Numeracy

Numeracy Tier 1 Intervention (all students, all times)

Numeracy is integrated in each of students four Mathematics lessons from years 7 to 9, and three lessons in year 10. This aligns to the Department for Education’s focal framework; “Big Ideas in Number”, which outlines six key concepts to develop a sense of numbers: trusting the count, place value, multiplicative thinking, partitioning, proportional reasoning, and generalising.

Each of these acts as a developmental checkpoint that students need to master before moving on to more complex mathematical concepts.

All students from year 7-9 are enrolled in the program ‘Smartlab’. This program allows teachers to collect diagnostic data. This information, alongside other formative assessment, directs teaching prior to the commencement of a topic and can be used to monitor progress afterwards. This information also informs the numeracy intervention team as to which students require screening to be enrolled in further numeracy intervention. 

Numeracy Tier 2 Intervention (some students)

In alignment with our Mathematics program, the Numeracy Intervention Program aims to provide support to students who require extra assistance with key numeracy concepts in a targeted, small group setting. The purpose of numeracy intervention is to focus on enabling students to develop foundational numeracy skills which can be applied to deepen mathematical understanding both within the classroom and in day to day life. Numeracy intervention not only aids students in developing their numeracy skills, but gives them a space to build confidence in Mathematics whilst overcoming Mathematical anxiety. This intervention begins by addressing gaps in the “Big Ideas in Number” framework which seeks to develop the understanding of the six key concepts to develop a sense of numbers. Once students have developed these concepts, they then follow the numeracy progression framework, giving students the specific skills needed to access the content that they are learning in their mainstream mathematics class, and other applications. In doing so, it is our hope that students’ maths confidence will grow.

A key focus is to implement numeracy intervention that supports and reinforces learning in the mathematics classroom, rather than replacing it. The goal is to strengthen foundational numeracy understanding that is transferable across year levels, subject areas, and real-life contexts.

Numeracy Tier 3 Intervention (a few students)

Students are following the Big Ideas in Number framework but in a one to one intervention setting. This allows for space for the student to work at their own pace and create deep understanding.

Numeracy across the site

To further deepen these key numeracy skills it became a site-wide priority to incorporate numeracy across all subjects, and not just Mathematics. This allows students to be exposed to these core skills multiple times a week and in a range of contexts which deepens understanding, and builds a stronger connection to the subject matter through witnessing its contextual relevance outside of mathematics class.