Money

This topic is part of the National Curriculum but is not included in the DfE 2020 guidance or the NCETM Mastery PD Materials. There are no NCETM classroom slides to download for this unit. We hope that teachers/schools will plan to cover this material from their own existing high-quality resources and using the information and suggestions below.

National curriculum statutory requirements (p14)

Pupils should be taught to:

• recognise and use symbols for pounds (£) and pence (p); combine amounts to make a particular value
• find different combinations of coins that equal the same amounts of money
• solve simple problems in a practical context involving addition and subtraction of money of the same unit, including giving change.

Notes and guidance (non-statutory)

• Pupils become fluent in counting and recognising coins. They read and say amounts of money confidently and use the symbols £ and p accurately, recording pounds and pence separately.

When planning this unit, build on children’s current understanding of unitising and coin recognition developed in Year 1, Unit 9. Also, children need to have developed their understanding of calculation in order to apply this to a money context (see Year 2 Units 2, 4 and 8). There are money assessment questions in the Year 2 assessments linked to these units.

Introduce the concept of a pound

Build upon children's understanding that a coin has a value which is independent of its size, shape, colour and mass and that a one pound coin has a value of 100 p which can also be written as £1.00. It is important that children do not write the £ and p together: 100p, £1.00, but not £1.00p. Some children may confuse one pence and one pound. It is helpful to avoid saying that one pound is one hundred times bigger than one penny as children may think this refer to the coin size rather than the value.

Once secure, you may consider introducing the idea of money notes to the children - £5, £10, £20 and £50.

Different combinations of coins that have the same value

You may choose to use a similar sequence of learning to Year 1 Unit 9 to introduce working with 50p coins and values up to one pound. Connect to children’s prior learning; consolidate coin recognition of 1p, 2p, 5p and 10p coins initially before moving onto the different denominations.

Look at the calculation below.

8p + 2p + 20p + 20p = 50p

Although mathematically correct, you may need to spend time discussing the denominations of the coins with the children. For example, we do not have an 8p coin, but any value can be made of existing denominations of coins.

What do the children notice about making 88p in the fewest number of coins?

Solving problems involving money

Be mindful that some textbooks or physical resources may depict old-style coins which may confuse pupils.

Opportunities to address this topic in other units in the curriculum prioritisation materials

Year 2 Unit 2, Unit 4 and Unit 8 focus on addition and subtraction. These concepts can be applied to solving problems in a money context.

Cross-curricular opportunities to address this topic

• PSHE - Financial literacy. The Bank of England's Money and Me  resources support this.
• Design Technology (Cooking and nutrition) - plan opportunities for children to use real money in real-life situations such as visiting the local greengrocer to buy ingredients and to read prices to compare value. Encourage them to handle money to pay for an item and to calculate change.
• Create a class shop - either in role play or for a purpose such as a charity event. Allow children to experience pricing and comparing the price of items, paying, change, reductions in price, etc.