Helping every child build fluency in maths is no small feat, and for many schools, the biggest challenge isn’t just providing practice, but ensuring that practice is truly purposeful. Too often, pupils are set tasks that don’t quite match their current level of understanding, which can lead to frustration, disengagement, and missed opportunities for growth. That’s where Sumdog’s new intervention phase comes in.
Used by hundreds of schools across the UK, Sumdog is an online learning platform that offers engaging, curriculum-aligned maths practice tailored to every pupils’ needs. The new intervention phase is designed to make maths support more effective and personalised, ensuring that when pupils struggle with a concept, they’re guided, not stalled, on their journey to maths confidence.
One challenge many schools face when seeking to improve maths fluency is ensuring that practice is both purposeful and accessible for every pupil. With tools like Sumdog’s Fluency Booster, there’s a risk that some children may be set work on concepts they haven’t yet covered in class or find particularly difficult. When practice isn’t carefully matched to a pupil’s current understanding, it can lead to frustration and disengagement—limiting the impact of additional support and personal progression. Recognising and addressing these moments is vital, as targeted intervention should always encourage confidence and progress, not create unnecessary barriers or discourage learners from engaging with maths.
To ensure pupils progress with confidence, Sumdog’s Fluency Booster identifies when a particular maths skill becomes a barrier to learning. If a pupil consistently answers less than half of the questions correctly in a given area, that skill is flagged as a “hard skill” and highlighted in intervention reports for teachers. At this point, the platform temporarily pauses questions on that topic, as well as on more advanced skills that depend on it, such as halting further multiplication practice if the 2x table is proving tricky. Instead, a small number of review questions are set from time to time, enabling teachers to monitor understanding and see when a pupil is ready to revisit and move forward.
In our new intervention phase, we are introducing a more supportive approach for pupils tackling hard skills. Now, when a pupil identifies with a challenging area, they’ll be given a carefully structured set of questions that revisists both the hard skill and related foundational concepts. For example, children who find ordering 2-digit numbers difficult will also practise place value skills, helping to strengthen their understanding. This new scaffolding approach is based on our in-depth progression framework. Once a pupil achieves a rolling accuracy of 70% or more, the skill is unlocked and progress can continue. If not, the skill is paused for at least a week, providing a supportive, tailored path through the maths curriculum.
Sumdog’s intervention phase will be available in November for all schools with a Sumdog Maths subscription.