KHDA Inclusion: Gamified Maths Support | Times Tables Games

When I looked into the specifics of what KHDA is asking of schools right now, one thing stood out clearly. It is not enough to seat a Student of Determination next to their peers and call it inclusion. The framework requires schools to demonstrate that these pupils are progressing, that their IEPs are being followed in practice, and that the learning environment itself is designed to support them rather than inadvertently exclude them.

Maths is one of the sharpest pressure points here. It is a subject where anxiety, processing differences, and working-memory challenges tend to show up early and visibly. A child with dyslexia, ADHD, or dyscalculia can fall behind in times-tables fluency not because they lack the ability, but because the way the content is typically delivered does not work for how their brain processes information. That gap, if it is not addressed, feeds into broader maths anxiety that can follow a child for years.

For SENCOs and Year 4-6 teachers in Dubai private schools, this creates a very real daily challenge: how do you deliver differentiated maths practice in a shared classroom, at pace, without making a child with SEND feel singled out?

Here is what I am seeing more and more in conversations around SEND-friendly EdTech: it is not just about whether the software covers the right topics. It is about whether the design itself removes unnecessary barriers.

The most important thing a maths fluency tool can do for a Student of Determination is make them feel like a participant, not a problem to be managed.

That means no flashing timers that spike anxiety. It means clear, uncluttered layouts that do not overwhelm children with sensory or processing differences. It means the ability to progress at a pace that reflects the individual child's IEP targets rather than a standardised class benchmark. And it means finding a way to build genuine motivation, because a child who has already decided they are bad at maths will not engage with a tool that feels like more of the same.

This is precisely the thinking behind XTables Champions. We built the platform specifically with SEND, neurodivergent learners, and maths-anxious children in mind. The design choices were not add-ons; they were the starting point.

One of the aspects of our approach that I find most compelling from an inclusion standpoint is the multiplayer element. When I first thought about why this matters, it felt intuitive, but the more I hear from the schools and educators we speak to, the more it is confirmed.

Children with SEND often experience school as a place where they are visibly different. They get pulled out. They get given different worksheets. They sit out activities while others participate. Multiplayer gamified maths practice, built around games children already love, removes that dynamic. A Student of Determination playing the same game as their classmates, contributing to the same team challenge, is not being accommodated. They are just playing. That is inclusion in the truest sense.

As our founder Gal Darrash puts it, "We wanted every child, regardless of how they learn, to feel like they belong at the table, not like they've been given a special seat at the edge of it."

It also helps with IEP tracking in a practical way. When every child is engaging with the same platform and their individual progress data is being captured, teachers and SENCOs can see at a glance how a Student of Determination is progressing relative to their own targets, not just relative to the class average. That kind of individualised, ongoing evidence is exactly what KHDA is asking schools to demonstrate.

From the early conversations we are having with schools in the region, a few things come up consistently. Teachers and senior leaders want tools that work within an inclusive classroom without requiring separate logins, separate lesson plans, or separate management overhead. SENCOs want software that can be pointed to in an IEP review as evidence of differentiated support. And headteachers want solutions that their staff will actually use, because a sophisticated tool that sits unused is no help to anyone.

XTables Champions is a web-based platform, so there is no complex installation and it works across the devices schools already have. The SEND-friendly design means it supports Students of Determination without needing a different version of the product. And the engagement model, rooted in games children genuinely want to play, means uptake tends to be strong.

None of this means we are a finished product with all the answers. We are a young company and we are learning from every school we work with. But the foundation, the genuine SEND-first design thinking, is there from the start.

If you are a SENCO putting together IEP documentation for maths, one of the persistent headaches is finding tools that generate meaningful, individual progress data rather than just class-level reports. When I looked at what KHDA reviewers are typically asking for during school inspections, individual learning trajectories and evidence of adaptive support come up repeatedly.

Gamified practice that captures each child's attempts, accuracy, and progression over time gives you a real data trail. That is not the only thing an IEP needs, but it is a useful piece of ongoing evidence that the individualised support is being delivered and is having an effect.

If you are working in a Dubai private school and KHDA's inclusion requirements are shaping how you think about maths provision, I would genuinely love to hear from you. Not to pitch, but to have a real conversation about what your Students of Determination need in a maths tool and whether XTables Champions could be the right fit.

Reach out to us through xtableschampions.com to start a conversation with our team. Whether you are a SENCO, a Year 4-6 teacher, or a senior leader thinking about whole-school inclusion strategy, we are happy to walk you through how the platform works and what it looks like in a classroom with SEND learners.