In Mathematics, students are encouraged to become critical thinkers who have a wide range of mathematical tools at their disposal for use in investigations, applications, and analysis. Students engage in a curriculum that is motivating and intellectually rigorous.

Mathematics provides a framework for logical thinking and deductive reasoning as well as being a means of symbolic communication that is powerful, concise, logical, and unambiguous. It is a means by which people can manage and understand their environment. Through study in this area, students will develop the essential mathematical skills of abstraction, proof, investigation, modelling, and problem solving.

The Mathematics Learning Area is organised within six outcomes;

• Working mathematically is concerned with mathematical thinking processes, problem solving and the appreciation that learning involves “finding out” rather than waiting to be told or shown;
• Chance and data assists students to collect, organise and analyse information (data) and develop their thinking about situations which are unpredictable but have long term patterns;
• Working with numbers helps students to develop confidence to deal with computational situations they meet daily – a balance is needed between mental, written and calculator skills;
• Algebra develops efficient and powerful ways of representing relationships – skills that are also used in the study of other sciences;
• Space involves learning about shape and structure, transformation and movement, location and arrangement and solving problems based on these properties;
• Measurement allows students to develop concepts and skills related to length, area, volume, mass, angle, and time and also situations where quantities are measured indirectly by the use of formulas.

In all outcomes, communication skills are important – processes and conclusions must be presented (in writing or otherwise) so others can understand them.