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Year 6 Summer Block 2: Position and Direction

Summer Block 2: Position and direction (Year 6)

This Year 6 position and direction unit develops pupils’ understanding of coordinates, translation and reflection. Aligned with White Rose Maths and the Year 6 National Curriculum, the block helps pupils interpret coordinate grids, plot points accurately and describe movement and transformation on the coordinate plane.

Across the unit, pupils read and plot coordinates in the first quadrant and across all four quadrants, solve coordinate problems, translate shapes and explore reflections in the x-axis and y-axis. Learning progresses from coordinate fluency to more advanced reasoning involving transformations and shape movement.

Resources are organised into comprehensive lesson packs containing detailed lesson plans, interactive teaching slides, differentiated worksheets and supporting activities. Assessment materials, revision resources and knowledge organisers are included to help secure understanding throughout the unit.

Week 4 small steps

  • Read and plot coordinates in the first quadrant
  • Read and plot coordinates in four quadrants
  • Solve problems with coordinates
  • Explore translations
  • Explore reflections

National Curriculum objectives

  • Describe positions on the full coordinate grid using all four quadrants
  • Draw and translate simple shapes on the coordinate plane
  • Reflect shapes in the axes
  • Use coordinates to solve problems involving position and movement

Part of Maths Masters

These Year 6 position and direction resources form part of our complete Maths Masters scheme. Explore the full summer term sequence for structured progression, interactive teaching slides and differentiated maths resources.

Explore year 6 summer maths

Download our free Year 6 maths yearly overview | Explore maths subject leader resources

Developing coordinate and transformation skills in Year 6

This Year 6 position and direction block helps pupils develop confidence when working with coordinates, transformations and spatial reasoning. Through carefully sequenced lessons, pupils learn to interpret coordinate grids, solve problems involving coordinates and describe how shapes move across the coordinate plane.

The unit progresses from plotting coordinates in the first quadrant to working confidently across all four quadrants. Pupils then apply their understanding to solve coordinate problems, translate shapes and explore reflections in the x-axis and y-axis, building important foundations for future mathematical learning.

What’s included

  • Weekly lesson packs covering all position and direction small steps
  • Detailed Year 6 maths lesson plans linked to White Rose Maths
  • Interactive teaching slides with clear modelling and worked examples
  • Differentiated coordinate worksheets and transformation activities
  • Reasoning and problem-solving opportunities
  • Knowledge organisers, revision mats and assessment resources

What pupils learn across the block

  • Read, write and plot coordinates accurately
  • Work confidently within all four quadrants
  • Use coordinates to solve shape and position problems
  • Identify missing vertices and coordinates
  • Translate points and shapes on coordinate grids
  • Describe translations using mathematical language
  • Reflect shapes in the x-axis and y-axis
  • Apply coordinate knowledge to reasoning and problem-solving tasks

Why this block matters

  • Develops spatial reasoning and visualisation skills
  • Builds confidence when working with coordinates and transformations
  • Strengthens mathematical reasoning and problem-solving
  • Provides important preparation for Key Stage 3 coordinate geometry

If you are looking for Year 6 coordinates worksheets, Year 6 position and direction resources, Year 6 translation worksheets, Year 6 reflection worksheets, Year 6 four quadrant coordinates activities, White Rose Maths position and direction resources or a complete Year 6 position and direction unit, this block provides lesson packs, teaching slides, planning and differentiated resources to support high-quality maths teaching throughout the unit.