How to help your child with Maths/numeracy Welcome to the Mathematics department

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Success criteria Understand the difference between numeracy and mathematics Understand the importance of numeracy Ways to help improve numeracy at home Ways to alleviate Maths anxiety Useful resources

What is the difference between numeracy and mathematics?   Numeracy is a life skill. Mathematics are the skills taught to pass the GCSE exam Being numerate goes beyond simply 'doing sums'; it means having the confidence and competence to use numbers and think mathematically in everyday life.

  Everyone needs to be numerate to maximise their life chances and to make a positive contribution to society. The effect of poor numeracy on people’s lives is often much less obvious than poor literacy. But there is substantial evidence that low numeracy skills are associated with poor outcomes for many people. This has a negative impact on them and their families – and on society as a whole.

  Employment People with poor numeracy skills are more than twice as likely to be unemployed Wages Recent data by the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) show a direct relationship between wage distribution and numeracy skills Health In OECD and UK basic skills reports, the correlation between poor numeracy and poor health is clear; data from the British Cohort Studies have shown that there is also a link between depression and poor numeracy

  School exclusions Pupils beginning secondary school with very low numeracy skills but good literacy skills have an exclusion rate twice that of pupils starting secondary school with good numeracy skills Truancy 14-year-olds who have poor maths skills at 11 are more than twice as likely to play truant Crime  A quarter of young people in custody have a numeracy level below that expected of a 7-year-old, and 65% of adult prisoners have numeracy skills at or below the level expected of an 11-year-old.

Numeracy Examples of Numeracy   Examples of Numeracy Being able to critically assess statistics used by advertisers or politicians. Being able to manage family budgets – credit cards, offers at supermarkets and so on. Being able to estimate – in all kinds of situations, e.g. journey speed, time and distance, roughly how much a bill will be or your expected bank balance at the end of the month.

What can parents/carers to do help their child with numeracy/maths?

What can parents/carers to do help their child with numeracy/maths? Practice basic maths skills whenever possible Addition Subtraction Multiplication Division Timetables

What can parents/carers to do help their child with numeracy/maths? Make sure your child knows how to tell the time using an analogue clock Get children to read timetables for a bus or train trip

What can parents/carers to do help their child with numeracy/maths? Look for and discuss shapes and patterns in real life

What can parents/carers to do help their child with numeracy/maths? Have your child measure the ingredients for a recipe you are making Get children to change the ingredients needed if you are making more or less of a recipe Talk about ratio when decorating Discuss exchange rates when going on holiday

What can parents/carers to do help their child with numeracy/maths? Help your child to find some appropriate number and problem-solving games to play online Timetables Rockstars My Maths MangaHigh Transum

What can parents/carers to do help their child with numeracy/maths? Play board or card games that involve counting, patterns or games that involve calculating with money

What can parents/carers to do help their child with numeracy/maths? While shopping, ask your child to estimate the total cost of your shopping or calculate the change

What can parents/carers to do help their child with numeracy/maths? Have tools such as a ruler, a scale, a calculator and a measuring tape available to use around the house

What can parents/carers to do help their child with numeracy/maths? Encourage your child to graph the scores for their favourite sports team

What can parents/carers to do help their child with numeracy/maths? Talk about Maths Ask you child to explain the maths they are working on in school. When helping your child with homework, ask them to explain how they got their answer

Maths Anxiety in children: The most important thing to do is help your child to feel positive about maths and have fun with it whenever possible.  In the UK people are often negative about maths and this makes it harder for children to understand the reasons why we need to learn maths. Don’t say things like ‘I can’t do maths’ or ‘I hated maths at school’… your child might start to think like that themselves…  

Websites to help develop your confidence http://www.familymathstoolkit.org.uk/ https://www.nnchallenge.org.uk/home/index.html