In this essay the writer will be evaluating how current initiatives can support the development of numeracy across the curriculum. The writer focuses on a specific setting and how numeracy flows throughout the school curriculum and overlaps throughout certain subjects within a school. The setting used in this essay will be referred to as “School G” during this essay.  “School G” facilitates 530 children from foundation phase to key stage 2 and is a community based school which promotes itself as a rights based school ensuring all of the children have the opportunity to fulfil their highest potential of numeracy and literacy. The age range that will be evaluated on its development and skills within numeracy across the curriculum will be foundation phase mainly ages five to six year olds (year 1). Taken from an article written in FirstThingsFirst.org (2017), a child’s brain is at its most rapid stage of development up until the age of about 5 so introducing new skills and education is critical to enable a child to recognise and understand basic numeracy and literacy skills. According to  “School G’s” policy on the curriculum, several aims included, states that children are expected and encouraged to develop their minds and to acquire a mindset able enough to question and reason rationally, develop and adapt thinking skills and to understand the application of mathematical ideas in various situations. Moreover from the curriculum policy, the Cornerstone Primary Curriculum is followed allowing engaging and current subjects to be adapted allowing a numeracy framework to be introduced.

The Numeracy Framework or more known as the National Literacy and Numeracy Framework (LNF) is a constructed guidance set out by the Welsh Government allowing teaching staff to install and create numeracy factors in to common and compulsory subjects such as English, science, ICT and social skills. Numeracy defines the ability to use mathematics in everyday situations. Welsh Government (2014). According to NationalNumeracy.org (2018) numeracy is a skill needed to function in modern life which are often ineffectively taught in a standard math lesson. The Welsh Governments introduction to the new LNF became a requirement from September 2013 intending on raising standards in schools across Wales. Following an inspection from Estyn surfaced unsatisfactory literacy and numeracy outcomes, the LNF was created and became a statutory requirement for schools. Welsh Government (2013). The Welsh Government proposes that the LNF include key aims to help teachers of all subjects to successfully adapt lessons and apply numeracy to each subject for children in all year groups, suitable for their ability and expectations of life skills. Taken from an article in FamilyEducation (2017) Hutten (2017) interprets that children are expected to obtain age appropriate basic life skills during each stage of their lives. Hutten (2017) believes that children of four and five need safety skills first and foremost. Name, address and phone number, and how to make a call. Children of this age in “School G” should already have basic recognition and formation of numbers and letters, this is then developed daily and children are expected to at least verbally communicate their address. This activity is incorporated  into the topic of community explorers therefore following requirements of collaborating the mathematical subject in to outdoor learning. As well as Hutten’s (2017) theory on child development, Jean Piaget (1936) cited in McLeod (2015) also believed that children develop different skills through the ages. Previous findings from The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results back in 2009 presented Wales as the lowest outcome prompting the Welsh Government to impose the new LNF as a statutory requirement. To track progress from the new set out framework, the Welsh Government introduced a new system of tracking progress known as the national literacy and numeracy tests. These tests occur annually and monitor the children’s outcomes and understanding. Welsh Government (2013). Moreover, schools are required to inform parents and caregivers of the child’s progress, usually included in a child’s annual school report. 

According to Savage (2010) the cross-curricular approach to teaching is aimed at applying knowledge, skills and understandings from a variety of subjects taught in schools. These subjects are overlapped and combined to grasp a better understanding of theories per subject.  Savage (2010) talks about the exploration of skills and how it benefits children using knowledge from one subject and applying it to another therefore giving the child a greater insight to the learning. Referring back to the Welsh Governments (2013) findings on the decline in results in mathematics from the Estyn inspection, numeracy integrated into the curriculum became a requirement rather than a recommendation. Schleicher (2017) explained the importance of numeracy by explaining that we use math’s in every area of our lives especially at work and in everyday activities at home and socially. For example, when we go shopping or plan a holiday, search for a mortgage or decorate the home. The Cockcroft Report (1982) states that mathematics is the single most important subject which determines the future of the Nation. Cockcroft (1982) writes about mathematics being a means of communication and an essential knowledge to own. The understanding of numeracy is essential to us helping us learn. Integrating numeracy into different subject areas can promote understanding and enjoyment of math. Smith & Price (2012) describe why people have bad relationships with math, one being that people in Wales are not ashamed to admit they struggle with numbers ultimately feeling no desire to want to learn . Another reason Smith & Price (2012) explained was that students believed a lot of theories in math had no relevance to their lives and as long as they hold the basic knowledge of addition and  subtraction there was no need to explore the subject further. This was described by Smith & Price as poor teaching. In addition, they express a theory by Hachey (2009, cited in Smith & Price (2012) that in order to teach a mathematics successfully, first the teacher needs to address what areas in life we use math and re-examine the lessons in order to offer age appropriate and relevant activities. This theory ties in with the cross curriculum ideas on integrating numeracy in to different area subjects creating more relevant current examples of the use of numeracy. Mathematics in the early years as described by Cockcroft (1982) requires teachers to provide and build a stable foundation to expand upon. Such an importance should lay good expectations of mathematics to provide children with a want to learn more and develop their skills to equip them with numerical tools to carry through in to later life. 


