in different topics. Progress should include the ability to apply maths in real life with decreasing support, rather than simply completing a prescribed number of resources or moving through levels quickly.
Teachers & Teaching Assistants
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Start by finding out what the student can do securely and independently. Break the next concept into small, connected steps, teach with practical objects and visual representations, use clear language and provide repeated practice in varied contexts. Check whether the child can apply the idea rather than only repeat a procedure. Maths For Life provides a structured sequence while allowing teachers to adapt the pace, examples and support.
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Teach from the student’s mathematical starting point rather than the content associated with chronological age. Identify missing prerequisite knowledge and build concepts in a logical sequence. Maths For Life allows students to work at different points in different topics and provides educator guides and resources for a coherent, real-life curriculum. Progress should be judged through secure understanding and growing independence, not speed of worksheet completion.
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Plan around the individual student rather than a general label. Helpful approaches may include predictable routines, clear language, visual representation, explicit modelling, carefully sequenced steps, meaningful repetition and time to generalise learning. Maths For Life can be adapted to the student’s pace and profile, with different levels used across different topics where needed.
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Differentiate the support and representation, not automatically the worksheet. Vary practical equipment, visual models, number size, language, the number of steps, response method, prompting and context. A student may work on an earlier prerequisite within the same practical theme. Maths For Life provides a coherent alternative sequence where a student is working significantly below the class curriculum, preventing differentiation from becoming disconnected tasks.
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Remove avoidable barriers while preserving the mathematics. Use concrete and visual representations, concise instructions, accessible layouts, familiar contexts, alternative ways to respond and sufficient processing time. Teach prerequisite vocabulary and revisit learning. Maths For Life helps match content to a student’s developmental starting point and records the support needed, so progress towards independence is visible.
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Use activities that make mathematical relationships visible and purposeful. Examples include sorting real objects, comparing quantities, building and partitioning numbers, acting out calculations, using money, reading meaningful timetables, measuring during cooking and exploring shape or position through movement. Move gradually from concrete experience to pictures and symbols. Maths For Life supports repeated application in varied real-life contexts.
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Maths For Life does not provide rigid lesson plans because the programme is designed to be individualised. Instead, the educator guides set out the curriculum structure and the elements needed for a lesson or sequence of lessons. Teachers can then select suitable activities, resources, examples and levels of support for the student.
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Maths For Life is designed to secure the mathematical foundations and practical skills students need for life. It is not a GCSE course. A student who continues to enjoy and progress in maths may later work towards GCSE maths, but the route and timescale will depend on the individual. The Levels page explains how Maths For Life relates to other curricula and qualifications.
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Yes, in the UK there are a group of qualifications called Functional Skills. The Dearing Review of qualifications for 16–19-year-olds (1996) and the Moser Report (1999) Improving literacy and numeracy were the catalysts for the development of the Skills for Life Strategy and the introduction of Functional Skills qualifications in 2011. Their premise was to tackle basic literacy and numeracy problems among the adult population, and their goal was to prepare learners to apply effectively their maths and english skills for the purpose of their career and employment. As well as being a free-standing qualification, Functional Skills qualifications are now widely used in schools, apprenticeships and adult education. They represent about 7% of all regulated qualifications taken in England and, other than GCSEs, this is the highest volume qualification type that Ofqual regulates.
Functional skills qualifications in english, maths and ICT are currently available. There are five levels for each subject: Entry 1, Entry 2, Entry 3, Level 1 and Level 2. A Functional Skills Level 2 qualification is at the same level as a grade 4 or C and above at GCSE.
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Maths For Life itself is a curriculum rather than a Functional Skills qualification. Maths For Life covers six levels from Foundations – ‘a developmental age of 2’ - to Level 5 – ‘all the maths needed for life’ and is designed for students who need an individualised pathway.
Although they do not map directly to the Functional Skills levels, they provide a pathway to attain these qualifications. Maths For Life Foundations and Level 1 combined are the equivalent of the Functional Skills Entry Level 1 qualification; Level 2, 3 and 4 combined cover all the content of Entry Level 2; and Level 5 enables access to Entry Level 3 and more.
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You do not have to complete formal training before using Maths For Life. The educator guides are written to help teachers, teaching assistants, parents and carers understand and implement the learning. Training and support can still be valuable for developing confidence, agreeing consistent practice, using assessments and the Hierarchy of Independence® effectively. Maths For Life has created a series of ‘How to… guides’ and a number of on-demand courses to support educators as well as offering the ability to attend Q&A sessions and book a live video call with the team.
