Rotational symmetry
I can recognise rotational symmetry in shapes.
These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.
Switch to our new teaching resources now - designed by teachers and leading subject experts, and tested in classrooms.
These resources were created for remote use during the pandemic and are not designed for classroom teaching.
Lesson details
Key learning points
- Congruent shapes can be used to investigate rotational symmetry.
- The centre of rotation is the centre of the shape.
- You must be careful not to count the starting point twice.
Keywords
Rotational symmetry - Rotational symmetry describes when a shape appears the same after some rotation. The order of rotational symmetry is the number of times the image appears the same as the object in one full turn.
Common misconception
When rotating a shape to count its order of rotational symmetry, pupils may count the starting position twice: once at the start and then again at the end of the full turn.
Encourage pupils to be consistent with when they count the starting position, either always counting it before they begin rotating the shape or always counting it at the end of the full turn.
Licence
Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.The transformation that turns an an object around a fixed point is called .
Q2.The is the fixed point about which an object is rotated.
Q3.There are exactly five equal sized angle around a point. Each angle is °.
Q4.Which quadrilateral is always regular?
Q5.The arrow on the left can be rotated ° clockwise to create the arrow on the right.

Q6.The rectangle ACDB is rotated to give rectangle D'B'A'C'. The angle of rotation is °.

Assessment exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Rotational describes when a shape appears the same after some rotation.
Q2.An equilateral triangle has rotational symmetry of order .
Q3.A scalene triangle has rotational symmetry of order .
Q4.Which of these quadrilaterals always has rotational symmetry of order 4?
Q5.The wheel in this picture has rotational symmetry of order .
