This year schools have been tasked with the job of implementing new Mathematics and English Curricular along with some other new programmes. This article will update you on how St Joseph's is undertaking this and what you can expect.

Mathematics Curriculum and Resources

In the middle of 2023 St Joseph's embarked on a three-year journey to refresh and revitalise our Mathematics delivery. We have learnt from the mistakes of the past, and are committed to ensuring the best teaching and learning opportunities are provided for everyone.

In 2024 we saw a significant bump in our Mathematics Achievement. 93% of students achieved at or above the expected level of the curriculum. The new national Mathematics Curriculum already aligns with the new approach we began in 2023. The government's "Structured Mathematics" resources provide some great tools to support teaching and learning, but they are not magic pills that will improve achievement overnight.

We are using "Oxford Mathematics" for Year 4+. The workbooks are great, but do have limited ability to meet the diversity of abilities within a given year level. This means we will often supplement other tasks... so don't expect every page in the workbook to be systematically completed. We want the mahi the students do to support their growth and learning - there is no value in getting them to repeatively complete tasks they have already mastered, and likewise there is no value in them struggling through tasks that are too difficult.

In the Junior School, we will be using "Numicon" Mathematics Resources. Numicon utilises a wide range of physical manipulatable resources to support students' conceptual understanding of numbers. However, like many schools in New Zealand, our resources still haven't been delivered. In the meantime - we carry on with business as usual.

In Term Two we hope to have another Mathematics Parent Evening where we can shed further light on our approach to Mathematics and how you can support your children in their learning journey.

The English Curriculum

For many years St Joseph's has been using the "Better Start Literacy Approach (BSLA)" to support students learning the basics in literacy. This approach is directly linked to the new curriculum.

Usually around Year 3 to Year 4 the students focus moves to "Reading to Learn" rather than "Learning to Read". We have had great success in both. Over the past few years our Year 8 Cohort have left the had around 40% achieving above the level expected for their age. For this reason, we are not racing to overhaul our Y4+ literacy approach.

Once we have a chance to begin embedding the new mathematics approach teachers will begin the professional development needed to deepen their understanding of the "Structured Literacy Approach" for older students. NOTE: The National Curriculum still hasn't been released for English at Year 7&8.