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to keep our content available through a partnership with another educational provider, but this provider has since withdrawn from the agreement.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 the bar model method?
What is bar modelling?
Bar modelling is part of the concrete > pictorial > abstract (CPA) sequence when teaching certain maths topics. The process starts with using real-world, tangible representations before moving onto showing the problem using pictorial diagrams, and then introducing the abstract algorithms and notations (such as the +, -, x and / symbols).
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What is a bar model?
The bar model method is pictorial, and develops from children handling actual objects to drawing pictures and then drawing boxes, each of which represents an individual unit, to represent objects. Eventually, they will no longer need to draw all the boxes; instead, they just draw one long bar and label it with a number.
A child might be given the following problem:
Sam bakes 20 cookies. If he gives away 8 cookies, how many would he have left?
In the concrete stage, children might use actual cookies (or, in a lesson, multi-link cubes like Numicon or counters to represent them!) to solve the problem.
In the pictorial stage, instead of physical objects they use drawings to represent each cookie (they might draw cookies or blocks or counters or dots to represent them).
In the abstract stage, they are able to solve the problem using conventional mathematical notation: 20 - 8 = 12, writing out a number sentence.
Solving a problem using the bar modeling method
To solve a problem like the one above using the bar method, children draw one short bar representing the eight cookies alongside a longer bar representing the remaining (twelve) cookies.
The bars don’t need to be precisely measured, but they do need to be proportional, so children can see the difference between them and the numbers they represent.
When is the bar model method introduced to children?
Children who are following the Asian maths mastery method are taught the foundation of bar models, for example using linking cubes, in the first term of Year 1.
In Year 2 children might use the bar model method as a visual way of solving calculations for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. They are particularly useful when solving multi-step problems involving missing numbers.
Bar models don’t give you an answer – they give you an understanding of what to do in order to get to the answer. Children need to have strategies to add, subtract multiply and divide for them to use bar models.
Bar modelling is not a ‘quick fix’ tool and will only work if the pupil has a good understanding of key concepts. It’s also important that children set out the bars correctly. If pupils are messy with the bar model or use the wrong model for a problem, this can prevent them from seeing how to solve the problem.
Maths – No Problem! are the first experts to introduce Singapore maths mastery to the UK and provide textbooks, teaching resources and professional development for primary and secondary schools.
TheSchoolRun offers year-group maths mastery workbooks to download: Year 1 Maths Mastery Workbook, Year 2 Maths Mastery Workbook, Year 3 Maths Mastery Workbook.
