Numeracy

At Central Foundation Girls school, we believe that pupils’ numeracy skills, that is their ability to talk, listen, read and communicate effectively using numbers, is a key to educational progress, to social integration and to personal development and happiness.

The Framework for teaching Mathematics (Years 7 to 9 DfEs) defines numeracy as:

Numeracy is a proficiency that involves confidence and competence with numbers and measures. It requires an understanding of the number system, a repertoire of computational skills and an inclination and ability to solve number problems in a variety of contexts. Numeracy also demands a practical understanding of the ways in which information is gathered by counting and measuring, and is presented in graphs, diagrams, charts and tables.

We are committed to developing the numeracy skills of our learners, in the belief that it will support their learning and enable them to access the whole curriculum and, in turn, raise standards for all. We believe that numeracy is not the sole responsibility of the Mathematics Department. All other subjects can, in fact, contribute to the development and enhancement of students’ numeracy skills including their ability to describe and explain their strategies and reasoning. Almost all subjects depend on pupils having competence in basic numeracy skills.

Numeracy skills enable students to understand and interpret numerical and analytical information. This facilitates improvement in students' abilities to make their own judgments and to draw sensible conclusions from information. If students' numeracy skills are not developed and used they may well be denied the opportunity to develop the level of understanding of some topics or subjects at the level expected for their age.

Numeracy Aims

Numeracy at Central Foundation Girls school involves adopting a whole-school approach to numeracy across the curriculum in order to raise standards of attainment for all students. We aim to involve staff and students in raising the profile of numeracy and creating opportunities for engagement and development.

Implementing systematically a Numeracy policy across the curriculum, with all teachers confident in the teaching of numeracy in the context of their subject.

To provide opportunities for pupils to improve and develop numeracy skills outside the Maths classroom.
To provide opportunities for staff and parents to improve and develop numeracy skills.
To create effective channels of communication and a cohesive voice for numeracy across the whole school via the School Numeracy Lead
To encourage pupils and staff to recognise the importance of numeracy in all subjects across the curriculum, transfer and apply numeracy skills in everyday life/unknown contexts.
To encourage staff to take responsibility for the development of numeracy in each subject area.
To raise staff and pupils awareness of key numeracy strategies through whole school initiatives.
To deliver subject specific and generic extra-curricular opportunities.

Key Numeracy Scaffolding for Students

We value the voice of our students and have a large number of numeracy ambassadors across all year groups. These ambassadors are provided structured opportunities to discuss student barriers to numeracy and work on projects with the numeracy lead to ensure that we can create resources and opportunities for students to overcome these barriers.

We are currently working on a student friendly toolkit which will support students in their application of number in the real world.

Students have the following pages available in their planner to support them in all subjects.