Mathematics

Mathematics is an essential area of learning in our curriculum. It is vitally important that our students develop mathematical skills to function effectively in society. Becoming confident and competent with mathematics will enable our students at Heidelberg Primary School to be able to reason, solve problems, demonstrate understandings, and see the relevance of mathematics in everyday life.

The mathematics program at HPS allows all students to have genuine access to high quality learning in mathematics. The program will build on students’ interests and experiences, allowing students to make meaningful connections to real life situations and enable them to see a purpose for all concepts and skills being taught. Students will be encouraged to analyse, compare, explain, reason, justify, estimate, and synthesise mathematical problems, which will assist them in developing the ability to choose the most effective approach to solving problems.

We deliver a sequential, inter-connected mathematics program based on the outcomes from the Victorian Curriculum. Mathematics as a subject is organised into three content strands, along with four embedded proficiency strands.

These strands describe the concepts being taught and learnt and provide the basis for our mathematics curriculum.

• Number and Algebra
• Measurement and Geometry
• Statistics and Probability

The proficiencies describe how the concepts are explored and skills are developed - the thinking and the doing.

• Understanding
• Fluency
• Reasoning
• Problem Solving

Through learning mathematics at Heidelberg Primary School, students will:

• Develop confidence, independence, and a positive attitude towards mathematics.
• Develop and demonstrate useful and relevant mathematical skills.
• Solve mathematical problems using a range of strategies.
• Recognise mathematical connections and be able to apply mathematical concepts, skills, and processes in posing and solving mathematical problems.
• Be confident in one’s personal knowledge of mathematics, to feel able to both apply it, and to acquire new knowledge and skills when needed.
• To communicate and reason mathematically and see the relevance of mathematics in everyday life.
• Develop the ability and willingness to be a risk taker with their learning and approach new concepts with a growth mindset.
• Make connections between their mathematical learning in the classroom and applications of their mathematical skills in real life, everyday situations.

The importance of home:

At home, as parents you can have a huge impact on your child’s mindset towards mathematics and the relationship between the school and home is crucial. A great volume of research has found that the role of parents in the development of a child’s attitude and beliefs towards mathematics is highly significant (see references below). As teachers, we regularly hear stories from students along the lines of “My parents weren’t any good at maths, so neither am I”, or “I can’t do this, but my parents say maths isn’t important”.

It is important that at home, you model positivity, fun and enjoyment in mathematics. Students coming to school with a positive outlook towards maths and bringing effort and an open mind to the classroom makes a huge difference to their learning. Simply having a willingness to try, a willingness to make mistakes and learn from them, and a willingness to be involved and explore mathematical concepts relies heavily on parental attitudes and beliefs at home. Regardless of your own perceived mathematical ability, modelling a positive attitude to children from a young age and working with the school in supporting a love for learning is vital in building the foundations for students to become independent, lifelong learners, problem solvers and critical thinkers in mathematics.