In a nutshell
ENSSA assesses children’s ability to use the ordered number sequence through the Missing Number task. Children identify the missing numeral in a counting sequence, drawing on their knowledge of number words, written numerals, and what comes before, after, or between other numbers.
Children first develop a stable counting sequence with small numbers, typically within 10, before extending this knowledge to larger ranges, teen numbers, and transitions across decades.
In Foundation, students identify missing numbers within 20 using counting, visual supports, numeral recognition, and emerging understanding of teen numbers as 10 and some more.
By Year 1, students increasingly use number order, counting patterns, and developing tens-and-ones place-value knowledge to identify missing numbers efficiently within 100.
The main instructional goal is for students to know and use the ordered number sequence, not simply to recite the count list from the beginning. Students should learn to answer questions such as “What comes after 17?”, “What comes before 30?”, “What number is between 45 and 47?”, and “What number is missing?”
Complete number lines are not the main representation for Missing Number tasks. Number tracks, number paths, number lists, number cards, and hundreds charts are usually more useful because they make the count sequence visible.
This guidance is designed for classes where ENSSA results indicate a class-wide need to strengthen number order, missing-number knowledge, or before/after/between language.
See also: Magnitude Comparison and Magnitude Estimation
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.
FN03V Counting and place value 2Use this when Foundation students are inaccurate or unsure with forward/backward sequence, missing numbers, one more/one less, or ordering within 20.
FN03V Counting and place value 2
Supports number sequence through number tracks to 20, one more/one less, missing numbers and ordering.
Number-track, missing-number, one more/one less and ordering lesson sections.
- If students rely on counting from 1 → use number-track modelling and one more/one less sections.
- If students skip numbers in a sequence → use missing-number lesson sections.
- If students can say the count sequence but cannot locate numbers → use number-track activities.
FN06V Counting and place value 3, Lessons 1–2Use this when students are mostly secure with basic sequence to 20 but need more explicit work with before, after and between.
FN06V Counting and place value 3, Lessons 1–2
Extends number sequence to ordinal position, before/after/between and position on a number track.
This is an extension/bridge resource. Do not use before students have basic number sequence knowledge.
Number–Place Value Daily Review deckUse this when students have already been taught the number sequence skill and need reactivation or fluency.
Daily Review Topic Deck: Number – Place Value
Practice with counting, missing numbers, before/after/between, ordinal position and ordering.
Do not use when students are consistently inaccurate — return to the relevant unit lesson section first.
Year 1
Extend this skill through Year 1.
1N03V Counting and place value 2, Lessons 5–7Use this when Year 1 students need reteaching with two-digit before/after relationships, especially around decade transitions.
1N03V Counting and place value 2, Lessons 5–7
Supports Year 1 number sequence through one more, one less, and applying one more/less to two-digit numbers.
Lessons 5–7.
1N01V Counting and place value 1, Lessons 12–13Use this when students need explicit teaching with hundred-chart patterns, number location, decade transitions or number-line sequence to 100.
1N01V Counting and place value 1, Lessons 12–13. Note: this unit may currently appear under a Year 2 filename — check the unit content and look for 1N01V, not the file title.
Supports Year 1 number sequence through locating numbers on a 100 chart and locating numbers to 100 on a number line.
- If the difficulty is one more/one less with two-digit numbers → use 1N03V Lessons 5–7 instead.
- If the difficulty is locating numbers on a 100 chart or number line → use this card.
Number–Place Value Daily Review deckUse this when students have already been taught the number sequence skill and need reactivation or fluency.
Daily Review Topic Deck: Number – Place Value
Practice with counting, missing numbers, before/after/between, ordinal position and ordering.
Do not use when students are consistently inaccurate — return to the relevant 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.
PPN03W Counting and place value 2Use this when Pre-Primary students are inaccurate or unsure with forward/backward sequence, missing numbers, one more/one less, or ordering within 20.
PPN03W Counting and place value 2 (links to the Australian Curriculum unit FN03A in Ochre)
Supports number sequence through number tracks to 20, one more/one less, missing numbers and ordering.
Number-track (Lessons 10–11), one more/one less (Lessons 7–8) and ordering (Lesson 9) lesson sections.
- If students rely on counting from 1 → use number-track modelling and one more/one less sections.
- If students skip numbers in a sequence → use missing-number lesson sections.
- If students can say the count sequence but cannot locate numbers → use number-track activities.
