Numeracy is a highly valued area of learning at Kadina Memorial School. It is about much more than adding and subtracting, we want students to be able to apply these skills in their every day lives to solve problems and succeed.

The initial focus of the Numeracy Improvement Team has been on mindsets and problem solving. Many staff across the school have participated in the online course by Professor Jo Boaler of Stanford University ‘How to Learn Maths’. There  is an excellent free six part student and parent course available see:https://lagunita.stanford.edu/courses/Education/EDUC115-S/Spring2014/about for more details.

A key message of this training is that every child can succeed at Maths and there is no such thing as a ‘Maths person’. This has been carefully filtered into classrooms so learners understand that through persistence and learning from mistakes their brain will stretch and they will become more successful. They are also learning that success in Maths isn’t linked to speed. Through solving problems in many ways and working in groups to verbalise thinking processes more confident students who see the value of Maths in their own lives and enjoy learning are emerging.

As the focus has moved from getting a correct answer as quickly as possible to looking more deeply into a problem and understanding and exploring the possibilities our students thinking, attitude and commitment to maths has grown.

This is an exciting journey for students at KMS that will continue as we are ‘learning for our future’.