Maths Teachers Day 2026

Maths Teachers Day 2026 will be held at Victoria University, Kelburn Campus on Thursday November 26th, 2026!

The day will run from 9:30am - 3pm. It is completely free, and morning tea and lunch will be provided.

If you plan to attend, please fill in our RSVP form before the end of the day on Friday the 13th of November.

Outline of the day

9:15am - 9:30am Registration

9:30am - 10:30am Keynote

10:30am - 10:50am Morning tea

10:50am - 12:00pm Workshop 1

12:00pm - 12:30pm Information Session

12:30pm - 1:30pm Lunch

1:30pm - 2:40pm Workshop 2

2:40pm - 3:00pm Close

Keynote

Katy Thorne

from Aquinas College / BOPMA

Katy is the Leader of Learning for the Aquinas College Mathematics Faculty, and President of the Bay of Plenty Maths Association. She was recently presented with the Jim Campbell Award for Excellence in Teaching from NZAMT — a prestigious award bestowed on only four recipients every two years. The honour recognises her outstanding teaching, leadership, and wide-ranging contributions to the mathematics education community.

Recently, Katy has been working on a research report commissioned by the PPTA on the impacts of the proposed new qualifications system. The report is titled "Tirotiro anō" and is available online. She wrote the chapter called "How the reforms may influence engagement Maths".

Tirotiro anō: What does this mean for Mathematics?

The education system is changing rapidly and the next stop for us is a new qualification framework but what does that actually mean for mathematics teachers and learners? Drawing on findings from the Tirotiro Anō report, this workshop explores what teachers told us about the reforms, the particular challenges and opportunities for mathematics, and the implications for our classrooms. The report’s wider recommendations will also be unpacked and we'll consider what we need if we want the reforms to work for all learners.

Workshop 1

Katy Thorne

from Aquinas College / BOPMA

Katy is the Leader of Learning for the Aquinas College Mathematics Faculty, and President of the Bay of Plenty Maths Association. She was recently presented with the Jim Campbell Award for Excellence in Teaching from NZAMT — a prestigious award bestowed on only four recipients every two years. The honour recognises her outstanding teaching, leadership, and wide-ranging contributions to the mathematics education community.

Recently, Katy has been working on a research report commissioned by the PPTA on the impacts of the proposed new qualifications system. The report is titled "Tirotiro anō" and is available online. She wrote the chapter called "How the reforms may influence engagement Maths".

Tirotiro anō Q&A

This workshop will be a follow up Q&A to Katy's keynote speech.

Sarah Cobb

from Spring into Maths

Sarah is an experienced mathematics facilitator and primary school teacher based in Christchurch.

Sarah is passionate about empowering ākonga, teachers and learning assistants to see themselves as confident, connected, capable learners and mathematicians. She builds trust and rapport with leaders, teachers, learning assistants and ākonga, and inspires others by sharing her enthusiasm for and excitement about mathematics.

Sarah is currently working towards her Educational Doctorate, investigating how representations are used in primary classrooms to support understanding, and to reason, communicate and make sense of thinking and mathematical concepts.

Spring into Maths Taster

SPRING into Maths is an evidence-based, structured intervention developed by Julie Roberts (NZCER) for students who require extra support with mathematics, specifically the concepts related to number. There are seven focus kits that can be used to support learning from primary to early secondary. SPRING into Maths kits are designed to be used flexibly. This allows flexibility to move between kits to support or extend students. The approach is designed to be delivered to small groups of students by teachers or teacher aides. SPRING can be used with both tier 2 and tier 3 students.

This workshop will introduce SPRING into Maths through a hands-on practical approach. Come and see the resources available in the structured intervention. Take away some games to play with your students and knowledge of a NZ designed and delivered programme.

Rachel Cookson

from the Ministry of Education

Rachel Cookson has worked for the Ministry of Education for a number of years. She is passionate about supporting ākonga in building a positive mindset to Mathematics and Statistics. Her belief is that learning is a reciprocal process and we can all benefit from a growth mindset. Rachel is an experienced kaiako having the pleasure to teach both Mathematics and Statistics to Year 7-13 in a variety of schools, and various roles within schools including Assistant Principal, Head of Faculty, Dean and Restorative Practice Coordinator.

