Mathematics Curricular
Mathematics is a compulsory part of the curriculum in Years 7 to 10 and the range of attractive courses offered to Year 11 and 12 students enables all students to select a Mathematics unit in their post compulsory school years.
The selection of learning experiences for Years 7 to 10 is based on the Australian Curriculum. The Australian Curriculum for Mathematics focuses on the following content strands:
- Statistics and Probability
- Measurement and Geometry
- Number and Algebra
The following proficiency strands are also addressed:
- Understanding
- Fluency
- Problem Solving
- Reasoning
In Year 7 students are placed in classes according to their performance at the end of Semester One. All students do the same course except for a small group of students who require additional support in Mathematics.
Students are there after (Years 8-10) streamed according to their performance into Practical level, Standard level, or Advanced level Mathematics. From Year 9 onward, the Advanced stream is further subdivided into Advanced A and Advanced B groups. Students in Standard level are working at the prescribed Australian Curriculum level for their age, whilst those in Advanced study additional material. The Standard curriculum is adapted for those in the Practical level course, with some students placed on individual learning programs.
Staff in the Mathematics Learning Area are very enthusiastic in their promotion of Mathematics competitions offered by the various organisations throughout the state and country.
Mathematics Co-Curricular
Each year, as closely as possible to March 14, the annual Pi Competition is held at the College. At lunch time on the Chapel Lawn, students in Years 7 - 12 compete with each other to see who can recite the most number of digits after the decimal in the number PI. Our current record, set in 2005, is 684.
The College is represented every year by at least two teams in the annual Have Sum Fun competitions for Junior and Senior secondary students. Students have also enjoyed participating in the new online Have Sum Fun competition which is available to students in Years 8 - 10.
For the annual Australian Mathematics Competition, the College supports as many students as possible working at the 90 minutes of problem-solving. We provide this opportunity to over 750 students each year.
For some of the competitions or co-curricular opportunities, students are invited to nominate their entries and these smaller competitions are run outside school hours. Included in this group are:
- University Engineering Summer School
- University Mathematics Summer School
Each year in November our highest achieving students in Year 9 are chosen to represent the College in the Science and Engineering Challenge. This is a wonderful opportunity that is eagerly attended by these students.
The highlight of our year is Maths Week during which we plan a series of activities to engage all our students and staff in numeracy and number reflections. Events include:
- Guessing the lollies in the jar
- Making the longest Mintie wrapper
- Annual Staff Maths Quiz
- Tantrix
- Making and flying paper aeroplanes
- Tower of Hanoi
- Tower of Hanoi (blindfolded)
- Homeroom quizzes each morning
Each Monday afternoon after school, students wishing to receive help for their homework or support for their understanding of new and difficult concepts can come to Homework classes where a Mathematics teacher is available to answer any questions.
The staff in the Mathematics Learning Area seek to provide for each student an environment that enables them to further their own understanding and application of Mathematics to the very best of their individual ability.
In challenging each student to achieve their potential, teachers will encourage students to support and assist each other while they too work collaboratively and cooperatively in the pursuit of these Learning Area goals.
