Numeracy

“Good numeracy is the best protection against unemployment, low wages and poor health.” Andreas Schleicher – OECD

We use numeracy skills in every aspect of our lives, at work and in practical everyday activities at home and beyond. Whether it is when we go shopping, plan holidays, decide on a mortgage or decorate a room. A firm foundation of numeracy is essential to everyone. As parents helping our children learn, as consumers making choices about how to spend and save our money, as patients understanding health information, and as members of the community making sense of statistics and economic news.

Decisions in life are so often based on numerical information; to make the best choices, we need to be numerate.

Whole School Context

Every teacher, despite their specialism, is a teacher of numeracy. Wherever possible, teachers at All Hallows will help to strengthen pupil’s numeracy by providing opportunities for them to;

• Interpret data, charts and diagrams
• Process information
• Solve problems
• Check answers
• Understand and explain solutions
• Make decisions based on logical thinking and reasoning

Mathematics Lessons

When planning curriculum content, teachers prioritise retrieval of prior knowledge and numeracy skills. Structured starters are planned to ensure pupils are familiar with the facts, methods and academic vocabulary that will form the strategies taught and applied later in the unit of work.

To further support in strengthening their declarative and procedural numeracy knowledge, all pupils complete a weekly homework skills grid which consists of a pair of questions on ten different numeracy skills. Teachers dedicate time in lessons to reviewing these numeracy skills and modelling efficient and accurate processing.

The ideal aim of numeracy retrieval within the mathematics curriculum is for pupils to attain proficiency and hence develop an understanding of how different skills interweave and support different mathematical concepts.

Additional opportunities to focus on numeracy have been introduced into Key Stage 3 lessons as outline below.

Year 7

All Year 7 pupils are given a personal login for an engaging mathematical online programme called Sumdog. Sumdog uses games to encourage students to practise key numeracy skills, and automatically adapts to each child’s individual numeracy needs. Each half term pupils will be entered into either a local, regional or national Sumdog competition to help promote engagement and progress.

Year 8

At the beginning of Year 8, all pupils will complete a Diagnostic Numeracy Assessment to help assess their numeracy fluency. The assessment helps us to understand pupil’s proficiency in three areas of numeracy:

• Basic mental calculation strategies,
• Times tables
• Key skills in number.

Following this diagnostic assessment, pupils will then complete a quick, low-stakes Skill Check every week in class. The aim of these weekly activities is to help pupils develop high levels of fluency with the important numeracy skills that are prerequisites for success at GCSE and in future employment.

Pupils will class mark their Ninja Skill Check, and any skills to improve will be identified.

Year 9

Throughout the Year, pupils will complete a series of numeracy focused lessons which focus on the application of maths and numeracy in different careers. The lessons are developed from the Advanced Mathematics Support Programme (AMSP), with an exciting set of high-quality videos which showcase the maths in different careers.

The careers will include:

• Data Analyst
• Urban Regeneration
• Freelance Film maker
• Critical Analyst
• Climate Scientist