AfterMaths: A Trillion Cornflakes!

In this Aftermaths episode, Jon is joined once again by Sally Cole (standing in heroically for Becky!) for a wide-ranging Friday debrief. Together they unpack a huge week in maths education, from the launch of the brand-new Twinkl Maths app on iOS to the University of Nottingham’s State of the Nation review — plus a Maths of Life segment that dives into the mind-bending scale of a trillion.

This week’s conversation pulls together classroom practice, national trends, early years pedagogy and variation theory in the way only an Aftermaths episode can.

⭐ What We Talk About

• The new Twinkl Maths App on iOS

What’s inside it, how it helps with fluency, MTC practice, SEND-friendly settings, and why the Skills Safari is grounded in the Ready-to-Progress criteria.

• Why multiplication and division deserve more curriculum time

Jon reflects on a full-day session with SCITT students and why multiplicative thinking underpins fractions, scaling and upper KS2 success.

• Insights from the latest maths education report

Including:

– Why reception pupils begin with overwhelmingly positive attitudes towards maths

– A surprising link between attitudes and month of birth

– Why most primary teachers feel under-prepared due to workload

– The Key Stage 2 → Key Stage 3 transition problem

– Why early attainment predicts GCSE outcomes far more than we’d like

– Maths anxiety in Year 7 (40% reporting high anxiety)

• The EYFS problem for maths leads

Most maths leads teach in Year 6 — and feel least confident about early years. Jon gives a shout-out to Twinkl PD’s EYFS maths course.

• Maths of Life: How big is a trillion?

Following Elon Musk’s headline-grabbing pay deal, Jon explores the staggering scale of a trillion using comparisons involving seconds, sand, cornflakes, blades of grass and Welsh geography.

– 1 trillion seconds = 31,709 years

– 1 trillion grains of sand = a small bucket

– 1 trillion cornflakes = 55 Olympic swimming pools

– 1 trillion blades of grass = would cover Wales 12 times

– UK long-scale vs US short-scale number names

• Key takeaways from Jon Bee’s interview on variation theory

Sally and Jon unpack:

– The difference between variation and variety

– Procedural vs conceptual variation

– Jon Bee’s “procedural shock” example

– Why representation choices matter

– How schema-building across key stages keeps children engaged

– The importance of teaching what multiplication means, not just how to execute it