Subtraction is a part of our everyday lives and therefore an important concept to develop early. We need to understand how to subtract in order to engage with society effectively as we use subtraction when dealing with money, cooking, travel and time, among countless other daily experiences. A strong knowledge of addition can really support a pupil when solving a subtraction problem but we also want pupils to be able to solve subtraction problems mentally and accurately if they can, before using any pencil or paper methods.