In a nutshell
ENSSA assesses Year 1 students’ developing accuracy and fluency with addition and subtraction number facts. These tasks draw on students’ understanding of part-part-whole relationships, counting strategies, efficient derived-fact strategies, and, over time, automatic recall.
In Year 1, students increasingly solve addition and subtraction facts using number relationships rather than relying only on counting-by-ones. They may use strategies such as counting on, counting back, counting up to find the difference, doubles, near doubles, make-ten, fact families, and tens-and-ones reasoning.
As students develop fluency with simple number facts, they begin to use this knowledge to solve more complex problems more efficiently. For example, a student may solve 8 + 7 by thinking, “8 needs 2 more to make 10, so I break 7 into 2 and 5. 10 and 5 is 15.”
The main instructional goal is to move students from early counting strategies towards accurate, efficient, and increasingly automatic addition and subtraction strategies. Students need both conceptual understanding and repeated practice with small, taught fact sets.
This guidance focuses on the acquisition and fluency stages of learning. The explicit instruction routines support acquisition: students learn how to solve facts accurately using strategies and representations. The review and practice routines support fluency: students practise facts they can already solve accurately so they can recall them more efficiently.
Foundation teachers should use the Decomposing Numbers guidance as the main recommendation for early number operations, but may draw on this guidance when students are ready for addition and subtraction facts.
This guidance is designed for classes where ENSSA results indicate a class-wide need to strengthen Year 1 addition and subtraction fact accuracy and fluency.
See also: Decomposing Numbers and Counting, Quantifying and Number Recognition
Teaching guidance
For schools and teachers using Ochre curriculum materials
Choose the curriculum used by your school, then find the relevant Foundation or Year 1 resource.
Make sure you’re logged into Ochre first, then open the resource link.
This section is for teachers using Ochre units as part of Tier 1 mathematics instruction in Victorian Curriculum settings, including MACS and CESL schools.
Use Ochre unit lessons when students need teaching or reteaching. Use Ochre Daily Review when students have already been taught the skill and need practice, reactivation or fluency-building.
Step 1: Where does this sit in your teaching sequence?
The skill has not yet been taught and is coming up soon
Let the scheduled Ochre lesson address it. Consider brief pre-teaching for students flagged by ENSSA.
The skill has not yet been taught and is scheduled much later this year
Consider bringing the relevant lesson section forward for flagged students only — check prerequisite lessons first.
The skill has already been taught
Go to Step 2 below.
The skill was taught a while ago, last term or last year
Start with Daily Review as a quick reactivation and accuracy check. If students are still inaccurate, go to Step 2.
Step 2: How are students performing right now?
Use this once you’ve confirmed the skill has already been taught.
Students are inaccurate or unsure
Use the Ochre unit lesson section first — not Daily Review.
Most students are inaccurate
Reteach the relevant modelling/guided-practice section to the whole class.
A few students are inaccurate but most are secure
Use the lesson section for small-group reteaching with flagged students only.
Students are accurate but slow or inconsistent
Use Daily Review — do not run a full reteach.
Has this skill been introduced?
This only asks about timing. Whether the class is accurate is something Daily Review over the next few days will show; it does not need to be judged in advance.
Yes
Use the Daily Review resource below, every day, for an initial five consecutive instructional days, regardless of how accurate the class is assumed to be.
No, but it is coming soon
Do not start Daily Review yet. Read the background sections (Teaching guidance; Vocabulary, representations and stem sentences) and preview the unit lesson below now, ahead of when it is scheduled.
No, and it is not scheduled soon
Check curriculum sequencing and prerequisite knowledge. Consider brief, targeted pre-teaching for the students ENSSA flagged, not a full classwide response ahead of schedule.
After five days of Daily Review
One brief daily note is enough: accuracy, independence and efficiency, not a per-student written record.
Clear improvement, not yet secure
Continue the same Daily Review resource.
Most accurate and increasingly efficient
Continue Daily Review as ongoing cumulative practice; no full reteach is needed.
Most students remain inaccurate or dependent on support
Use the unit lesson section to teach it explicitly, not Daily Review.
Most students are secure, but the same smaller group persists
Keep whole-class Daily Review; use the unit lesson materials with that group specifically.
Foundation
Build foundations for this skill.
Number–Addition and Subtraction Daily Review deckUse this when students have already been taught the relevant facts or strategies and need fluency or review.
