Paul Lockhart
Numeracy and Maths – What’s the Difference?
At Dairsie Primary we aim to develop confident learners who can understand and use numbers in real life. While mathsand numeracy are closely linked, they’re not quite the same.
Maths is the subject your child learns in class. It includes number work, shape, measurement, patterns and problem solving. It helps children build a deep understanding of mathematical concepts.
Numeracy is about using those maths skills in everyday situations like working out change at the shop, reading a bus timetable, following a recipe or understanding a graph on the news.
We want all our learners to be confident and capable in both areas. That’s why numeracy is taught across the curriculum and not just in maths lessons. It’s an essential life skill that supports learning in all subjects and helps prepare our children for the world beyond school.
At Dairsie, we focus on developing deep, conceptual understanding in maths. Rather than simply learning procedures, children are supported to understand the ‘why’ behind the maths, using practical resources, visual models and real-life problem solving to explore key concepts.
Pupils apply their money skills through social enterprise projects, use data handling to monitor progress in sustainability initiatives and explore measurement and time through growing, cooking and outdoor learning. Mental agility and number sense are developed through regular practice and games, helping children become flexible, confident and accurate with numbers. Our maths curriculum encourages curiosity, reasoning and perseverance so that every learner can think like a mathematician and see how maths connects to everyday life.
