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to keep our content available through a partnership with another educational provider, but this provider has since withdrawn from the agreement.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 lowest common denominator?
What is the lowest common denominator?
The lowest common denominator is the smallest number that is exactly divisible by each denominator of a set of fractions. It is sometimes known as the least common denominator.
Finding the lowest common denominator
Children in Year 5 need to add and subtract fractions that have denominators that are all multiples of the same number. They also need to order sets of fractions by converting them to fractions with a common denominator.
In Year 6 children add and subtract fractions and order fractions with denominators that need converting.
Here is an explanation of how to find the lowest common denominator:
Sometimes, when we have to add two fractions, we cannot do this, because the denominators are different, for example:
To be able to add two fractions, both the denominators need to be the same.
To find the lowest common denominator, we see if the larger denominator (20) can be divided by the smaller denominator (4).
We then need to work out what we need to multiply the 4 by, to make 20 (this is 5).
Therefore, we multiply 1/4 by 5, so that it becomes 5/20.
You can then add 5/20 and 3/20 which makes 8/20. (This could then be simplified down to 4/10).
Another example is these fractions:
The larger denominator (9) is a multiple of the smaller denominator (3).
If we multiply 1/3 by 3, the fraction becomes 3/9. Now we can add 3/9 and 5/9 to make 8/9.
