Foundation Maths: Every Victorian Curriculum Code, Explained

Foundation Maths in the Victorian Curriculum F–10 Version 2.0 is 12 content descriptions, VC2MFA01 through VC2MFST01. If you have taught from the national curriculum, the set will look extremely familiar, and that familiarity is the trap: the codes map one to one onto the Australian Curriculum, but three of them ask for something Victoria has added.

This guide covers all 12: exactly where Victoria differs, what each strand is really asking for, the three descriptors that decide whether Year 2 goes well, a term-by-term order, and five checks before Level 1.

What Victoria does differently at Foundation

The Victorian Maths codes are numbered identically to the national ones. Swap the VC2 prefix for AC9 and you land on the matching descriptor every time: VC2MFN04 corresponds to AC9MFN04, VC2MFSP01 to AC9MFSP01, and so on for all 12. That makes translation easy and makes the differences easy to miss, because nothing in the numbering signals them.

Three descriptors carry real additions:

• VC2MFA01 (Algebra) adds two things. The national version asks students to recognise, copy and continue repeating patterns represented in different ways. Victoria asks them to create patterns as well, and it puts following a short sequence of instructions into the same descriptor. That second part is algorithmic thinking, and it arrives at Foundation in Victoria rather than later. In practice it means barrier games, two- and three-step instructions carried out in order, and simple unplugged “programs” where a child directs a partner around a mat.
• VC2MFN05 (Number) adds simple financial situations. The national Foundation descriptor covers representing practical addition, subtraction and quantification situations with materials, and money does not appear until Year 1. Victoria names simple financial situations at Foundation. That does not mean coin recognition drills or making change: it means the shop corner, swapping counters for items, and the language of costs more and costs less, using materials exactly as the rest of the descriptor requires.
• VC2MFST01 (Statistics) constrains the question. Victoria specifies that the given investigative question has only two outcomes. This is a genuine narrowing and it makes the descriptor easier to teach well. Do you have a pet, yes or no. Did you walk or ride. Two columns, one comparison, no long tail of categories that a five-year-old cannot hold in mind.

A fourth, VC2MFM01, differs only in grammar from its national counterpart and asks for the same thing. The remaining eight are identical in substance. So if you are adapting national planning for a Victorian classroom or a VRQA learning plan, those three are the only ones that need real work. For the wider picture, see the Victorian Curriculum versus the Australian Curriculum.

The level at a glance

There is no Probability strand at Foundation. Half the level is Number, which is the right weighting: get Number secure and the other four strands are largely oral vocabulary work that children pick up quickly.

Reading the codes

Victorian Maths codes run VC2 + M + level + strand + number. From Level 1 the level is a digit, giving VC2M1N01. At Foundation it is written as F inside the strand block, so Foundation Number is VC2MFN01, Space is VC2MFSP01 and Statistics is VC2MFST01. Searching f10.vcaa.vic.edu.au for VC2M0N01 or VC2MF01 returns nothing.

Strand by strand

Number (VC2MFN01 to VC2MFN06)

Read the six as two pairs plus two applications. VC2MFN01 and VC2MFN03 are the counting pair: naming, representing and ordering numbers including zero to at least 20, then quantifying and comparing collections to at least 20 with reasoning. The first is about numbers, the second is about collections, and the second is much harder.

VC2MFN02 and VC2MFN04 are the structure pair: subitising to 5, and partitioning and combining collections up to 10 using part-part-whole relationships. These two do more for later arithmetic than any amount of counting practice, and they are the two that get squeezed out by it.

VC2MFN05 and VC2MFN06 are the applications: practical situations involving addition, subtraction and quantification (including simple financial ones, the Victorian addition), and practical situations involving equal sharing and grouping. Note what is absent: no symbols, no number sentences, no recorded equations. These are acted out with materials. Introducing the plus sign at Foundation is not acceleration, it skips the representation the descriptor asks for.

Algebra (VC2MFA01)

One descriptor doing two jobs. The pattern half asks for recognising, copying, continuing and creating repeating patterns represented in different ways, and the phrase carrying the weight is different ways. A child who continues red blue red blue with blocks has not met it until they can do the same with claps, movements, sounds and drawings, and ideally see that those are all the same pattern.

The instruction half is the part Victorian teachers most often skip because it does not look like maths. Following a short sequence of steps in order is the seed of algorithmic thinking, and it takes almost no planning: three-step routines carried out without prompting, a partner directed around a mat one instruction at a time, or a simple recipe followed in sequence.

Measurement (VC2MFM01 to VC2MFM02)

VC2MFM01 covers identifying and comparing attributes of objects and events, including length, capacity, mass and duration, using direct comparison and communicating reasoning. Direct comparison means putting two things side by side, not measuring either. Informal units arrive at Level 1 in VC2M1M02. The Foundation job is comparative vocabulary: longer, shorter, heavier, lighter, holds more, takes longer.

VC2MFM02 is sequencing days of the week and times of the day and connecting them to familiar events. Calendar and routine language, not clock reading.

Space (VC2MFSP01 to VC2MFSP02)

VC2MFSP01 asks students to sort, name and create familiar shapes and to recognise and describe them within objects in the environment, giving reasons. That last clause separates it from a naming exercise: “that is a triangle because it has three straight sides” is the target.

VC2MFSP02 is positional language, describing where they and objects sit relative to other people and objects. Under, behind, between, next to. Almost entirely oral, and easily covered inside other lessons.

Statistics (VC2MFST01)

Collecting, sorting and comparing data represented by objects and images, answering a given two-outcome question about a familiar situation. In practice: ask a yes-or-no question, line up objects or pictures in two columns, and talk about which has more and how you know. The two-outcome constraint is Victoria’s, and it is a gift. Design the question first and the lesson plans itself.

The three codes that decide Level 2

VC2MFA01: the instruction half

The misconception: that this descriptor is about patterns, and the instruction clause is a throwaway. It is not, and it is the clearest point of difference from the national curriculum at this level.

What you will see: a child given three instructions who performs the first and then looks up. