1. Progression in written Division
EYFS
Children will solve problems in a practical way. They need to see and hear representations of division as sharing and grouping. Division can be introduced through halving.
Children begin with mostly pictorial representations linked to real life contexts.
Mum had 6 socks, she grouped them into pairs. How many pairs did she have?
I have 10 sweets. I share them with my friend. How many do we have each?
Stage 1
Children are encouraged to develop a mental image of the number system in their heads to use for calculation. They should experience practical calculation opportunities involving equal groups and equal sharing.
They may develop ways of recording calculations using pictures.
A child’s jotting showing halving
six spots between two sides of a
ladybird.
A child’s jotting showing how they shared the apples at
snack time between two groups.
Stage 2
Children explore practical contexts where they share equally and group equally. 6 ÷ 2 = ?
6 football stickers are shared
equally between 2 people,
how many do they each get?
Children may solve this by
Using a ‘one for you, one for me’ strategy until all stickers have been given out.
Equal grouping (how many groups of 2 are there in 6?)
There are 6 football stickers, how many people can have 2 stickers each?
Continue with arrays
15 in groups of ÷ 3 = 5
15 in groups of ÷ 5 = 3
Stage 3
Children continue to use practical equipment to represent division
calculations as grouping (repeated subtraction) and use jottings to
support their calculation.
Show grouping on a bead string and on a number line.
12 ÷ 3 = ? Children begin to read this calculation as ‘How many Group from zero in steps of the divisor.
groups of 3 are there in 12?’
Grouping ITP
At this stage children will also be introduced to division calculations
that result in remainders Continue to show arrays and discuss what they show.
13 ÷ 4 = 3 remainder they show. Support children to understand how multiplication and division are inverse.

2. Progression in written Division
Stage 4a
43 ÷ 8
43 ÷ 8 = 5 remainder 3
At this stage, children also learn if the remainder should be rounded up or down.
e.g. 62÷ 8 = 7 remainder 6
I have 62p. Sweets are 8p each. How many can I buy? Only 7
Apples are packed into boxes of 8. There are 62 apples. How many boxes do I need? 8 (the remaining apples still need to be placed in a box).
Alongside pictorial representations and the use of counters, children move towards short division with counters.
Place value counters can be used to support children apply their knowledge of grouping. Reference should be made to the value of each digit in the dividend. How many groups of 7 are there in the tens column?
Stage 4b
Use place value counters or base 10 equipment to model understanding.
Calculations should have
two and three digit
dividends.
Each digit as a multiple of the divisor
‘How many groups of 3 are there in the hundreds column?’
‘How many groups of 3 are there in the tens column?’
‘How many groups of 3
are there in the
units/ones column?’
When ready, children are moved to exchanging.
The 100 place value counter is changed to 10 of the 10 pv counters and moved to the tens column. A small 1 is put to the left of the 2 to show 12 tens in this column. Counters are regrouped as necessary.
Stage 5
Children move on to 4 digit dividends by 1 digit divisors.
Continue to model with place value counters.
Remainders can be expressed as above or as
756 ⅖ or 756· as ⅖ is four tenths.
Stage 6
Children continue with short division recognising remainders in different forms when divisors are 3,4,5 or 8.
Long division 4 digit dividends by 2 digit divisors.
Learning this method
will support children
when they begin to
divide by more than 1 digit

3. Division Arrays to illustrate 6 ÷ 2 = 3 24 ÷ 4 = 6 Sharing and
grouping
24 ÷ 6 = 4
13 ÷ 4 = 3 remainder 1
Short Division
Long Division