From the start of 2027, every New Zealand school must teach the new Year 9 and 10 content in Mathematics and Statistics. It is set out year by year in six areas — number, algebra, measurement, geometry, statistics and probability — where the previous curriculum grouped learning into levels that each spanned about two years. Here is what each year covers, in plain English.
In short
| Area | Year 9 | Year 10 |
|---|---|---|
| Number | Converting between fractions, decimals and percentages; all four operations with integers, fractions and decimals; scientific notation; cube roots; finding a percentage of an amount and working back to the whole; sharing in a ratio; discounts, profit and loss; GST and simple interest. | Irrational numbers such as π; positive and negative exponents; significant figures; order of operations with negatives, fractions and decimals; percentage increase and decrease; rates such as speed, wages and exchange rates; compound interest worked month by month. |
| Algebra | Simplifying, expanding and factorising; solving equations with fractions and decimals; substituting into and rearranging formulas; straight-line graphs with y = mx + c; finding the rule for a linear pattern. | Expanding and factorising with one or two sets of brackets; equations and inequalities; quadratic equations and their U-shaped graphs (parabolas); formulas with squares and square roots; finding a line’s equation from two points. |
| Measurement | Converting units; Pythagoras’ theorem for the hypotenuse; area of parallelograms, trapeziums and kites; circumference and the perimeter of half and quarter circles; speed, distance and time. | Area of circles and composite shapes; surface area and volume of prisms, pyramids and cylinders; Pythagoras for any side and for the distance between two points; how scaling a shape changes its length, area and volume. |
| Geometry | Parts of a circle; angles on parallel lines and transversals, and proving lines parallel; nets, plan views and isometric drawings; translating, reflecting and rotating shapes on a grid. | Similarity to find missing sides and angles, especially in right-angled triangles; nets of cylinders; enlarging and reducing shapes by a scale factor. |
| Statistics | Data with a categorical and a numerical variable; minimum, quartiles, median, maximum, range and interquartile range; choosing graphs; spotting misleading graphs and claims. | Choosing between mean and median; making conjectures; planning an investigation with random samples to avoid bias; judging whether someone else’s conclusion is fair. |
| Probability | Running chance experiments with many trials; listing outcomes; using simulations; comparing results with predictions. | The same skills, with outcomes listed systematically and more weight on explaining why results differ from predictions. |
Condensed from the Ministry of Education’s year-by-year guides for parents (October 2025). The guides list more detail, and the vocabulary your teen will meet, under each area.
A curriculum says what should be taught in a year. It cannot tell you which of those six areas your teen is secure in today. That takes a few questions in each, at the right level.
On the Alpenrise mountain the maths ridge has four camps — Number, Algebra, Geometry and measurement and Statistics and probability — each with eight rungs. In the New Zealand reading, rung 3 is Year 9 and rung 4 is Year 10, and every camp page shows a sample question from each rung. How our questions line up with the curriculum explains which public documents they follow, and what we do not claim.
The free placement finds your teen’s rung in each strand and reads it back as a year level. Ten questions a night keeps it current. Try the placement free on the mountain — no sign-up.
The Year 9 curriculum was made available in 2026. From the start of 2027 all Year 9 and 10 content must be taught.
Number, algebra, measurement, geometry, statistics and probability.
Yes. Year 10 includes solving quadratic equations and connecting them to their U-shaped graphs, called parabolas.
Indirectly. Students in Year 9 in 2026 will not sit NCEA Level 1: from 2028 Year 11 students take the Foundational Award in literacy and numeracy, and NZCE and NZACE follow. See NCEA is being replaced.
Checked against these sources on 1 November 2026. Alpenrise is not affiliated with the Ministry of Education.