WHY TABLES STICK ?
In line with EEF (Education Endowment Foundation) guidance for improving the teaching of maths, Tables Stick® provides a strategy-based approach for the teaching of times tables, supported by Tables Stick® practical resources to deepen understanding and scaffold learning so the facts make sense for all children.
​
This mastery approach, grounded in number sense, builds on what children already know and emphasises the rich patterns and connections between mathematical facts, locking them into long-term memory for fluent recall and application.
​
As with all manipulatives, it is how they are used that makes the difference. Tables Stick CPD provides training for schools to support the purposeful and effective use of these resources to maximise impact.
​
The Tables Stick® YouTube channel supports this approach and provides videos for each times table.
As a child, I struggled to learn my times tables by heart. No matter how hard I tried, the facts just wouldn’t stick. Times tables felt overwhelming—the sheer number of facts to memorise, endless drills, and weekly tests made no difference to my retention. I felt frustrated and eventually believed I wasn’t good at maths. I decided I wasn’t a “maths person.”
Fast forward to my career as a primary school teacher, and I was determined no child I taught would feel the same way about maths, especially when learning their times tables.
Before starting my first year of teaching, I discovered a cupboard full of dusty base-10 blocks. I took them home, cleaned them up, and learned how to use them. That’s when I had a breakthrough—I realised my struggle with maths stemmed from not understanding the concepts behind the numbers. This included times tables. I needed them to make sense before they would stick.
This was a game-changing realisation, and I began searching for a way to teach times tables that focused on understanding rather than rote memorisation.
Enter the humble counting stick with post-its! This simple tool revolutionised how I taught times tables. It was amazing to see children not only enjoying their learning but truly understanding how the facts connected.
However, as effective as the counting stick was, it had its limitations: it only went up to 10, had no numbers, which made it too abstract for some children, and the post-its constantly fell off. So, I decided to create a bespoke version—one that would address these issues and be specifically designed to support the teaching and learning of times tables.
That’s how Tables Stick was born.
After diving into the unfamiliar world of manufacturing and business, I’ve been fortunate to work with some incredible, generous people who believed in Tables Stick and helped make this vision a reality. I’m forever grateful to them.
It’s funny how something I once disliked has become something I’m truly passionate about. Today, I’m grateful every day that I get to help children make sense of maths and see their confidence grow.
THE STORY OF TABLES STICK
CASE STUDY
Multiplication Tables Check (MTC) Performance for a Multi Academy Trust (MAT) in Essex
The data for the academic year 2022/23 pertains to a Multi Academy Trust (MAT) in an area of high deprivation in Essex, England which implemented the Tables Stick programme across its four primary schools in September 2022. The data analysed is based on the Department for Education’s Multiplication Tables Check (MTC).
The first table illustrates that all four schools within the MAT achieved a mean score that surpasses the national average. This indicates that the MAT's implementation of the Tables Stick programme positively influenced overall school performance in multiplication tables.
Performance of Disadvantaged Pupils
The second table focuses on the performance of disadvantaged pupils, who, at a national level, typically underperform compared to their peers in the MTC. Notably, within this MAT, disadvantaged pupils performed comparably to their non-disadvantaged peers and exceeded the national average for all pupils. This outcome suggests that the Tables Stick program effectively supports disadvantaged students, bridging the attainment gap and aligning their performance with the general student population.
Table 1 - Mean Average Score Nationally, the mean average score of all pupils was 20.2 marks.  
Table 2 - Disadvantaged pupils
Overall School Performance