Daily Review Topic Deck: Number – Addition and Subtraction
Practice with number pairs, target numbers, making 10, number stories, ten-frame addition/subtraction, difference, number bonds, number sentences and number-line addition/subtraction.
Do not use when students are inaccurate with the strategy or fact set — return to the relevant Year 1 unit lesson section first.
Year 1
Extend this skill through Year 1.
1N02V Addition and subtraction 1Use this when students are inaccurate with addition/subtraction because part-whole understanding or number bonds are weak.
1N02V Addition and subtraction 1
Builds the part-whole foundation for Year 1 addition and subtraction facts through partitioning to 10 and 20, subitising parts, bar models and number bonds.
Lessons 1–12.
- If students cannot represent parts and whole → begin here.
- If students understand part-whole but need equations and difference → use 1N04V.
1N04V Addition and subtraction 2Use this when students need teaching or reteaching with addition/subtraction equations, equivalence, difference, or representing problems.
1N04V Addition and subtraction 2
Connects part-whole understanding to equations, difference, bar models, ten-frames, number bonds and number lines.
Ten-frame, number bond, equation, difference, bar model and number-line lessons.
1N06V Addition and subtraction 3Use this when students already have basic part-whole understanding and need explicit teaching or reteaching of calculation strategies within 20.
1N06V Addition and subtraction 3
Extends students to more efficient strategies within 20, including counting on, counting back, counting on to find the difference, adding multiple numbers, and partitioning strategies.
Lessons 1–8.
Do not begin here if students cannot yet represent parts and whole or solve simpler addition/subtraction situations accurately — use 1N02V first.
Number–Addition and Subtraction Daily Review deckUse this when students have already been taught the relevant facts or strategies and need fluency or review.
Daily Review Topic Deck: Number – Addition and Subtraction
Practice with number pairs, target numbers, making 10, number stories, ten-frame addition/subtraction, difference, number bonds, number sentences and number-line addition/subtraction.
Do not use when students are inaccurate with the strategy or fact set — return to the relevant Year 1 unit lesson section first.
This section is for teachers using Ochre units as part of Tier 1 mathematics instruction in WA Curriculum v9.0 settings. WA Curriculum calls Foundation year “Pre-Primary.”
Ochre does not yet publish a separate WA-specific resource library. WA unit codes (PPN01W, 1N02W, and so on) map directly to the equivalent Australian Curriculum unit, so the buttons on these cards open the same Foundation and Year 1 Ochre pages as the Australian Curriculum tab.
Use Ochre unit lessons when students need teaching or reteaching. Use Ochre Daily Review when students have already been taught the skill and need practice, reactivation or fluency-building.
Step 1: Where does this sit in your teaching sequence?
The skill has not yet been taught and is coming up soon
Let the scheduled Ochre lesson address it. Consider brief pre-teaching for students flagged by ENSSA.
The skill has not yet been taught and is scheduled much later this year
Consider bringing the relevant lesson section forward for flagged students only — check prerequisite lessons first.
The skill has already been taught
Go to Step 2 below.
The skill was taught a while ago, last term or last year
Start with Daily Review as a quick reactivation and accuracy check. If students are still inaccurate, go to Step 2.
Step 2: How are students performing right now?
Use this once you’ve confirmed the skill has already been taught.
Students are inaccurate or unsure
Use the Ochre unit lesson section first — not Daily Review.
Most students are inaccurate
Reteach the relevant modelling/guided-practice section to the whole class.
A few students are inaccurate but most are secure
Use the lesson section for small-group reteaching with flagged students only.
Students are accurate but slow or inconsistent
Use Daily Review — do not run a full reteach.
Has this skill been introduced?
This only asks about timing. Whether the class is accurate is something Daily Review over the next few days will show; it does not need to be judged in advance.
Yes
Use the Daily Review resource below, every day, for an initial five consecutive instructional days, regardless of how accurate the class is assumed to be.
No, but it is coming soon
Do not start Daily Review yet. Read the background sections (Teaching guidance; Vocabulary, representations and stem sentences) and preview the unit lesson below now, ahead of when it is scheduled.
No, and it is not scheduled soon
Check curriculum sequencing and prerequisite knowledge. Consider brief, targeted pre-teaching for the students ENSSA flagged, not a full classwide response ahead of schedule.
After five days of Daily Review
One brief daily note is enough: accuracy, independence and efficiency, not a per-student written record.
