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The Mathematics programme caters for students from many cultures and a wide range of abilities. The programme reflects the wide diversity of student needs by being varied and flexible as well as recognising the importance of the School’s special character.

The teaching and learning programme in Mathematics was implemented to ensure the development of the essential skills, viz communication skills, numeracy skills, information skills, problem-solving skills, social and co-operative skills, work and study skills.

There are six main achievement aims of the mathematics curriculum. Accordingly, the curriculum statement is presented in six “strands” each of which reflects a particular aim of the curriculum. The strands are headed:

• Mathematical Processes

• Number

• Measurement

• Geometry

• Algebra

• Statistics

This division is a convenient way of categorising the outcomes for mathematics education in schools. It emphasises that there are a number of aspects which are all equally important. The division does not mean that mathematics is expected to be learned in discrete “packages”. On the contrary, the mathematical processes strand is deliberately intended to encourage teachers and students to make connections between the other strands wherever possible.

Each strand, other than “number”, is divided into eight levels describing the development of the mathematics curriculum from junior primary school (Year 1) to seventh form (Year 13).

A number of achievement objectives are described in each strand, and at each level. The objectives define what students should be able to achieve after appropriate learning experiences in mathematics. They define the progression of learning outcomes which is the core of this curriculum statement in mathematics.

At each level the objectives are quite broad. It is expected that, in assessing students’ progress, teachers will make judgments as to an individual’s degree of achievement of particular objectives, and will include commentary on that degree of achievement when reporting to parents.

The judgment of experienced teachers as to what students can do at various ages has been combined with recent research into mathematical learning to place material into levels.

Mathematical Processes

The mathematics curriculum intended by this statement will provide opportunities for students to:

• Develop flexibility and creativity in applying mathematical ideas and techniques to unfamiliar problems arising in everyday life, and develop the ability to reflect critically on the methods they have chosen;

• Become effective participants in problem-solving teams, learning to express ideas, and to listen and respond to the ideas of others;

• Develop the skills of presentation and critical appraisal of a mathematical

• Argument or calculation, use mathematics to explore and conjecture, and learn from mistakes as well as successes;

• Develop the characteristics of logical and systematic thinking, and apply these in mathematical and other contexts, including other subjects of the curriculum;

• Become confident and competent users of information technology in mathematical contexts;

• Develop the skills and confidence to use their own language, and the language of mathematics, to express mathematical ideas;

• Develop the knowledge and skills to interpret written presentations of mathematics.

Number

The mathematics curriculum intended by this statement will provide opportunities for students to:

• Develop an understanding of numbers, the ways they are represented, and the quantities for which they stand;

• Develop accuracy, efficiency, and confidence in calculating — mentally, on paper, and with a calculator;

• Develop the ability to estimate and to make approximations, and to be alert to the reasonableness of results and measurements.

Measurement

The mathematics curriculum intended by this statement will provide opportunities for students to:

• Develop knowledge and understanding of systems of measurement and their use and interpretation;

• Develop confidence and competence in using instruments and measuring devices;

• Predict and calculate the effects of changes in variables and rate of change of variables on systems representable by simple mathematical models.

Geometry

The mathematics curriculum intended by this statement will provide opportunities for students to:

• Gain a knowledge of geometrical relations in two and three dimensions, and recognise and appreciate their occurrence in the environment;

• Develop spatial awareness and the ability to recognise and make use of the geometrical properties and symmetries of everyday objects;

• Develop the ability to use geometrical models as aids to solving practical problems in time and space.

Algebra

The mathematics curriculum intended by this statement will provide opportunities for students to:

• Recognise patterns and relationships in mathematics and the real world, and be able to generalise from these;

• Develop the ability to think abstractly and to use symbols, notation, and graphs and diagrams to represent and communicate mathematical relationships, concepts, and generalisations;

• Use algebraic expressions confidently to solve practical problems.

Statistics

The mathematics curriculum intended by this statement will provide opportunities for students to:

• Recognise appropriate statistical data for collection, and develop the skills of collecting, organising, and analysing data, and presenting reports and summaries;

• Interpret data presented in charts, tables, and graphs of various kinds;

• Develop the ability to estimate probabilities and to use probabilities for prediction.

Grids for each Year group showing the integration of the above strands into the curriculum are given in the Year Courses - the tabs above.

All learning objectives from level 3-8 are taught over a 5 year period. As Maths is compulsory until the end of year 11, students are taught all L.O up to and including level 6 of the curriculum. MAP 1 students are those students that struggle at maths and so their course in year 11 focuses on level 4 and 5 again rather than level 6.

In Years 7 and 8 the emphasis is given to number covering this aspect four times during the year. Each other strand is covered twice. Levels 2, 3, 4 and 5 for extension are covered within the teaching programme.

In Year 10 students begin their NCEA by taking three Internal Achievement Standards and three Unit Standards. By the end of the year they will be able to have a total of 14 NCEA level 1 credits.

In Year 11 students can follow one of two courses, Level 1 Achievement Standards or Level 1 Units Standards. The Achievement Standards course is examined at the end of the year with a total of 16 Achievement Standard credits available. The Unit Standard course is examined internally throughout the year with a total of 32 Unit Standard credits available.