Literacy & Numeracy

The more you learn, the smarter you get.

Gumley House FCJ literacy and numeracy are hugely important. Effective literacy and numeracy skills allow access to the wider curriculum and support students learning. We recognise that the development of literacy and numeracy is essential to improving learning and raising attainment across the curriculum.

Literacy skills allow students to explore the ways in which language works so that they can use this knowledge in a variety of situations. The ability to read, write, speak and listen is an integral part of the learning process.

We use numeracy in every aspect of our lives at work and in practical everyday activities at home and beyond. Numeracy skills help students to make informed and responsible choices and decisions throughout their lives.

Our Literacy and Numeracy Strategy Policies can be found below:

Literacy Strategy (2023 - 2024)

Literacy Policy

Numeracy Strategy

Obtaining an acceptable level of literacy and numeracy can greatly improve many factors in life, including improvements to your social life, education and career prospects. The ability to read, write, and understand information, can hugely affect your employability. If you have poor literacy and numeracy skills, there is plenty of help available to improve your future prospects.

Getting Support

Strong literacy and numeracy skills lay the foundation for all students to succeed at school, at work and their daily life.

When students enter in Year 7 they will take a short assessment which helps us understand their literacy and numeracy ability. We will take this information and seek to work with you to ensure your literacy and numeracy allows you to access your learning so you can progress swiftly and gradually. Some of you will need more support and we will meet with you to discuss what this looks like, but would include dedicated reading and one-to-one time.

Literacy Skills

Literacy is not just the ability to read and write; it includes the capacity to read, interpret and critically appreciate various forms of communication including spoken language, printed text, broadcast media, and digital media.

Literacy has been defined in various ways over the years. Previously, being able to sign your name was considered a reasonable sign of literacy. A more recent definition of literacy is the understanding, evaluating, using and engaging with written texts to participate in society, to achieve personal goals and ambitions and to develop knowledge and potential.

Literacy is the ability to read, write, speak and listen in ways that will allow us to communicate effectively to a variety of different audiences and to make sense of the world. Reading and writing, when integrated with speaking, listening and viewing and critical thinking, constitutes valued aspects of literacy in modern life. Literacy is a critical component to ensure all students have the best chance to succeed in their studies and everyday life.

Numeracy Skills

Numeracy is more than the ability to use numbers to add, subtract, multiply and divide. It encompasses the aptitude to use mathematical understanding and skills to solve problems and meet the demands of day-to-day living in complex social settings. Numeracy also demands understanding of recognised situations where mathematical reasoning can be applied to solve problems.

We are all required to be numerate to maximise our potential and to make a positive contribution to society. In our exceedingly technical world, numeracy skills, in particular the ability to interpret data, are becoming increasingly more significant and are hugely sought after by employers. An absence of mathematical confidence and poor numeracy skills are obstructions to employment as numeracy tests are increasingly becoming a routine part of the recruitment process.

Numeracy is important for individuals to develop logical thinking and reasoning strategies in their everyday activities. We need numeracy to solve problems and make sense of numbers, time, patterns and shapes for activities like cooking, reading receipts, reading instructions and even playing sport.