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Important update from TheSchoolRun

For the past 13 years, TheSchoolRun has been run by a small team of mums working from home, dedicated to providing quality educational resources to primary school parents. Unfortunately, rising supplier costs and falling revenue have made it impossible for us to continue operating, and we’ve had to make the difficult decision to close. The good news: We’ve arranged for another educational provider to take over many of our resources. These will be hosted on a new portal, where the content will be updated and expanded to support your child’s learning.

What this means for subscribers:

  • Your subscription is still active, and for now, you can keep using the website as normal — just log in with your usual details to access all our articles and resources*.
  • In a few months, all resources will move to the new portal. You’ll continue to have access there until your subscription ends. We’ll send you full details nearer the time.
  • As a thank you for your support, we’ll also be sending you 16 primary school eBooks (worth £108.84) to download and keep.

A few changes to be aware of:

  • The Learning Journey weekly email has ended, but your child’s plan will still be updated on your dashboard each Monday. Just log in to see the recommended worksheets.
  • The 11+ weekly emails have now ended. We sent you all the remaining emails in the series at the end of March — please check your inbox (and spam folder) if you haven’t seen them. You can also follow the full programme here: 11+ Learning Journey.

If you have any questions, please contact us at [email protected]. Thank you for being part of our journey it’s been a privilege to support your family’s learning.

*If you need to reset your password, it will still work as usual. Please check your spam folder if the reset email doesn’t appear in your inbox.

What are Roman numerals?

What are Roman numerals?
Children in KS2 are expected to read and write Roman numerals as part of the primary curriculum. We explain how Roman numerals are introduced in the classroom and how you can help your child practise reading Roman numerals at home.

What are Roman numerals?

Roman numerals are the numbers that were used in ancient Rome, which employed combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet (I, V, X, L, C, D and M).

Numbers are represented by combinations of the following symbols:

Numbers are represented by putting the symbols into various combinations in different orders. The symbols are then added together, for example, I + I + I, written as III, is 3. To write 11 we add X (10) and I (1) and write it as XI. For 22 we add X and X and I and I, so XXII.

 

Roman numerals are usually written in order, from largest to smallest and from left to right, but more than three identical symbols never appear in a row. Instead, a system of subtraction is used: when a smaller number appears in front of a larger one, that needs to be subtracted, so IV is 4 (5 - 1) and IX is 9 (10 - 1).

The subtraction system is used in six cases:

    ⋅ I is placed before V and X: IV (4) and IX (9).
    ⋅ X is placed before L (50) and C (100): XL (40) and XC (90).
    ⋅ C is placed before D (500) and M (1000): CD (400) and CM (900).

When do children learn about Roman numerals in primary school?

Under the 2014 curriculum, children are required to know what Roman numerals are and be able to decipher and write them. The previous numeracy framework did not make any mention of Roman numerals, so this is a new concept introduced into primary schools. 

These are the objectives related to Roman numerals that are introduced in Key Stage 2:

Year 3
Tell and write the time from an analogue clock, including using Roman numerals from I to XII, and 12-hour and 24-hour clocks

Year 4
Read Roman numerals from 1 to 100 (I to C) and know that, over time, the numeral system changed to include the concept of 0 and place value

Year 5
Read Roman numerals to 1,000 (M) and recognise years written in Roman numerals

Helping your child with Roman numerals at home

Roman numerals are still used in a number of ways in the modern world:

  • When referring to royalty, emperors and popes (so Queen Elizabeth II, Pope Benedict XVI)
  • On buildings, to mark the year of contruction
  • On clock faces
  • In book listings
  • In film or TV programme credits, to show the year of production

You can help your child to feel more comfortable with Roman numerals by encouraging them to look for Roman numerals at the end of TV programmes or to show publication dates of books. Encourage them to use the table above to try and work out what the dates are. You could also give them various numbers to translate into Roman numerals or try some of TheSchoolRun's Roman numerals puzzles and worksheets (see below).

And why not download and print our free Roman numerals dice and use them instead of normal dice when playing games?