Year 11 Mathematics and Statistics

We will spend this session exploring how the Year 11 curriculum progresses from Phase 4 and how it enables teachers to ensure all Year 11 students have access to the foundational mathematical and statistical knowledge and practices required for future pathways.

Anna Fergusson

from the University of Auckland

Anna is a senior lecturer in the Statistics Department of the University of Auckland, and has worked there since 2015. Before that, she was Director of Mathematics and Statistics at Avondale College. She has a Master of Professional Studies (Mathematics Education) with First Class Honours, and a PhD in Statistics, focusing on Data Science Education. Anna is interested in Statistics and Data Science Education, in particular curriculum and assessment design, and enjoy facilitating workshops to support professional development of teachers. She has worked with the New Zealand Ministry of Education and the New Zealand Qualifications Authority on the development of national assessment standards, tasks and teaching resources for statistics.

TBD - Statistics

TBD

We are still finalising workshops! Topics that we are working on are: primary Maths education, accelerating learning, mātauranga Māori, and Pacific education.

Workshop 2

Sarah Cobb

from Spring into Maths

Sarah is an experienced mathematics facilitator and primary school teacher based in Christchurch.

Sarah is passionate about empowering ākonga, teachers and learning assistants to see themselves as confident, connected, capable learners and mathematicians. She builds trust and rapport with leaders, teachers, learning assistants and ākonga, and inspires others by sharing her enthusiasm for and excitement about mathematics.

Sarah is currently working towards her Educational Doctorate, investigating how representations are used in primary classrooms to support understanding, and to reason, communicate and make sense of thinking and mathematical concepts.

Spring into Maths Taster

SPRING into Maths is an evidence-based, structured intervention developed by Julie Roberts (NZCER) for students who require extra support with mathematics, specifically the concepts related to number. There are seven focus kits that can be used to support learning from primary to early secondary. SPRING into Maths kits are designed to be used flexibly. This allows flexibility to move between kits to support or extend students. The approach is designed to be delivered to small groups of students by teachers or teacher aides. SPRING can be used with both tier 2 and tier 3 students.

This workshop will introduce SPRING into Maths through a hands-on practical approach. Come and see the resources available in the structured intervention. Take away some games to play with your students and knowledge of a NZ designed and delivered programme.

Rachel Cookson

from the Ministry of Education

Rachel Cookson has worked for the Ministry of Education for a number of years. She is passionate about supporting ākonga in building a positive mindset to Mathematics and Statistics. Her belief is that learning is a reciprocal process and we can all benefit from a growth mindset. Rachel is an experienced kaiako having the pleasure to teach both Mathematics and Statistics to Year 7-13 in a variety of schools, and various roles within schools including Assistant Principal, Head of Faculty, Dean and Restorative Practice Coordinator.

Y12-13 Mathematics | Pāngarau & Y12-13 Mathematical and Statistical Modelling | Te whakatauira i te Pāngarau me te Tauanga

We will spend this session exploring what is taught in the two Year 12-13 Mathematics and Statistics subjects. This session will focus on supporting teachers to understand what disciplinary knowledge is to be taught in these two subjects with exploration of how they are similar and different.

Anna Fergusson

from the University of Auckland

Anna is a senior lecturer in the Statistics Department of the University of Auckland, and has worked there since 2015. Before that, she was Director of Mathematics and Statistics at Avondale College. She has a Master of Professional Studies (Mathematics Education) with First Class Honours, and a PhD in Statistics, focusing on Data Science Education. Anna is interested in Statistics and Data Science Education, in particular curriculum and assessment design, and enjoy facilitating workshops to support professional development of teachers. She has worked with the New Zealand Ministry of Education and the New Zealand Qualifications Authority on the development of national assessment standards, tasks and teaching resources for statistics.

TBD - Statistics

TBD

We are still finalising workshops! Topics that we are working on are: primary Maths education, accelerating learning, mātauranga Māori, and Pacific education.