Numeracy

At Chelsea Primary School, we aim to provide students at all levels with a sound understanding of mathematical concepts and the ability to find and apply links between maths, other areas of the curriculum and their everyday lives.

When teaching maths, we provide students with explicit and targeted teaching of skills and concepts across all Victorian Maths Curriculum areas, including Number and Algebra, Measurement and Geometry and Chance and Data.

Explicit instruction allows students to learn specific strategies and approaches for solving problems and applying mathematical skills.

Students are also engaged with various maths experiences, including using concrete materials, exploring and testing mathematical ideas, and building on their prior knowledge. Students complete maths tasks individually and collaboratively with peers, making their ability to communicate ideas and explain their thinking. Our students are encouraged to be critical thinkers and use creativity when solving mathematical problems and challenges.

All students can succeed in maths, and provide opportunities for them to access concepts and ideas at their required level. We develop their skills by relating maths learning to four proficiencies: understanding, fluency, problem-solving and reasoning.

Numeracy is involved in all aspects of our lives, homes, and workplaces. A fundamental purpose of primary education is to ensure students acquire Mathematics competency. We focus on developing automaticity in the basics, such as mental maths and multiplication tables, on enabling more complex problem-solving as the students become more proficient.

Our structured mathematics approach includes the proficiency strands of:

Understanding refers to students building a robust knowledge of adaptable and transferable Mathematical concepts and structures. They understand the relationship between the ‘why’ and the ‘how’ of Mathematics.
Fluency, which describes students developing skills in choosing appropriate procedures, carrying out procedures flexibly, accurately, efficiently and appropriately, and recalling factual knowledge and concepts readily.
Problem-Solving is students' ability to make choices, interpret, formulate, model and investigate problem situations, select and use technological functions and communicate solutions effectively.
Reasoning refers to students developing an increasingly sophisticated capacity for logical, statistical and probabilistic thinking and actions, such as conjecturing, hypothesising, analysing, probing, evaluating, explaining, inferring, justifying, refuting, abstracting and generalising.

At Chelsea, Primary School Students are engaged in at least 5 hours of Mathematics per week.