Translation and Reflection Worksheets: Y6

Year 6 maths worksheets on translating and reflecting shapes on a coordinate grid: 36 questions in three levels (All, Most, Some) with answers. Free PDF.

7-page A4 PDF from the Tiger Shark Education question bank. All: Translate a point on a grid. Most: Translate and reflect shapes on a grid. Some: Translate and reflect shapes in all four quadrants. Each level is two pages of six questions, each with its own diagram and space for working, and the last page has every answer, with the correct drawing for each “draw it” question. Each level is also available as its own 3-page PDF. Example questions from the Some level: Translate the shape 2 right and 3 up. Draw the new shape / Reflect the shape in the y-axis. Draw the reflection.

What are translation and reflection? A translation slides a shape to a new position without turning it, described by how far it moves left or right and up or down. A reflection flips a shape in a mirror line, so each point is the same distance from the line on the opposite side. Year 6 pupils translate and reflect shapes in all four quadrants.

Common mistakes and tips: In translations children often count the squares between shapes rather than the movement of one corner. In reflections, shapes drawn the same way round (not flipped) and mirror lines that are diagonal or vertical cause errors. Moving one vertex at a time and using tracing paper are reliable strategies.

This topic is part of the Year 6 National Curriculum for maths, and it regularly appears on the KS2 SATs papers. The All, Most and Some levels let you check basic fluency first and then move on to the multi-step, contextual questions found on the reasoning papers.

How teachers use these sheets: as a lesson’s independent task, as a starter to revisit a topic from earlier in the year, or as a revision pack in the weeks before the SATs. Children can mark their own work with the answer page, then explain one mistake to a partner to deepen understanding.

Reasoning and explanation: once children can answer the questions, ask them to explain their method to a partner or write a short explanation of one answer. The SATs reasoning papers include ‘explain how you know’ questions, and talking about methods deepens understanding far more than repeating calculations.

Use All for children working towards the expected standard, Most for secure Year 5 skills and Some for SATs-standard practice: three entry points to the same lesson. Suits whole-class differentiation, intervention groups, homework and SATs revision, and upper KS2 generally.

Part of a set of 42 Year 6 maths topics.