Clear improvement, not yet secure
Continue the same Daily Review resource.
Most accurate and increasingly efficient
Continue Daily Review as ongoing cumulative practice; no full reteach is needed.
Most students remain inaccurate or dependent on support
Use the unit lesson section to teach it explicitly, not Daily Review.
Most students are secure, but the same smaller group persists
Keep whole-class Daily Review; use the unit lesson materials with that group specifically.
Foundation
Build foundations for this skill.
Number–Addition and Subtraction Daily Review deckUse this when students have already been taught the relevant facts or strategies and need fluency or review.
Daily Review Topic Deck: Number – Addition and Subtraction
Practice with number pairs, target numbers, making 10, number stories, ten-frame addition/subtraction, difference, number bonds, number sentences and number-line addition/subtraction.
Do not use when students are inaccurate with the strategy or fact set — return to the relevant Year 1 unit lesson section first.
Year 1
Extend this skill through Year 1.
1N02W Addition and subtraction 1Use this when students are inaccurate with addition/subtraction because part-whole understanding or number bonds are weak.
1N02W Addition and subtraction 1 (links to the Australian Curriculum unit 1N02A in Ochre)
Builds the part-whole foundation for Year 1 addition and subtraction facts through partitioning to 10 and 20, subitising parts, bar models and number bonds.
Lessons 1–12.
- If students cannot represent parts and whole → begin here.
- If students understand part-whole but need equations and difference → use 1N04W.
1N04W Addition and subtraction 2Use this when students need teaching or reteaching with addition/subtraction equations, equivalence, difference, or representing problems.
1N04W Addition and subtraction 2 (links to the Australian Curriculum unit 1N04A in Ochre)
Connects part-whole understanding to equations, difference, bar models, ten-frames, number bonds and number lines.
Ten-frame, number bond, equation, difference, bar model and number-line lessons (Lessons 1–12).
1N06W Addition and subtraction 3Not yet written. Ochre has scheduled the equivalent unit (1N06A) for release in Term 4 2026 — check back once it is published.
This unit is not yet available in Ochre. Based on the Daily Review Schedule, it will cover 8 lessons extending students to counting on/back on a number line, adding more than two numbers, and partitioning two-digit numbers into tens and ones. Until release, use 1N02W and 1N04W, and the Daily Review deck for practice with facts already taught.
Will extend students to more efficient strategies within 20, including counting on, counting back, counting on to find the difference, adding multiple numbers, and partitioning strategies.
Number–Addition and Subtraction Daily Review deckUse this when students have already been taught the relevant facts or strategies and need fluency or review.
Daily Review Topic Deck: Number – Addition and Subtraction
Practice with number pairs, target numbers, making 10, number stories, ten-frame addition/subtraction, difference, number bonds, number sentences and number-line addition/subtraction.
Do not use when students are inaccurate with the strategy or fact set — return to the relevant Year 1 unit lesson section first.
This section is for teachers using Ochre units as part of Tier 1 mathematics instruction in Australian Curriculum v9.0 settings.
Use Ochre unit lessons when students need teaching or reteaching. Use Ochre Daily Review when students have already been taught the skill and need practice, reactivation or fluency-building.
Step 1: Where does this sit in your teaching sequence?
The skill has not yet been taught and is coming up soon
Let the scheduled Ochre lesson address it. Consider brief pre-teaching for students flagged by ENSSA.
The skill has not yet been taught and is scheduled much later this year
Consider bringing the relevant lesson section forward for flagged students only — check prerequisite lessons first.
The skill has already been taught
Go to Step 2 below.
The skill was taught a while ago, last term or last year
Start with Daily Review as a quick reactivation and accuracy check. If students are still inaccurate, go to Step 2.
Step 2: How are students performing right now?
Use this once you’ve confirmed the skill has already been taught.
Students are inaccurate or unsure
Use the Ochre unit lesson section first — not Daily Review.
Most students are inaccurate
Reteach the relevant modelling/guided-practice section to the whole class.
A few students are inaccurate but most are secure
Use the lesson section for small-group reteaching with flagged students only.
Students are accurate but slow or inconsistent
Use Daily Review — do not run a full reteach.
Has this skill been introduced?
This only asks about timing. Whether the class is accurate is something Daily Review over the next few days will show; it does not need to be judged in advance.
Yes
Use the Daily Review resource below, every day, for an initial five consecutive instructional days, regardless of how accurate the class is assumed to be.
