The 99 Club is a mental-oral starter at Portesham CE VA Primary School which aims to raise standards in maths through encouraging pupils to improve their mental calculations when attempting quick-fire multiplication and division problems.

The idea is that with repeated practice, the scheme should result in increased speed and confidence when tackling mental maths problems without relying on written workings and methods.

All pupils, within KS1 will begin at 11 club, KS2 pupils will start from 33 club, having one opportunity per week during one of their morning maths lessons to answer all calculations at their current level unaided and within the allotted time of five minutes.

If all of the calculations are answered correctly twice in a row, the child moves up to the next level!

The initial 11 Club involves eleven problems which involve doubling numbers up to ten ie. 5+5, 8+8. The 22 Club then adds eleven further questions involving repeated addition for numbers from one to ten ie. 3+3+3+3, 5+5+5+5+5, while the 33 Club begins to introduce times tables.

Division facts are added by the time a pupil reaches the 77 Club, and in the 88 Club and 99 Club, pupils will be tackling a range of mixed multiplication and division problems. 

The full breakdown of The 99 Club levels is as follows:

5 Club  - 5 questions involving subitising, number bonds and 1 more, 1 less

11 Club - 11 questions involving doubling numbers from one to ten

22 Club - 22 questions involving repeated addition of numbers from one to ten

33 Club - 33 questions introducing the 2x, 3x, 5x and 10x tables

44 Club - 44 questions adding the 1x, 4x and 6x tables

55 Club - 55 questions adding the 7x and 8x tables

66 Club - 66 questions adding the 9x, 11x and 12x tables

77 Club - 77 questions consisting of inverse division facts

88 Club - 88 questions of mixed multiplication and division facts

99 Club - 99 questions of mixed multiplication and division facts

The ultimate challenge is to complete all 99 questions of the 99 Club unaided, with no errors and within five minutes!

Children are encouraged to set themselves a ‘personal best’ time target and then to beat that before moving on.

The full range of the 99 Club is not designed for the Foundation Stage but we have included them with a specially tailored ‘5 Club’. However, if staff feel that children are ready to attempt it, they will be given the opportunity to enter the 11 Club!

Sheets are available to download below for pupils to practise their level at home. You can support your child by finding out which level they are working at and helping them to practise the relevant times tables.

Next Level Challenge

Once we have journeyed through the 99 Club we will be launching the Bronze, Silver and even Gold Clubs which include over one hundred problems to complete in the five minutes, including some very tricky problems involving squares, square roots and cubed numbers!

Don’t worry, when you have finished Gold the launch of the PLATINUM club will commence.