The development of strong numeracy and mathematics skills begins through play in the early years – children are encouraged to explore and discover; they recognise numbers and name them; they practise counting, before beginning simple computation.
The pursuit of maths skills continues as sums develop in complexity - including working out the missing number, counting in sets and sorting into sets. These are the foundational skills for confident number fluency.
Later, as children mature, they’ll develop the skills to work independently and collaboratively, building on strong foundations while exploring new ways to use their growing mathematics skills.
The rigour of maths for older children is in the application of their strong skills to word problems, complex scenarios, and the beginning of abstract thinking where numbers might be represented by symbols.
But Maths isn’t only sums and times tables! It includes Numeracy – the application of maths skills to solve real-world problems.
It requires a deep understanding of numbers, and the relationships between them, to apply skills in different contexts, analyse problems and discover solutions. The inherent challenge fosters resilience, a sense of achievement and enjoyment.
It’s no wonder then, that Mathematics and Numeracy development is important to us at Ysgol Sant Baruc – we want our pupils to be able to do it all!