"Strong Tomorrow"

The big ideas in number are taught with an emphasis on developing a deep understanding and fluent processes. Students at Dohertys Creek P-9 College engage in real-world, hands-on mathematical tasks which encourage connections between content areas in authentic problem-solving scenarios. By providing interesting, engaging and real-world mathematical problems, our students build a positive mindset towards maths, where persistence, creative thinking, risk-taking and ‘mistakes’ allow for growth, and is viewed as an integral part of the learning process. We aim to build curious mathematicians, who can make mathematical connections and create vast, new solutions in our increasingly complex and digitally advanced world.

Each student is unique and so learning is personalised and targeted to each child’s point of need. Formative data allows us to plan a highly differentiated and dynamic program. Language is integral and underpins mathematical processes, deep understanding and subsequent application. Teachers introduce an increasingly complex vocabulary over time, and through multiple exposures, students are supported to build their ability to analyse, make generalisations and reason mathematically.

The study of maths through an Indigenous Australian perspective, allows our students to make connections between concepts and our unique Australian context. It supports and encourages valuable awareness into a deeply insightful and intelligent culture and way of life of our Aboriginal people and their connection to Country.

“Maths involves creating symbols and putting them together to represent the real world…  Most students only experience maths in the abstract form without getting to relate it to something meaningful to them… fundamentally, we are looking at ways of understanding the world and that’s pretty much what science and maths is.”

Dr Chris Matthews, NSW Aboriginal Education Consultative Group

Maths is not something that is only taught at school and then forgotten about until the next maths lesson. It is interwoven into everything that we do: from telling the time, organising our day, cooking and shopping, calculating our savings and budgeting for a special gift, tracking the growth of our pet so we know how much to feed them and celebrating special days and milestones throughout the year. Being numerate is an important part of being a successful person. Just as literacy allows us entry into the spoken and written world, numeracy allows us to function as successful citizens.

At home, talk to your child about maths in their everyday world. Casual encounters with numbers, operations and measurement are important to build numeracy and life skills. Some questions might include:

• How many minutes is there until we need to leave for school?
• What fruit would you like to eat this week? How much of each fruit type do we need to buy? How many kilograms do you think this will be? How much will it cost?

When solving maths problems, ask:

• How did you work that answer out?
• What is that strategy called?
• Why did you choose to work it out that way?
• Could you have solved that problem another way?

These questions encourage your child to think critically about their own processes and build deep reasoning skills.

Moving into Grade 6 and beyond, our students will study how successful businesses operate, the effects that governments, consumers and business can have on market trends and ethical business practices. They will use their learning from the areas of Science and Design Technologies to design and project manage their own business idea in our local school community, applying their knowledge of enterprising behaviours.