Bridging concrete to abstract: place value, early operations, and rebuilding confidence for children who've started to feel behind.
This is the stage where maths starts to move from the hands to the page, and where children who needed a slower run-up at the foundation stage can start to feel like they're "behind" if that transition is rushed. We don't rush it. Materials stay on the table for as long as a child needs them, even while we introduce the written symbols and procedures alongside.
For children arriving here from a traditional classroom rather than our own foundation stage, this is often the first time someone has gone back to check whether the concrete understanding is actually there, rather than assuming it and re-teaching the same worksheet, slower.
Re-establishing solid number sense before layering on new procedures.
The three topics where most children who "feel behind" actually lost their footing.
Bringing the year's skills together, including the word-problem strategies most children never get taught explicitly.