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Build a secure future in number and calculation

numicon Series Editor

The Numicon programme builds a deep understanding of number and number relationships, developing childrens fluency, reasoning and problem-solving:
proven pedagogy raises achievement across all ability levels and sustains it over time

matched to the new eyfs framework

supports the 2014 national curriculum

Tony Wing, B.Ed, PhD Tony Wing is a former primary school teacher, lecturer and professional development leader specialising in primary mathematics. Along with experienced and practising teachers in schools, Tony is continuing to develop the highly successful Numicon Approach, focusing on action, imagery, conversation and structure.

carefully-designed progression ensures every child can enjoy success in mathematics engaging multi-sensory activities develop a secure grasp of number, calculation and pattern, leading to algebra accessible teaching guides with built-in planning and assessment support tried and tested in the classroom.

Numicon Professional Development

NCETM accredited Professional Development delivered by consultants that are passionate about maths.
We offer tailored courses that will give you the best possible start to using Numicon in your school. Through a mixture of INSET, central training and sustained Professional Development we cover quality first teaching in maths, as well as delivery of the Numicon Intervention Programme.
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Order form: paGe 72

Numicon Structure Chart

see order form for full title Age list

Resources for stretch and challenge

The Investigations with Numicon book provides challenges for all children. All activities have a low threshold and high ceiling.

Resources for intervention and catch-up

From catch-up resources to a comprehensive intervention programme, we offer non agespecific solutions to make sure every child can succeed in maths.

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Numicon is the best number system that I have ever found, in 26 years of teaching.
Pennie Jones Primary School Teacher

Resources for planning, teaching and assessing

From Nursery to Year 3 our resources cover number, pattern and calculating from P-Scale Levels to National Curriculum Level 3.

Resources for parents

The 1st Steps with Numicon at Home Kit is ideal for exploring early number ideas.

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Teaching Sequence
The Numicon programme is rigorous, with careful, detailed progression integrated throughout. The improvement in childrens achievement through following this tried and tested approach is widely recognised.

Planning
Numicon teaching guides include clear and easyto-use planning charts so you can follow a suggested order of teaching through the strands.

Easy-to-use teaching guides with step-by-step activities and planning.

Challenge
All Numicon activities enable you to teach new concepts from a low threshold starting point and integrate high-ceiling investigations to challenge your more able children.

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Problem-solving
Numicon activities have problem-solving at their core so that children are able to investigate the structures of our number system in context and in a tangible way.

Recording
Numicon offers flexibility in how children record their work and guidance throughout the activities on the best ways to present work.

In Year 3, Numicon activities always begin with a real-life or mathematical context.

Assessment
The visual nature of Numicon apparatus and the Assessment Signposts and diagnostic assessment tools included in the teaching guides ensure you have a range of ways to assess and monitor progress.
Each Numicon teaching guide includes clear planning and progression.

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Look Inside
Planning with Numicon
Numicon activities are organised into three strands: Numbers and the Number System, Pattern (and Algebra in year 3) and Calculating. The Numicon Kit 3 Activity Handbook contains a helpful overview of each Activity Group, in a suggested order to help you to plan.

Browse more levels online

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The Numicon programme provides step-by-step guidance on introducing each concept, building understanding and extending thinking.

Progression can easily be tracked through the colour-coded sections, and the concepts are neatly integrated to save time

Planning charts give you a clear overview of progression throughout the school year
Kit 3 Long-term planning overview, Kit 3 Activity handbook

Numicon Kit 3 Planning CD

Kit 3 Planning and Resources Software features a summary of each Activity Group; medium and longterm planning with recommended progression; the photocopy masters; and videos to help you get started.

Display resources to help you create a numberrich environment Editable planning and Activity Group overviews

Kit 3 Planning and Resources CD-ROM

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Numicon Activity Groups

In this example from our Kit 3 materials, youll see a contextualised opening page that outlines the Educational Context and the Learning and Assessment Opportunities for a calculating activity.

The mathematical language, learning and assessment opportunities are clearly identified

Each Kit 3 Activity Group has a meaningful context to engage children in mathematical conversation

Calculating 6 Activity Group from the Kit 3 Activity handbook

Each lesson is thoroughly explained to ensure that the progression can be followed with confidence, and the skills are carefully developed. Activities are presented step-bystep for clear progression and ease of use.

Steps are illustrated to model the use of structured apparatus in the activity

Calculating 6 Activity Group from the Kit 3 Activity handbook

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The Impact
The Numicon approach raises achievement in mathematics and sustains it over time.

Numicon has become part of what I do when teaching maths. It has become an integral part of the maths lessons because it works!
Emma Gower Maths Co-ordinator, Chandlings Manor School, Oxon

SATs results from Infant & Junior School Cohorts

60 50 40 30 20 10 0 W 1 2C 2B 2A 3

47%
increase at level 3

155%
increase at level 4

72%
increase at level 5

With Without Numicon (1997) Numicon (1998)

With Numicon (1999)

Peacehaven Infant School Mathematics KS1 SATs results

It all started with one question... Why?

In the mid-1990s Dr Tony Wing and I voiced the question many other teachers were asking why do so many children find maths hard when they succeed in other subjects? We looked at how we were teaching and realised that we had been underestimating the difficulties children have understanding abstract ideas without pictures to help them. So we set up a school-based Teacher Development Agency (TDA) research project, to see what impact structured images (Numicon Shapes and Cuisenaire rods) would have. We found that children made remarkable progress and teacherssubject knowledge and maths pedagogy improved as they adopted the approach. Romey Tacon Former Head Teacher, a consultant and co-author of the Numicon approach

60 50 40 30 20 10 0 N 2 3 4 5

With Without Numicon (2001) Numicon (2002)

With Numicon (2003)

Hodder Junior School Mathematics KS2 SATs results

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Chandlings Manor School, Oxfordshire

The teachers who have been introduced to Numicon this year have been astonished by the way the children have taken to the equipment and the progress they are making. In Year 1 the exploration of number bonds to ten has taken on a new level with the majority of the class quickly understanding, learning and recalling the pairs of numbers that make ten and applying this in their number work. As a result the demand for more equipment in class has been overwhelming and the response to the recent INSET training was extremely positive. Numicon will now form part of the everyday ways in which we work with children in maths and has also heightened the teachers thirst for developing further their maths subject knowledge.
One teacher can be quoted exclaiming

However did we teach maths before Numicon?

One particular girl, for whom new maths concepts were tricky to grasp and retain, achieved far more than was anticipated, given her age-standardised Year 1 maths scores. She quickly felt the success and support of carrying out multiplication using Numicon Shapes and could understand exactly what she had to do when she picked up a five, four times. By physically laying the fives on a Numicon tens line, she could then see its obvious equivalence with 20 and that she had collected a five four times to make 20.

After lots of practice she could then independently record this using symbols, relying heavily on the apparatus and repeating the familiar language to support her initially. Again similar evidence of her accelerated progress was seen when she was introduced to division using a number track and rods. She could identify the starting number on the number track and then build up this number using the rods to find out how many times that number was required. Creating this simple yet explicit link between multiplication and division with Numicon was certainly the key to her understanding. Her feelings towards doing maths changed drastically over this period of time. She stopped claiming that she was no good at maths, but instead approached maths lessons with joy, a new sense of confidence and a can do attitude. She had become empowered to do maths. She could show her understanding and use Numicon to prove that she was right. Emma Gower Maths Co-ordinator and Year 2 Teacher Chandlings Manor School, Oxfordshire

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