TheSchoolRun.com closure date
As we informed you a few months ago, TheSchoolRun has had to make the difficult decision to close due to financial pressures and the company has now ceased trading. We had hoped to keep our content available through a partnership with another educational provider, but this provider has since withdrawn from the agreement.
As a result, we now have to permanently close TheSchoolRun.com. However, to give subscribers time to download any content they’d like to keep, we will keep the website open until 31st July 2025. After this date, the site will be taken down and there will be no further access to any resources. We strongly encourage you to download and save any resources you think you may want to use in the future.
In particular, we suggest downloading:
- Learning packs
- All the worksheets from the 11+ programme, if you are following this with your child
- Complete Learning Journey programmes (the packs below include all 40 worksheets for each programme)
You should already have received 16 primary school eBooks (worth £108.84) to download and keep. If you haven’t received these, please contact us at [email protected] before 31st July 2025, and we will send them to you.
We are very sorry that there is no way to continue offering access to resources and sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused.
What is expanded notation?
What is expanded notation?
Children are encouraged to use arrow cards in Key Stage 1 to help them understand that two-digit numbers are made up of tens and ones.
This is also referred to as understanding place value. This is the foundation to then being able to understand how to add and multiply two-digit numbers using expanded methods.
Expanded notation in primary school
Sometimes teachers will talk about an 'expanded method' for working out a number sentence. This means partitioning a number before carrying out an addition or multiplication. For example:
59 + 38 =
Using the expanded method, you would partition the numbers, then complete the calculations:
50 + 30 = 80
9 + 8 = 17
Expanded notation for multiplication
The expanded method for multiplication could be writing the calculation out like this:
63 x 45 =
3 x 40 = 120
3 x 5 = 15
2400 + 300 + 120 + 15 = 2835
Alternatively, you could use the grid method, which many people find easier:
| X | 60 | 3 |
| 40 | 2400 | 120 |
| 5 | 300 | 15 |
Expanded methods are often used by primary school teachers for addition and multiplication, because they allow children to see clearly what they are adding and multiplying, that is: 60 x 40, rather than 6 x 4. With the shorter methods like the column method, children are not encouraged to think about the fact that the numbers are tens and units and subsequently get no practice in multiplying and adding tens numbers.