Estyn (2010) explains the numeracy skills differ from those of mathematics. In order to be fully numerate, pupils must be able to use the skills gathered from mathematics in other subjects. For example, orally handle numbers, calculating and approximating within experiments and identify, explain and analyze problems. To comply with requirements of raising standards of numeracy, schools are working towards initiatives to help meet the standards. The initiatives were set by the Welsh Government (2013) to ensure all schools are using the resources and information to the fullest possible outcome. Estyn (2014) set out standards that schools should be meeting. One of the standards is that teachers and support staff  widen their knowledge and understanding of strategies to use numeracy across the curriculum, the Welsh Government (2017) proposed funding for schools in order to support the training of all staff in schools to improve classroom practice. This will enable children to receive the best possible, more current information and teaching and how best to differentiate activities according to year groups. There is numerous funding opportunities allocated to schools to enrich teaching quality. A pupil deprivation grant (PDG) is allocated to schools across wales. The Welsh Government (2017) evaluated the PDG and found that schools were using this grant to fund children from deprived backgrounds which would benefit from extra curriculum support. They found that schools had set up catch up groups for mathematics ensuring children are more informed and plug any gaps in understanding due to poor attendance or lack of home learning. Alternatively, there is funding available for staff to attend training to ensure the children and receiving the best possible education which meets its current requirements. In addition to funding, The Donaldson Report (2015) directs that there is a strong priority on progression expecting teaching staff to set tasks and select resources that build on prior knowledge, experience and engage a child’s interest. Children and young people attend schools with different aspirations, interests and experiences and will approach learning in their own particular way. A one-size-fits-all approach to learning will not meet this wide range of needs. The initiatives proposed by the Review will provide context to resources. Building Blocks, a cross curricular resource site enables staff to use resources to plan appropriate lessons and also track pupil progress. Teachers can select that build from one step to the next but that still provide significant freedom to offer engaging experiences that match the children and young people’s needs. BuildingBlocks.Org (no date). Building Blocks was introduced from Professor Graham Donaldson ideas to combine language, communication and mathematics together.
“…The current National curriculum and assessment arrangements no longer meet the needs of the children and young people of Wales. The case for fundamental change is powerful.”  Donaldson (2015)
As well as the feature on Building Blocks for pupil tracking and monitoring, Abacus, a flexible toolkit for teachers enabling teachers to track children’s attainment of progress and set end of year tests to collaborate with other teachers of children’s progress and ability, also allow children to participate in online activities and games to build on their math skills. Merttens (2018). The Donaldson Report (2015) includes a description of successful teaching by monitoring effectively. Dylan Wiliam (cited in Donaldson, 2015) suggested that effective teacher assessment can ‘double’ the rate of learning. Donaldson (2015) backs this up by initiating learning involves providing regular feedback and adapting teaching and materials to meet the needs of individuals. It also helps learners raise standards and nurture ambition. learning can be particularly powerful when learners are given feedback that helps them to think through the issues and provides them with guidance on next steps. Donaldson (2015). Resources can also managed as initiatives to promote and expand in ways which numeracy is taught. Numicon is a multisensory approach to teaching numbers as a visual. Numicon uses patterns to represent each number. These patterns are structured so that number relationships can be seen in a way not provided by written numbers.SmartKids.co.uk (2018). 


