St Cenydd Community School is committed to raising the standards of literacy and numeracy of all its students, so that they develop the ability to read, write, communicate and use numeracy skills 
effectively in all areas of the curriculum. St Cenydd Community School strives to ensure that all students have the skills necessary to cope confidently with the demands of further education, employment and adult life. Both literacy and numeracy are essential skills required in the ‘outside world’., making sure that students recognise they use these skills outside these subject areas and helping them to apply their knowledge in everyday life.
At St Cenydd Community School our ambition is for our students to leave school equipped with the skills they need to be critical, independent, and informed young adults, able to use and decipher all of the information with which they will be bombarded in future life. It is therefore the shared responsibility of all teachers to work together to build the literacy and numeracy skills of all our students, in lessons, around the school site, and in the wider community. To this end we employ whole school, cross curricular initiatives to support the work of the English and maths departments in raising standards and achievement in literacy and numeracy and students are encouraged to use and develop their skills across all subjects, in order to emphasise the importance and relevance they have for life beyond the classroom.
LITERACY
“Literacy is a fundamental human right and the foundation for lifelong learning. It is fully essential to social and human development in its ability to transform lives. For individuals, families, and societies alike, it is an instrument of empowerment to improve one’s health, one’s income, and one’s relationship with the world.”
- UNESCO
Literacy is crucial to the success of individuals in both their career aspirations and their quality of life. Strong literacy skills are closely linked to the probability of having a good job, good earnings and access to training opportunities. The complexity of today's world means that students leaving St Cenydd need to be proficient in reading, writing and communication in order to understand and participate fully in all aspects of life. Literacy is woven through all of the learning that our students do at St Cenydd and teachers continue to develop their practice and expertise in explicitly teaching these skills, recognising that what it means to be literate is constantly evolving, and that the texts and technologies of the literate are now many and varied, involving spoken and written language, electronic and print media, still and moving images. Literacy skills are needed to access all curriculum areas and staff in all curriculum areas have a responsibility for helping pupils to develop their literacy skills. This development is coordinated across the schools. The school monitors all pupils’ skill development in literacy and, where individual students are deemed to be in need of extra help, provides appropriate intervention strategies for pupils.
NUMERACY
Being numerate is about being able to apply number and mathematical approaches in everyday life. Numeracy is crucial to the success of individuals in both their career aspirations and their quality of life. Strong numeracy skills are closely linked to the probability of having a good job, good earning and access to training opportunities. The complexity of today’s world means that students leaving St Cenydd need to be proficient in their understanding of number, calculations and problem solving skills. Fluency in Numeracy allows pupils to see the links with numbers across the curriculum and establishes the importance of number both in school and beyond. At St Cenydd Community School teachers work together, using a common language and approach to improve students confidence and to encourage a positive attitude towards all aspects of numeracy. At St Cenydd pupil progress in numeracy is closely monitored and is used to inform and shape lessons across the curriculum, with staff always supporting and nurturing pupils in their learning. Where necessary, some pupils will receive extra interventions such as one to one support.
In order to support your child at home you may wish to highlight areas in your lives where numeracy skills are essential, at work and in your home life. Your child will have been given a password to use the mathswatch website, which you can explore with them, to build up any areas of mathematics they are using in class or are less confident with.