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Literacy & Numeracy
 

Literacy and Numeracy at MGC!

Michelle Tewkesbury —

Literacy and numeracy are essential for everyday life, work and education.

Literacy is being able to read, write and understand language.

Numeracy is the ability to understand and use mathematics and statistics.


Across the country, the literacy and numeracy requirements and assessments for NCEA changed in 2024. The new standards are designed to ensure students have functional literacy and numeracy skills that will ready them to transition into tertiary education or the workplace.

At MGC, we are focused on teaching foundational skills in reading, writing and mathematics across all learning areas. 

All students need the Literacy (LIT) and Numeracy (NUM) co-requisite to attain their NCEA certificates - at any level. 

Students will have multiple opportunities to meet the LIT/NUM standards and achieve the co-requisites through their senior years at school.


All Year 11 students at MGC will be entered into the NZQA Literacy and Numeracy Common Assessment Activities (CAAs) in May

There are three CAAs: 

  • For LIT Reading (5 credits)   23 May and Writing (5 credits) 21 May

  • For NUM Maths and Statistics (10 credits) 19 May


The CAAs are:

  • external assessments, and marked by NZQA

  • unit standards - students can only Achieve / Not Achieve

  • take place twice a year, in May and September 

More information for whānau about Literacy and Numeracy and NCEA is here in this Ministry of Education publication.

If you are looking to support your child’s reading, writing and mathematics learning at home, the following educational websites are available, with free access:


The Best Sites (free)

British Council : Grammar and Vocabulary and Reading 

An excellent site which delivers a range of online resources. Covers all the aspects of reading and writing. Includes videos and interactive quizzes.

English Grammar 101

This site operates like a textbook online. Each page covers one topic at a time and contains exercises and tests to check students’ comprehension. 

Khan Academy 

If the students go to Reading and Language Arts: Grammar; they will find a lot of helpful units on the use of punctuation, capital letters, commas and many more which include excellent explanatory videos and lessons.

Grammar Monster

This site is set up to teach and review grammar and punctuation. The content is engaging and it caters to learners of all levels.

Grammar Bytes

An easy to follow site which contains interactive quizzes and mini grammar lessons. 

The Numeracy Practice book is provided to the students.

A Numeracy Practice book which has 40 Numeracy practice papers is provided to each student.

Numeracy Questions

This document includes questions on each content idea included in Numeracy.

2023 NZAMT Bank of Questions

This document has Numeracy Questions with Process and Content ideas identified. The answers to the questions are also included in the document.

Numeracy assessment resources

The link includes past assessments, assessment schedules, exemplars, and reports.

Past Digital Assessments

The link contains past digital assessments, available by subject and level. 

Preparing for Digital assessment as a student

The link includes information and resources to help students prepare for digital assessment.