“School G” amongst other schools, use the Building Blocks scheme which ties all subjects together creating a cross curriculum approach. Building Blocks combines Literacy and Nu-meracy into the curriculum and has labelled them ‘Rich Tasks’ enabling meaningful topics to the children’s learning providing skills that are used in daily life situations. Building Blocks allow teacher’s in Wales to plan for the new curriculum within a framework of numerous age appropriate activities with topic friendly teaching resources from Nursery to Year 6. Teachers monitor and report pupil progress and collaborate with children on how they are benefiting from the topical activities. There are various strategies that support the development of nu-meracy in “School G” allowing children to subconsciously develop numeracy skills through an enjoyable distraction. Children attending “School G” are expected to attend weekly outdoor learning class which ties in with the weekly lesson plans. The outdoor learning group initiate activities such as leaf collecting which then leads on to further activities from their collections such a ordering of size, consistency and prepositions of the leaf finding. According to LTL.Org (2006) projects focusing on nurturing mathematical experiences in the natural out-doors supports and enrichens children’s learning experiences. Backing this up¸was Piaget (1936) of his theory that children learn through experiences and through exploring the worls around them for themselves, the outdoor learning group encourages the children to explore and predict, then to test their own theories of the findings. “School G’s” policy on outdoor learning details that the outdoor learning groups encourage independence and exploration of knowledge. Teaching maths through play can have an effective impact on the intake of nu-merical knowledge. EarlyYears.Org (no date) delivers that play is a natural and fun way in which children learn allowing them to explore, investigate and understand the world around them. Children are first introduced to simple math concepts such as shape, numbers and posi-tions. From a young age, children enjoy recognising shapes and numbers, unaware of the strong foundation this visual and vocal recognition is building for them. Parents have first op-portunity to introduce numeracy to their children. Singing songs about numbers, letting a child help set the table and gathering as many cups as there are people needing them, building positional vocabulary like “up, over, under, next to” and concept of time such as bed times and lunch times. EarlyYears.Org (no date). Furthermore, “School G” is one of the previously mentioned schools which use the PDG on supporting children with numeracy. “School G” has trained staff focusing on children who have poor attendance or lack of education to move forward. The booster groups work with the children and closely work on areas lacking under-standing or areas missed due to absence. One of Donaldson’s provisions for the new curricu-lum was that all children were appropriately met regarding their needs. The majority of nu-meracy taught to the children of the specified age group at “School G” is through practical activities as a whole class. Vocabulary associated to the topic is delivered then the children are called upon to interact with the activity at hand discuss the activity then complete the work sheets or task in books. This rendition of learning is supported and documented by Kolb (1974, cited in McLeod, 2017) Kolb (1974) represents a learning style in which children suc-cessfully learn. He illustrates a four-step process of learning which consist of first concrete experience, which is doing the task practically, next is reflective observation. Where the chil-dren would discuss what they have just demonstrated, after that is abstract conceptualization which allows the child to learn from the experience then finally, abstract experimentation when the children put their newly learned knowledge to the test by applying the theory. Kolb (1974) explains why this theory is effective, expressing that learning is created through expe-rience. “School G” encourage the children to become familiar and create several types of graphs. All of which are incorporated in to curriculum such as science, cornerstone topics and social skills. The graphs are typically constructed at a large scale where the whole class have an involvement. A recent graph created by the children at “School G” was a bar graph incor-porated in the “Mrs Wibble Wobble” story. The children help “Mrs Wibble Wobble” create traffic light jelly. From organizing picture instructions, to measuring the water for the jelly and using vocabulary associated with the mixing instructions, the children were encouraged to use their scientific knowledge to predict the best way the jelly will set, their individual preference on favorite jelly, their motor skills to mix and pour, and finally their literacy skills to report their finding and steps. After this the children created a bar graph using jelly blocks for each child. The children were able to understand the graph based on it being their own interests and a fun way of creating a graph.


The need for the review and reform of the curriculum was introduced because of the serious need and importance of the children’s future learning. Wales’ expectations of the children’s future for social, economic and cultural ambitions did not meet the curriculum as it stood, therefore was developed and modelled in order to meet the expectations of the future. Don-aldson (2015) translates that the economy is ever changing and the way in which children learn and predominantly the information that they are expected and encouraged to learn should meet the changes. Although the changes are in motion and practices are being put to theory, Donaldson (2015) still has numerous reserves and implications for the continued suc-cess of the new curriculum adjustments. The implications suggest that despite funding to as-sist with staff training, the need to extend teachers’ fluency in Welsh language, health and well-being, digital ability and computer science, as well as wider matters such as curriculum planning and assessment. The Welsh Government’s input for funding is needed however, there will also be a need for more immediate action to build the confidence and capacity of teachers.