If your school received its 2026 Multiplication Tables Check results on 22 June and you're now sitting with data that doesn't reflect what you know your SEND and maths-anxious pupils can actually do, you are not alone, and the MTC itself is a significant part of the problem.
Let me say that plainly, because it matters: a child who understands their times tables but freezes under a six-second-per-question time limit is not a child who has failed at maths. They are a child who has been failed by a high-pressure format that was never designed with their needs in mind.
This piece is for the senior leaders, Year 4-6 teachers and SENCOs who are right now, in these final weeks before the summer break, trying to figure out what to do differently for September. I want to give you something genuinely useful.
Why the 2026 MTC Results Look the Way They Do for SEND Pupils
When I looked into the research on this, what stood out immediately was the specific problem with the MTC's timed format. The Nuffield Foundation's work on mathematics anxiety has pointed consistently to one uncomfortable truth: time pressure is one of the single biggest triggers of maths anxiety in children. It activates a stress response that actively impairs recall, even when underlying knowledge is solid.
For children with SEND, including those with dyslexia, dyscalculia, ADHD or processing differences, the six-second window isn't just tight. It is, in many cases, neurologically impossible to meet without significant distress. The DfE's own MTC guidance includes access arrangements, but the reality in many schools is that applying those arrangements consistently across a whole cohort is difficult, and the ambient anxiety of "this is a test" seeps in regardless.
The result is that MTC scores for SEND and maths-anxious pupils routinely underrepresent what those children actually know. That's the real story behind a lot of the data hitting headteachers' desks right now.
What Schools Are Telling Us Right Now
We're a new company, so I'll be honest about what I'm seeing rather than pretend we have large-scale research behind us. But in the conversations we've been having with teachers and SENCOs as we've built XTables Champions, one theme comes up again and again: the tools schools currently have for MTC prep were designed for the average child in an average classroom. They weren't designed for the child who shuts down the moment a timer appears on screen, or the child who needs ten seconds to process but will absolutely get the right answer if given that time.
What we keep hearing is that teachers feel stuck between "we have to prepare pupils for the MTC" and "the way we're preparing them is making things worse for our most vulnerable learners."
That's a real tension, and it deserves a real answer.
As our founder Gal Darrash puts it, "We built XTables Champions because we kept seeing the same thing: kids who were being written off as bad at maths when actually they'd just never been given a way to practise that didn't terrify them."
What Actually Works: Low-Pressure, High-Engagement Practice
The research direction here is clear. Reducing anxiety in maths practice means removing arbitrary time pressure, increasing a sense of agency and fun, and allowing children to build fluency at a pace that feels achievable rather than punishing.
Multiplayer games do something that flashcards and timed drills simply cannot. They shift the child's focus from "I might get this wrong" to "I want to beat my friend." That shift is not trivial. When a child is engaged and laughing, the stress response is not activated in the same way. Retrieval still happens. Fluency still builds. But the emotional context is completely different.
This is the core logic behind XTables Champions. We use game formats that children already love and recognise, and we put times-tables practice inside them in a way that feels like play rather than assessment. The multiplayer element is especially important for this age group, because primary-age children are deeply motivated by social play. It creates genuine intrinsic motivation, rather than the anxious compliance that timed drills tend to produce.
For SEND pupils specifically, the design choices matter enormously. Clear visuals, no unnecessary clutter, no sudden loud timers, and pacing that adapts to the child rather than demanding the child adapt to an arbitrary clock.
A Practical Plan for September
If you're planning interventions right now before the summer, here is how I'd think about it.
Start by separating your cohort data into two groups: pupils who struggled because of gaps in knowledge, and pupils who showed signs of anxiety or processing difficulties during the check. These two groups need different support. The first group needs more curriculum coverage. The second group needs a fundamentally different environment for practice, because more of the same drill-style prep will likely deepen the anxiety rather than resolve it.
For your incoming Year 3s who will sit the 2027 MTC, September is genuinely the best possible time to start. Not with timed practice, not yet. The goal for the first half of the autumn term should be building a positive relationship with multiplication, so that by the time any test-style practice enters the picture, the knowledge is already there and the anxiety is already lower.
Consider how you're framing times tables to children. If every reference to the MTC includes words like "check", "score" or "fail", children will absorb that framing. Talk about it as something they'll be ready for, not something to be scared of.
And look carefully at what tools you're using. If your current software puts a timer in the child's face every single session, it may be replicating the exact problem the MTC creates.
Talk to Us Before the Summer Break
We know schools are in planning mode right now, and that decisions about September interventions are being made in the next few weeks. If you're a senior leader, SENCO or class teacher looking at your 2026 MTC data and wondering what to do differently for your maths-anxious or SEND pupils, I'd genuinely love to talk.
XTables Champions was built specifically for this gap. We'd be happy to show you what it looks like in practice and have an honest conversation about whether it fits what your school needs.
Get in touch via xtableschampions.com and let's find a time before the summer break. No hard sell. Just a real conversation about what your cohort needs next.