No, but it is coming soon
Do not start Daily Review yet. Read the background sections (Teaching guidance; Vocabulary, representations and stem sentences) and preview the unit lesson below now, ahead of when it is scheduled.
No, and it is not scheduled soon
Check curriculum sequencing and prerequisite knowledge. Consider brief, targeted pre-teaching for the students ENSSA flagged, not a full classwide response ahead of schedule.
After five days of Daily Review
One brief daily note is enough: accuracy, independence and efficiency, not a per-student written record.
Clear improvement, not yet secure
Continue the same Daily Review resource.
Most accurate and increasingly efficient
Continue Daily Review as ongoing cumulative practice; no full reteach is needed.
Most students remain inaccurate or dependent on support
Use the unit lesson section to teach it explicitly, not Daily Review.
Most students are secure, but the same smaller group persists
Keep whole-class Daily Review; use the unit lesson materials with that group specifically.
Foundation
Build foundations for this skill.
Number–Addition and Subtraction Daily Review deckUse this when students have already been taught the relevant facts or strategies and need fluency or review.
Daily Review Topic Deck: Number – Addition and Subtraction
Practice with number pairs, target numbers, making 10, number stories, ten-frame addition/subtraction, difference, number bonds, number sentences and number-line addition/subtraction.
Do not use when students are inaccurate with the strategy or fact set — return to the relevant Year 1 unit lesson section first.
Year 1
Extend this skill through Year 1.
1N02A Addition and subtraction 1Use this when students are inaccurate with addition/subtraction because part-whole understanding or number bonds are weak.
1N02A Addition and subtraction 1
Builds the part-whole foundation for Year 1 addition and subtraction facts through partitioning to 10 and 20, subitising parts, bar models and number bonds.
Lessons 1–12.
- If students cannot represent parts and whole → begin here.
- If students understand part-whole but need equations and difference → use 1N04A.
1N04A Addition and subtraction 2Use this when students need teaching or reteaching with addition/subtraction equations, equivalence, difference, or representing problems.
1N04A Addition and subtraction 2
Connects part-whole understanding to equations, difference, bar models, ten-frames, number bonds and number lines.
Ten-frame, number bond, equation, difference, bar model and number-line lessons (Lessons 1–12).
1N06A Addition and subtraction 3Not yet written. Ochre has scheduled 1N06A for release in Term 4 2026 — check back once it is published.
This unit is not yet available in Ochre. Based on the Daily Review Schedule, it will cover 8 lessons extending students to counting on/back on a number line, adding more than two numbers, and partitioning two-digit numbers into tens and ones. Until release, use 1N02A and 1N04A, and the Daily Review deck for practice with facts already taught.
Will extend students to more efficient strategies within 20, including counting on, counting back, counting on to find the difference, adding multiple numbers, and partitioning strategies.
Number–Addition and Subtraction Daily Review deckUse this when students have already been taught the relevant facts or strategies and need fluency or review.
Daily Review Topic Deck: Number – Addition and Subtraction
Practice with number pairs, target numbers, making 10, number stories, ten-frame addition/subtraction, difference, number bonds, number sentences and number-line addition/subtraction.
Do not use when students are inaccurate with the strategy or fact set — return to the relevant Year 1 unit lesson section first.
Intervention resources (Tier 2 & Tier 3)
Targeted supports for students or small groups when classwide teaching is not enough.
Intervention resources
The Ochre Intervention Modules are Tier 2/3 resources, built on the same Foundation–Year 2 Ochre content already used for Tier 1, for students who need more than classwide or targeted small-group support.
Part-wholeLessons 9–14, 20–31 · numbers 0–20
Covers combining and taking away parts, including ‘how many more to make’ and bridging-10 problems. If the persistent gap is really about part-whole understanding rather than the facts themselves, the module's earlier lessons (1–8, 15–19) address that first.
Small-group or 1:1, outside the classroom, by a teacher, learning assistant or trained volunteer; approximately 20 minutes per lesson.
Scripted lesson plans, a slide deck per lesson, a student workbook, assessment checkpoints, and explainer or demonstration videos.
This is a Tier 2/3 escalation, not a first response to an ENSSA flag. Use it once targeted small-group support from the Ochre resources has not resolved the gap.
Assessment checkpoints sit at the end of each sequence and indicate whether a student is ready to return to Tier 1 instruction alone.