Literacy and numeracy skills are really important when it comes to assessing the wider curriculum. This is because literacy and numeracy skills are needed in almost everything you do.
Literacy:
If a child struggles in literacy they could have difficulties with being able to read and also find it hard to write. If reading was the problem the child could find in difficult when it comes to reading words from a song sheet during a music lesson or participating in a school play because they struggle to read the words from the script. If writing was the difficulty, the child might find in hard to label a diagram they drew during a science lesson or take part with whiteboard activities during whole class teaching.
Numeracy:
If a child as difficulties with numeracy they could have difficulties with counting or recognising numbers. If counting was the problem the child might have difficulty with performing a sequence of actions during a PE lesson e.g “ bounce the ball 4 times” then “ jump on the spot 6 times”. If recognising numbers was hard a child might find it difficult finding their way around the school , they wouldn’t know which classroom to go to because they couldn’t recognise the number for each year on the door.
Poor literacy and numeracy skills would also effect on a child socially. Poor reading, writing and communication skills could have an effect on how much a child interacts with their peers. Poor numeracy skills could cause children to not want to join in with games or being pushed out because other children have picked up on their weaknesses.