Students at St. Brendan’s are engaged in a range of learning experiences that will develop skills, understandings and confidence to be successful with Mathematics today, and in the future. Teachers understand the importance of Mathematics being purposeful and relevant to everyday life.
Mathematics
Mathematics instruction is explicit and responsive to students' needs. Lessons are planned in alignment with the Victorian Curriculum, developing competencies across the four mathematical proficiencies:
- Understanding
- Fluency
- Problem Solving
These fundamental proficiencies are applied through the three mathematical strands:
- Number and Algebra
- Measurement and Geometry
- Statistics and Probability
Daily mathematics lessons begin with a focus on ‘number’, developing students’ skills in counting, identifying patterns, place value and the four processes. Students are then provided with opportunities to build mathematical understanding and reasoning through targeted and focused instruction sessions and problem solving tasks.
Strategies used to build student mathematical growth include:
- Pre-assessment, to identify student needs
- Explicit lesson design, to target the needs of all students
- Scaffolded and sequential learning, to build and transfer mathematical knowledge
- Post-assessment, to monitor student achievement
- Open-ended tasks, to enable (support) and extend (challenge) students' mathematical thinking
At St Brendan's we focus on a growth mindset approach, to promote all students to learn mathematics to their highest level.