Maths gap analysis for primary schools, built into every week.
Big Maths identifies which learning steps each child is struggling with, automatically, every week, with zero marking. Teachers always know what to teach next.
Why most primary schools are teaching without a gap analysis loop
Most primary maths programmes are organised by date and year group, not by what each child actually knows. Teaching moves forward because time does, not because of any insight or confidence that the children are ready! Learning gaps do not disappear when the class moves on… they accumulate!
Teaching is driven by the scheme, not the child
Most programmes tell teachers what to teach based on the date, term and year group. If a child has not secured last week’s learning objectives, the class moves on anyway. The gaps remain, and new learning is expected to build on top of them.
Gaps only surface when it is too late to act
End-of-term assessments or SATs data reveal gaps months after they formed. By then, a child may have spent an entire year attempting to build on a foundation that was never secure. Small gaps become big ones quietly.
Teachers cannot teach what they cannot see
Teachers rely on professional judgement and general assessment to spot gaps. Whilst that may work for broad patterns, it cannot identify which specific step each child is struggling with, or what to teach next to fix it.
How Big Maths gap analysis works differently
Big Maths identifies maths learning gaps at the level of individual learning steps. Over 1,200 of them, from Early Years to Year 6. Not broad topics. Precise steps, updated every week, automatically.
Baseline Assessment
Every child completes a baseline when they join Big Maths. It shows precisely where they are across all 1,200+ learning steps. Not where they should be for their age. Where they actually are.
Weekly Beat That! challenges
Every Friday, every child takes a short Beat That! challenge. Every question maps to a specific learning step. Every wrong answer identifies a specific gap. No marking. No data entry. It happens automatically.
Learning Gaps tool
The Learning Gaps screen shows which steps each child is struggling with, across every class and year group. Resources are linked directly, one click away. On Monday morning, teachers know exactly what to teach.
Teach the gap. Assess again.
Teachers use the gap data to plan the week. Next Friday, the cycle repeats. The gap closes or the system flags it again. Nothing is assumed. Nothing is left to drift.
Step-level gap analysis vs topic-level gap analysis
There is a big difference between knowing a child is behind in maths and knowing exactly where the gap is. One tells you there is a problem. The other tells you what to do about it.
Without Big Maths
A child is struggling with multiplication. The teacher revisits the topic, plans a lesson, and hopes it lands. Next half term the same child is still behind. Nobody is quite sure why.
With Big Maths
The Learning Gaps screen shows the exact step the child has not yet secured. The teacher clicks straight through to the matched resource. On Friday, the challenge shows whether the gap has closed.
Big Maths contains over 1,200 individual learning steps, from Early Years through to Year 6. Every question in every Beat That! challenge maps to one of those steps. That is what makes the gap analysis specific enough to act on. Not at the end of term. On Monday morning.
Gap analysis for every level of your school
The same data, seen differently depending on who needs it. No one has to build a spreadsheet. No one has to ask for a report. It is all there, updated every week.
Class teachers
See exactly which steps each child in your class is struggling with. Know what to teach next week. Resources are linked directly. No planning from scratch, no guesswork.
Maths leads
See gap patterns across year groups. Spot whether a particular step is one child struggling or a pattern across a whole cohort. Plan your CPD and intervention where it is actually needed.
Headteachers and SLT
See whole-school attainment against Age Related Expectations at any point in the year. Generate reports for Ofsted, governors, or parents in seconds. The data is always current.
Closing gaps narrows the spread of attainment across your whole school
When every child’s learning gaps are identified and targeted from the start, the spread of attainment begins to narrow. Children who were behind start to catch up. Children who were ahead keep progressing. The range a teacher has to plan for becomes smaller and more manageable.
This is why Big Maths works particularly well in schools with a wide spread of ability, high SEND populations, or large numbers of children entering below age-related expectations.
“We achieved our highest ever results in the history of our school for this year’s SATs results, thanks to Big Maths. Almost 20% above national average.”
Start precisely
Baseline Assessment shows each child’s actual starting point, not what the calendar says they should know. This is where the gap analysis begins.
Update weekly
Beat That! challenges update the gap picture every Friday. Teachers arrive on Monday knowing which children closed which gaps and which still need attention.
Act immediately
Resources are linked directly to each gap. Teachers can plan Monday’s lesson in minutes, with materials already matched to the exact step that needs teaching.