PPN06W Counting and place value 3Not yet written. Ochre has scheduled the equivalent unit (FN06A) 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 extend number sequence to ordinal position, before/after/between, and counting within 100. Until release, use PPN03W for number sequence within 20, and the Daily Review deck for practice.
Will extend number sequence to ordinal position, before/after/between, position on a number track, and counting within 100.
Number–Place Value Daily Review deckUse this when students have already been taught the number sequence skill and need reactivation or fluency.
Daily Review Topic Deck: Number – Place Value
Practice with counting, missing numbers, before/after/between, ordinal position and ordering.
Do not use when students are consistently inaccurate — return to the relevant unit lesson section first.
Year 1
Extend this skill through Year 1.
1N03W Counting and place value 2, Lessons 5–7Use this when Year 1 students need reteaching with two-digit before/after relationships, especially around decade transitions.
1N03W Counting and place value 2, Lessons 5–7 (links to the Australian Curriculum unit 1N03A in Ochre)
Supports Year 1 number sequence through one more, one less, and applying one more/less to two-digit numbers.
Lessons 5–7.
1N01W Counting and place value 1, Lessons 12–13Use this when students need explicit teaching with hundred-chart patterns, number location, decade transitions or number-line sequence to 100.
1N01W Counting and place value 1, Lessons 12–13 (links to the Australian Curriculum unit 1N01A in Ochre)
Supports Year 1 number sequence through locating numbers on a 100 chart and locating numbers to 100 on a number line.
- If the difficulty is one more/one less with two-digit numbers → use 1N03W Lessons 5–7 instead.
- If the difficulty is locating numbers on a 100 chart or number line → use this card.
Number–Place Value Daily Review deckUse this when students have already been taught the number sequence skill and need reactivation or fluency.
Daily Review Topic Deck: Number – Place Value
Practice with counting, missing numbers, before/after/between, ordinal position and ordering.
Do not use when students are consistently inaccurate — return to the relevant 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.
FN03A Counting and place value 2Use this when Foundation students are inaccurate or unsure with forward/backward sequence, missing numbers, one more/one less, or ordering within 20.
FN03A Counting and place value 2
Supports number sequence through number tracks to 20, one more/one less, missing numbers and ordering.
Number-track (Lessons 10–11), one more/one less (Lessons 7–8) and ordering (Lesson 9) lesson sections.
- If students rely on counting from 1 → use number-track modelling and one more/one less sections.
- If students skip numbers in a sequence → use missing-number lesson sections.
- If students can say the count sequence but cannot locate numbers → use number-track activities.
FN06A Counting and place value 3Not yet written. Ochre has scheduled FN06A 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 extend number sequence to ordinal position, before/after/between, and counting within 100. Until release, use FN03A for number sequence within 20, and the Daily Review deck for practice.
Will extend number sequence to ordinal position, before/after/between, position on a number track, and counting within 100.
Number–Place Value Daily Review deckUse this when students have already been taught the number sequence skill and need reactivation or fluency.
Daily Review Topic Deck: Number – Place Value
Practice with counting, missing numbers, before/after/between, ordinal position and ordering.
Do not use when students are consistently inaccurate — return to the relevant unit lesson section first.
Year 1
Extend this skill through Year 1.
1N03A Counting and place value 2, Lessons 5–7Use this when Year 1 students need reteaching with two-digit before/after relationships, especially around decade transitions.
1N03A Counting and place value 2, Lessons 5–7
Supports Year 1 number sequence through one more, one less, and applying one more/less to two-digit numbers.
Lessons 5–7.
1N01A Counting and place value 1, Lessons 12–13Use this when students need explicit teaching with hundred-chart patterns, number location, decade transitions or number-line sequence to 100.
1N01A Counting and place value 1, Lessons 12–13
Supports Year 1 number sequence through locating numbers on a 100 chart and locating numbers to 100 on a number line.
- If the difficulty is one more/one less with two-digit numbers → use 1N03A Lessons 5–7 instead.
- If the difficulty is locating numbers on a 100 chart or number line → use this card.
Number–Place Value Daily Review deckUse this when students have already been taught the number sequence skill and need reactivation or fluency.
Daily Review Topic Deck: Number – Place Value
Practice with counting, missing numbers, before/after/between, ordinal position and ordering.
Do not use when students are consistently inaccurate — return to the relevant 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.
Cardinality, numeral recognition and writingLessons 1–22 · numbers 0–10
Covers number sequence directly: forwards, backwards and missing-number, alongside counting and numeral recognition in the same lessons.
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.