Improving numeracy is an important objective at Hunter School of the Performing Arts. Over the last 2 years, our staff have developed the Smart Start initiative. The initiative was inspired by work undertaken within our community of schools and leveraged the school’s implementation of ‘Super 6’ strategies for literacy.

All students in Years 5-8 regularly warm up with Smart Start questions where students think deeply using the Super 6 reading comprehension strategies. These questions reflect the relevant NSW syllabuses.

The school has quizzes for every Key Learning Area embedded in Canvas, providing hundreds of data points relating to student effort and engagement. For primary cohorts, Smart Start is in the form of review questions, giving students the opportunity for deep thinking and retrieval practice.

Students have become very comfortable at starting a lesson by demonstrating and communicating their numerical understanding in context. They work independently and collaboratively and can describe a variety of methods to solve a given problem. Teachers have grown in their confidence to support student thinking using the Super 6 strategies, assisted by their representative from the school’s numeracy team.

Cassandra Portelli, Head Teacher Mathematics

To celebrate Literacy and Numeracy Week, we had an unforgettable opportunity to meet players from the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs at Belmore Sports Ground.

During the visit, our students interviewed the players, asking them fun literacy and numeracy questions. We challenged them to spell football-related words, identify shapes found in rugby league, and share the first word they could think of beginning with the letter "B". We explored how maths is used in rugby league games, discussing the numbers on players' jerseys, measuring distance, keeping score, tracking statistics and developing game strategies. To finish, we asked quick-fire questions about what the players preferred - books or numbers, training or game day, home or away games, and maths or reading.

Not only did meeting professional athletes from our local team inspire our students to work hard and aim high, it showed them how these everyday skills support success.

Angelika Austin, Relieving Principal

To strengthen writing outcomes across Stage 2, Kingswood Public School identified a need for students to write more frequently and develop specific writing skills through explicit, structured instruction, particularly to support EAL/D learners.

We began with a baseline writing task and the development of a syllabus-aligned rubric for imaginary texts. Guided by CESE's Growth Goal Setting – What Works Best in Practice, our teachers implemented differentiated writing goals using a 'bump it up' approach. Our Stage 2 students received personalised goals based on their writing, while classroom teachers and the AP, C&I worked together through team teaching and targeted support to help students achieve their goals.

Using the department's Stage 2 units on Sadako and Malala and the Magic Pencil, students participated in an eight-week learning sprint that embedded explicit teaching, retrieval practice and ongoing feedback. Differentiation was woven throughout to meet the needs of the school's EAL/D population.

As a result, students' ability to write in paragraphs has increased significantly, with assessment data and average rubric scores showing outstanding student improvement.

In addition to improved student outcomes, teachers reported greater confidence in scaffolding writing, using goal setting to personalise learning, and embedding consistent, modelled practice across Stage 2.

This work has identified sentence punctuation as an area for ongoing focus. Overall, it demonstrated how explicit goal setting, structured support and collaborative teacher practice can significantly improve writing outcomes for students.

Kylie Rincon, Assistant Principal Curriculum and Instruction

Robert Townson Public School has embedded an Explicit Direct Instruction (EDI) model across Kindergarten to Year 6, supported by ongoing professional learning, coaching and leadership from Assistant Principals, Curriculum and Instruction (APs, C&I).

Alongside EDI, the school developed LIFT (Literacy Improvement for Tomorrow), a targeted intervention program that uses internal and external assessment data to identify students' literacy needs and inform focused teaching. Using data to pinpoint areas for improvement enables teachers to design targeted programs to address learning gaps and accelerate student achievement.

Through LIFT, students engage with a wide range of high-quality texts while explicitly developing key literacy skills, including vocabulary, comprehension, grammar, inferential thinking and writing. Lessons are carefully planned to respond to student data and provide the right level of support at the right time.

Using this combination of explicit teaching and targeted intervention has led to significant improvements in literacy outcomes across our school. Just as importantly, it has strengthened teachers' confidence in using data to plan responsive instruction and ensure every student receives the support they need to succeed.

Megan Hughes, Assistant Principal

In 2026, Bermagui Public School implemented evidence-based best practices in mathematics instruction by organising students in Stages 1 to 3 into differentiated learning groups. Groups are formed flexibly, based on recent assessment data and students’ demonstrated understanding, rather than solely by age or class grouping. This approach aligns with the department’s commitment to personalised learning, ensuring targeted teaching that meets each student’s point of need.

Differentiated mathematics groups have provide significant benefits for both students and teachers. Students engage in learning tailored to their current skills and knowledge, promoting confidence, success, and consistent progress. Students requiring additional support receive scaffolded instruction, guided practice, and timely, constructive feedback. Students demonstrating higher levels of proficiency are extended through deep mathematical investigations, reasoning tasks, and problem-solving challenges that foster critical thinking.

For teachers, flexible grouping supports focused and explicit instruction aligned with the Principles of Learning and Teaching and the Quality Teaching Framework. Lessons are planned with clear learning intentions and success criteria, and instructional strategies are adapted to the specific needs of each group. Ongoing formative assessment enables teachers to promptly identify misconceptions, adjust teaching approaches, and deliver timely interventions or extensions. This practice enhances collaborative professional learning, as teachers work collectively to analyse student data and co-design high-quality learning experiences.

By integrating explicit teaching with data-informed differentiation, our school exemplifies the department’s emphasis on high expectations and continuous improvement in student outcomes. This method ensures purposeful, engaging, and appropriately challenging mathematics instruction, while optimising teacher capacity to support student growth through evidence-based, differentiated practices and regular monitoring of achievement.

Tom Mclean, Relieving Assistant Principal Curriculum and Instruction

This year at Turramurra High School are developing a vibrant, school-wide reading culture through Year 7 library classes focusing on reader identity and creative literacy. We achieved this by revitalising the library's collection and implementing the SMART-ER reading program—a program centred on student choice (of books) and voice through personalised, SMART reading goals. The program is supported by the English faculty, where 10 minutes of sustained silent reading is built into the start of each lesson (for 13 classes across Years 7-10).

These targeted initiatives have worked to increase student understanding of their own reader identities and nurture a positive reading culture at our school, facilitate built-in time for reading, with a strong focus on reading for pleasure; and nurture student agency through student-centred SMART reading goals.

The success of these initiatives is reflected in increases in our library's circulation statistics, increased participation in the Premier's Reading Challenge across Years 7–10, and positive staff and student feedback. We are on target to surpass a 15-year record for books loaned out in a single year. So far, across Years 7–10, our students have read 1,348 books and over 47.9 million words.

Elisabeth Porreca-Dubois, Teacher Librarian