Measure impact
The following Friday shows whether the gap closed. If not, the system flags it again. Nothing drifts and nothing is assumed to be fine.
That is the engine behind results like that.
See the full evidenceAutomatic gap analysis. Zero marking. Zero data entry.
The reason most schools do not have a weekly gap analysis loop is not a lack of intention. It is a lack of time!
Children complete challenges online
Beat That! challenges can be completed on tablets, laptops, or desktops. No paper, no collecting in, no marking. The system records every answer the moment it is submitted.
Gaps identified automatically
Every wrong answer maps to a specific learning step and is flagged as a gap. The Learning Gaps screen is populated instantly. No teacher input required.
Resources linked at the click of a button
From the Learning Gaps tool, teachers click straight through to the resource matched to that step. From identifying a gap to having a lesson planned takes seconds.
10 to 15 minutes per week
That is what it takes to review the Learning Gaps data and update next week’s plan. For most teachers it replaces hours of end-of-unit marking, data entry, and guesswork.
If devices are limited, personalised paper challenge sheets can be printed for the whole class at the click of a button. Scores can be entered manually and the gap analysis still runs automatically.
The Learning Gaps tool changed everything. I used to spend Sunday evening trying to work out what to teach on Monday. Now I open the screen, see exactly what every child needs, and I am done in ten minutes.
Year 5 Teacher, Lancashire, England
Frequently asked questions
Questions from maths leads and headteachers about gap analysis in Big Maths.
What is maths gap analysis in primary schools?
Maths gap analysis is the process of identifying which knowledge or skills a child has not yet secured, so that teaching and intervention support can be targeted precisely rather than moving on to the next thing on the scheme leaving gaps behind. In many primary schools it happens termly or annually, if it happens at all. In Big Maths it happens every week, automatically, at the level of individual learning steps. Each wrong answer in a Beat That! challenge maps to a specific step, so teachers know exactly which step a child is struggling with and what to teach next.
How does Big Maths identify learning gaps?
In two ways. A Baseline Assessment when a school joins Big Maths identifies each child’s starting position. From that point on, weekly Beat That! challenges update the picture automatically. Because every question maps to a specific step, each wrong answer identifies a gap at step level rather than broad topic level. The Learning Gaps tool in Big Maths Online displays those gaps by child, by class, and by year group, updated every week with no manual input.
How is Big Maths gap analysis different from other assessment tools?
Most primary maths assessment tools tell you a child is weak at fractions or multiplication. Big Maths tells you which step they have not yet secured, across 1,200+ precisely sequenced learning steps. Teachers know which step to teach, in which order, with a resource already matched to it. The other key difference is how often it runs: most tools are termly. Big Maths runs every week, automatically, with zero marking and zero data entry.
Can Big Maths gap analysis replace our current tracking system?
For most schools, yes. Big Maths Online includes everything needed for whole-school maths tracking from Early Years to Year 6 / Primary 7. Individual learning gaps, class attainment, cohort progress against Age Related Expectations, and Ofsted-ready reports are all generated automatically from the weekly Beat That! data. Many schools remove their separate tracking spreadsheets entirely. Schools that use external systems for standardised benchmarking can continue alongside Big Maths as the two complement each other well.
How long does it take to run gap analysis in Big Maths?
Once children complete their weekly challenges online, typically 10 to 15 minutes for an average class, the gap analysis runs automatically. No marking, no data entry, no report generation required. Reviewing the Learning Gaps screen and updating the following week’s plan takes most teachers around 10 to 15 minutes. The full weekly cycle is typically under 30 minutes.
Is Big Maths gap analysis suitable for SEND/SEN/ASN pupils?
Yes, it works particularly well for these pupils. The framework begins below nursery level and works from what each child actually knows, so no child is too far behind to be reached. Gap analysis works exactly the same way for a pupil with additional support needs as for any other: the baseline shows their starting point, weekly challenges update the gap picture, and resources are linked to the specific steps they need.See SEN/ASN support
See the Learning Gaps tool in action.
Book a free demo and we will walk you through the Baseline Assessment, the weekly Beat That! cycle, and the Learning Gaps screen, explaining how Big Maths can work for your school and pupils.
Not ready to book? Send us a question or see how Big Maths works.