Carleon Class Curriculum Overview 2025-2026 (Cycle 1)
To help our children with their Maths learning, we are introducing something called KIRFs. This stands for Key Instant Recall Facts. These are important number facts that children need to remember quickly, without having to work them out every time.
When children know these facts by heart, they don’t have to stop and work them out each time. This helps free up their thinking space (or brain space), so they can focus on their new learning and solving problems. It means their brain isn’t working too hard on the small things, and they can learn more easily. This is called reducing mental load. To help children remember them well, these facts should be practised often – just for a few minutes at a time.
Each half term, your child will focus on one KIRF which they can practise at home too. You don’t need to spend a long time on it – you can practise in the car, on the way to school, or even at the dinner table! Doing a little bit often is the best way to help your child remember.
Children will also practise the KIRFs in school, and their teachers will check how well they know them. Over time, KIRFs will help your child feel more confident with number and calculation and understand how Maths is used in real life. It will also help them solve different types of Maths problems more fluently.
Please see the KIRFs for Year 1 and Year 2 below.