Some pupils in a cohort may find it harder to connect quantities, number words and numerals. Confirm their individual starting points before grouping them. Difficulty understanding quantity is not identical to difficulty reading numerals or using place value, even when both contribute to the same score pattern.

Find the common starting point

Use brief tasks with objects, pictures, spoken numbers and written numerals. Check whether pupils can:

• recognise and compare quantities;

• estimate and subitise;

• connect quantities to number words and symbols;

• order numbers and use a number line;

• partition and recombine numbers;

• explain place value and number relationships.

Record strategies and errors, not just correct answers. Group pupils only when the earliest insecure relationship is sufficiently similar.

Plan a connected sequence

Specify the target, baseline, frequency, trained adult, review date and exit criteria. A typical pattern is two to four pupils in three sessions of about 30 minutes a week. The pupils' level of need will decide how long it runs. Choose where it fits in the week and when you'll check progress; many schools review after six to eight weeks. Teach one connected idea through concrete, pictorial and symbolic representations.

For example:

1. compare two quantities with counters;

2. show the comparison on a ten frame or bead string;

3. locate both numbers on a number line;

4. write and explain the corresponding symbols;

5. apply the relationship to an unfamiliar example.

Ask pupils to explain what each representation shows. Remove materials gradually after understanding is secure, not according to a fixed timetable.

Maintain links with class teaching

Intervention staff and class teachers should use consistent representations and mathematical language. Reinforce the taught relationship during normal maths lessons and avoid teaching a disconnected alternative method.

Monitor understanding

Use unfamiliar examples and classroom work to check comparison, estimation, representation and explanation. If pupils progress at different rates or reveal different foundational gaps, adjust the group rather than broadening the intervention until it loses focus.

Programme and resource options

• Every Child Counts: 1stClass@Number 2 (paid) is a structured small-group programme for learners who need further support with the Year 2 mathematics curriculum. It is delivered by a trained teaching assistant in three 30-minute sessions each week over 10–15 weeks. Every Child Counts also runs 1stClass@Number 1 (paid) for Year 2 pupils. In an EEF trial across 226 schools, evaluated by NFER (2025), pupils on @Number 1 made about two months' extra progress in maths. That result is for @Number 1, so it doesn't show how well @Number 2 works. Both suit a school that can protect a trained TA's time for a full term. Confirm the current entry criteria, training and costs directly with the provider.

• DfE mathematics guidance for primary schools provides free concept progressions and representations that can inform targeted teaching.

• NCETM curriculum resources provide free teaching materials. They are not an intervention programme.

Review provider claims alongside independent evidence and local fit.

Talamo has no commercial relationship with any of the organisations named here. We suggest them only because we think they could be useful to schools.