As a school, we recognise the importance of fluency and mental skills in mathematics and this new approach will support children at Donnington Wood Junior School in becoming more secure in their recall of the key facts for their year group, enabling them to approach more complex maths with confidence and flexibility. 

What are KIRFs and why are they important?

KIRFs are the ‘Key Instant Recall Facts’ that children need to secure during their primary years. They include facts such as number bonds and times tables. They are particularly useful when calculating, adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing but also underpin many other areas of mathematics. For example, in order to find equivalent fractions in Year 6, children need to be able to rapidly recall their knowledge of common multiples (numbers in particular times tables). When children have quick access to a bank of facts, which incur little cost to working memory, they have more capacity to think about more complex problems that draw on these facts. We have noticed that without regular rehearsal, these facts are forgotten so it is essential they are practised regularly and embedded in children’s long-term memory so they can be recalled quickly and accurately.

How will KIRF home learning work?

Every half term, your child will be set home learning which focuses on a particular set of KIRFs. This will be shared via letter, Seesaw and Parent Pay, but will also be available on our school website under the Maths section and stuck in your child’s reading diary. You will see that each KIRF home learning sheet explains what the focus is for the half term and gives examples of the key facts that need to be learnt, as well as key vocabulary and questions to ask your child and top tips for learning them. Learning KIRFs shouldn’t be time-consuming. In fact, KIRFs can be practised anywhere: in the car, walking to school, at the dinner table. The most important thing is facilitating regular practice. Little and often will support your child in retaining these facts for the long term! Each half term, your child will need to upload evidence of their learning of their half-termly KIRFs via their Seesaw account. Children will also be taught their KIRFs in school; however, each half term, extra attention will be paid to the KIRF focus, as part of Early Morning Work. It is crucial that your child is in school by 8:35am every morning to ensure that they are accessing this learning.  Teachers will also assess the children fortnightly to make sure these facts are being retained. We thank you for supporting your child in developing as a confident mathematician. We strongly believe that with factual fluency, your child will become much more confident when working with number and be able to access the curriculum year-on-year with more confidence and enjoyment.