The 40 Week 11+ Maths Plan: Two Lessons a Week, Every Topic in Order

The 11+ maths syllabus has 80 topics, and the order you teach them in matters as much as the topics themselves. Fractions are much easier once place value and division are secure, and percentages are easier once fractions are. This plan puts all 80 topics in teaching order, two a week, so the whole syllabus is covered in 40 weeks.

It is free. Every week has a free practice page, and you can follow it with any books or resources you already use. Our lessons are one way to teach each topic, not a condition of using the plan.

How a week works

• Two lesson days. Each one teaches one topic, with worked examples first and then practice.
• A recap day after each lesson. Your child tries questions on the same topic using their notes, with less help. This is where the method sticks.
• A little every day. Ten minutes of mental arithmetic or times tables, plus a puzzle or a maths game for variety.
• A check at the end of the week. Twelve questions from the free practice page for that week's topics, answered without notes.

After the check, you decide what happens next. If most answers are right, move on. If not, spend another week on the same two topics before continuing. The plan works at the pace your child needs, and there is no penalty for taking 45 weeks instead of 40.

When to start

For most children, the start of Year 4 is the right time. Starting then, the plan finishes during Year 4 or early Year 5, which leaves plenty of time for reasoning practice and past papers before a test in September of Year 6. A confident child starting in September of Year 5 can still finish the plan by the summer.

Before week 1, try the free Maths Level Finder. It checks 16 topics and shows which ones are already secure. The maths learning order tool has a check question for every lesson, so you can skip the weeks your child does not need.

The plan, week by week

Each group of weeks covers one area of the syllabus, and each area has its own free practice page.

Week 1. Place value to 100, then place value to 1,000. Practice: free place value practice.

Week 2. Place value to 10,000, then place value to 1,000,000. Practice: free place value practice.

Week 3. Place value to 1,000,000,000, then rounding to 10, 100 and 1,000. Practice: free place value practice.

Week 4. Adding and subtracting: mental methods, then adding and subtracting: written methods. Practice: free four operations practice.

Week 5. Multiplying, then dividing. Practice: free four operations practice.

Week 6. Division rules and multiplication tricks, then squares, cubes and roots. Practice: free four operations practice.

Week 7. BIDMAS, then inserting brackets and inverse. Practice: free four operations practice.

Week 8. Place value: decimals, then rounding decimals. Practice: free decimals practice.

Week 9. Significant figures and estimation, then multiplying and dividing by powers of 10. Practice: free decimals practice.

Week 10. Decimals: adding and subtracting, then decimals: multiplying and dividing. Practice: free decimals practice.

Week 11. Negative numbers, then factors, multiples and factorising skills. Practice: free decimals practice, free factors practice.

Week 12. HCF and LCM, including worded problems, then prime numbers and prime factors. Practice: free factors practice.

Week 13. Introduction to fractions, then adding and subtracting fractions. Practice: free fractions practice.

Week 14. Multiplying and dividing fractions, then fractions of amounts, increase and decrease. Practice: free fractions practice.

Week 15. Reverse fractions, then introduction to ratio and equivalent ratios. Practice: free fractions practice, free ratio practice.

Week 16. Recipes and best buys, then sharing and ratio problems. Practice: free ratio practice.

Week 17. Percentages of amounts, then percentage increase, decrease and change. Practice: free percentages practice.

Week 18. Reverse percentages, then fractions, decimals and percentages 1. Practice: free FDP practice, free percentages practice.

Week 19. Fractions, decimals and percentages 2, then introduction to algebra and basic expressions. Practice: free algebra practice, free FDP practice.

Week 20. Collecting terms, then function machines. Practice: free algebra practice.

Week 21. Multiplying and dividing terms, then solving one-step equations. Practice: free algebra practice.

Week 22. Solving two-step equations, then substitution. Practice: free algebra practice.

Week 23. Forming and solving equations, then simultaneous equations. Practice: free algebra practice.

Week 24. Sequences, then angles: identifying 90, 180 and 360 degrees. Practice: free algebra practice, free angles practice.

Week 25. Identifying 2D and 3D shapes, then angles in triangles. Practice: free angles practice.

Week 26. Angles in quadrilaterals and polygons, then line and rotational symmetry. Practice: free angles practice.

Week 27. Perimeter and compound shapes, then area of squares, rectangles and triangles. Practice: free area practice.

Week 28. Area of trapezia and compound shapes, then volume of 3D shapes. Practice: free area practice.

Week 29. Surface area, then mode, median and range. Practice: free area practice, free averages practice.

Week 30. Mean and reverse mean, then averages and range from tables. Practice: free averages practice.

Week 31. Problems with averages, then data tables, tally charts and frequency tables. Practice: free averages practice, free data practice.

Week 32. Two-way tables, then venn diagrams and Carroll diagrams. Practice: free data practice.

Week 33. Bar charts, line graphs and pictograms, then pie charts. Practice: free data practice.

Week 34. Coordinates, then reflections, enlargements and translations. Practice: free measures practice.

Week 35. Converting units: distance, liquid and weight, then time problems, timetables and calendars. Practice: free measures practice.

Week 36. Speed, distance and time, then combinations. Practice: free measures practice, free probability practice.

Week 37. Probability: single events and totals of 1, then probability: independent and dependent events. Practice: free probability practice.

Week 38. Sudoku, then roman numerals. Practice: free reasoning practice.

Week 39. Different bases and binary, then anagrams and codes. Practice: free reasoning practice.

Week 40. Magic squares and number pyramids, then mixed problem solving. Practice: free reasoning practice.

Free help for every week

Every area has a free practice page with questions at three levels and answers revealed with a click, and every page prints as a worksheet. For the daily slot, our free Turbo Times Tables game, Countdown numbers game and puzzles such as Squared Away keep practice varied.

For each area, our "why your child keeps getting stuck" posts explain the usual mistakes and what to do about them. Start with fractions or percentages. There is one for every area of the syllabus.

If you want every lesson ready to teach

The Complete 11+ Maths Course has all 80 lessons in exactly this order, numbered 1 to 80, so the plan tells you which lesson to open each week. Every lesson starts with worked examples your child clicks through one line at a time, then gives them questions to answer on paper and check on screen. It is £200 once, which works out at £5 a week over the 40 weeks.

If you would like a teacher to set the starting point and the pace, book a free consultation. We will look at where your child is and suggest where in the plan to begin.

Aadam, SHLC Tutors