“Good Numeracy is the best protection against unemployment, low wages and poor health”

Andreas Schleicher – Education Director, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 2013

Numeracy is the use of mathematical skills and processes in ‘Real Life’ situations. Much more than just using numbers and calculations.

Numeracy is prevalent in all areas across the curriculum. At St Bonaventure’s we believe that developing the Numeracy skills of our learners (and ensuring they use those skills!) will encourage a deeper understanding of learning in all subjects.

Numeracy is incorporated into lessons in the following ways:

  • Encouraging pupils to plan and prioritise, using diagrams or software.
  • Dealing with time; we gain an understanding of time through experience. Building in these experiences for pupils where possible will help to raise levels of Numeracy.
  • Money: activities to help pupils understand the value of money rather than just stating values.
  • Working with ratio, percentages, graphs. Using resources/games available to give pupils subject specific examples.

Numeracy merits are given out by all teachers and can be logged in the usual way.

Numeracy Events at St Bonaventure’s:

Here at Bon’s we are part of an international project called Numeracy Ninjas.

Numeracy Ninjas is a Key Stage 3 numeracy intervention designed to fill gaps in students’ basic mental calculation strategies and also to empower them with the numeracy skills and fluency required to fully access GCSE Maths concepts when they move to Key Stage 4 study.

We have a regular once a week Numeracy Ninja session during form time.

Students who would like to get more practice to achieve Grand Master status can download extra sessions using the link.

Year 7 Numeracy Ninjas December 2020

Trip to Disneyland Paris – Maths Live! Conference 

We like to show our students Maths in action and give them the opportunity to get out of London! For two years running we have attended the Maths Live conference in Disneyland Paris .The boys got to spend 3 days exploring Numeracy ideas in a real life context. Particularly how important Numeracy is in engineering, roller coaster design and business statistics.

 

Money Matters

Pupils in Year 12 take part in a personal finance course every Wednesday during form time. It helps our students build their financial literacy which undoubtedly is an important life skill. The course ensures the learning experience is engaging and interactive. ‘Money Matters’ will help students to make informed choices regarding their finances now and in the future. The activities are a chance for our students to use their Literacy, Numeracy and Citizenship skills to discuss ideas and consider the real world.

Skills Days

Each year group takes part in a day focused on improving Literacy and Numeracy skills. These mainly take the form of a day-long challenge with cross-curricular links to other subject areas. Other skills developed during these days are public speaking, group/team work, ICT, creativity and innovation. Prizes are awarded for groups that show outstanding work and creativity.

Year 7 Skills Day Winners 2015-16

Past Skills Day Winners

Count on us Maths Challenge

St Bon’s is proud to be selected to be taking part in the The Count on Us Challenge this year. It is an exciting pan-London maths programme working with both primary and secondary schools to engage pupils in a range of maths activities to challenge, motivate and inspire.

By combining a series of mental arithmetic and problem solving tasks, the programme aims to make maths fun and improve confidence around learning as well as improving academic attainment, ultimately improving life chances and helping young people make a positive contribution to society.

Our team got through to the 2020 Finals in City Hall!

NSPCC Numbers Day

At St Bonaventure’s we enjoy taking part in Number Day to help raise money for charity.

The NSPCC believes that all children deserve a childhood free from harm but, sadly, that’s not the case for many children. That’s why the NSPCC is fighting for every childhood and working to help keep children safe from abuse.

Everyone in school will have the chance to enjoy number games and maths activities, all to raise money to help the NSPCC. Doing this will help generate a positive ‘can do’ attitude towards maths and numbers! Number Day is about having fun with numbers, and there are many fun activities we have planned to do this!

Numeracy at Home

Parents are given advice at Curriculum evenings about how best to develop their son’s numeracy skills. Resources and ideas are provided, guidance on how to remove the fear and boredom some pupils feel when working with numbers, data or problems involving logic. Parents are encouraged to make numeracy part of everyday discussions and activities.

The National Numeracy Challenge is something we also encourage the boys as well as parents to register for and complete. If parents and children work together on this it also encourages communication and a supportive atmosphere with numeracy, for them both to learn and develop skills simultaneously. It also inspires a bit of friendly competition at home!

Ultimately we are aiming to ensure that our pupils leave us numerate and able to cope with the demands of everyday life. From understanding statistics in the media, being able to work confidently and competently with money, handle data and use different ways to present their findings through to being able to use logic, reasoning, prioritising and ordering to manage their everyday lives.