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There is no set number. One question can provide the focus for a whole session through practical exploration, discussion, modelling and application. At other times, a student may practise a concept through several examples in varied contexts. The priority is secure learning and increasing independence, not the quantity of pages completed.
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No. The PDF resources can be printed or viewed on an interactive whiteboard, laptop, tablet or mobile device. With suitable PDF software, students may also write directly onto the documents. Resources should be combined with practical activities and discussion rather than being treated only as printed worksheets.
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Use the student’s assessment and current secure understanding to identify the next learning objective. A student may need different levels in different areas of maths. The educator guides explain the sequence and the learning required for each objective. If you are unsure, discuss the next step with the maths lead or SENCO and use the support available from Maths For Life.
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Pause and check whether the prerequisite knowledge is secure, whether the step is too large, whether the representation is accessible and whether the student can apply the learning outside the original task. Return to practical and visual teaching where needed, vary the context and agree the appropriate level of prompting with the teacher. Record what the student can do independently so small but meaningful progress is recognised.
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Maths For Life provides several routes for support. You can email learn@mathsforlife.com, book a one-to-one meeting via Zoom or Teams, ask other educators via the Community Forum and use the ‘How to… guides’. Questions about an individual student’s school provision should also be discussed with the maths lead or SENCO.
Parents & Carers
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Yes. The strongest approach is for the student, family and school to work in partnership. Parents and carers can reinforce learning through real-life opportunities involving money, time, cooking, shopping, journeys, shape, size and measurement. Families can also join the free Maths For Life Community and share relevant observations with the school.
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No formal training is required to begin. The educator guides are written for a wide range of educators, including parents and carers. There are on-demand training courses and ‘How To… guides’ available for those that would like a greater depth of understanding.
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No. Inclusion and differentiation should work together. A child can remain part of the school community while following a maths pathway that reflects the child’s current understanding and learning needs. Maths For Life focuses on secure foundations, carefully sequenced building blocks and meaningful maths for life. The important question is not whether the child completes the same work at the same time as peers, but whether the curriculum enables participation, progress and greater independence.
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Make maths part of everyday life and build concepts gradually. Early learning includes noticing what is the same or different, sorting, comparing size and quantity, counting, one-to-one correspondence, recognising numerals and beginning calculation. Use visual and practical resources, repeat ideas in varied contexts and connect learning to a purpose that matters to the child. Each child develops at an individual pace, so secure foundations are more important than rushing through milestones.
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Maths can be introduced from the earliest years through play, routines and everyday language. Counting fingers or objects, comparing big and small, sorting by colour or shape, noticing same and different, sharing items and talking about more or less all develop early mathematical understanding. Keep activities enjoyable, meaningful and suited to the child’s communication and development.
Although the Maths For Life programme starts at prenumber skills – a development age of 2 – parents and carers can be using and modelling mathematical language from birth.
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A move to secondary school does not automatically mean the student should stop using Maths For Life. The programme can continue where it remains the appropriate curriculum pathway. The school should review current attainment, progress, independence and future goals, and plan continuity between settings. The programme may continue through full-time education or until the student has successfully completed Level 5, subject to the individual’s needs and agreed pathway.
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Maths For Life builds mathematical foundations and practical skills but does not itself award GCSE or Functional Skills qualifications. Future progression depends on the individual.
On attainment of Maths For Life Level 5, a student who continues to enjoy and progress in maths may work towards GCSE maths or a Functional Skill Level 2, but the route and timescale will depend on the individual. The Levels page explains how Maths For Life relates to other curricula and qualifications.
Families should discuss the most suitable qualification route and timescale with the school or education provider.
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The subsidised home user subscription is intended for parents and carers who are home educating or providing additional supporting at home. A school using Maths For Life with a student needs the appropriate school subscription. Families and schools can still work together so that relevant mathematical ideas are reinforced through everyday activities at home. Educational tutors using Maths For Life with more than one student are expected to hold a school licence.
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The Maths For Life team are here to help. You can email learn@mathsforlife.com, book a video call through Talk to us, use the ‘How to… guides’, and join the free Maths For Life Community. If the question concerns how the programme is being used in school, speak with the student’s teacher or SENCO so that home and school approaches remain consistent.
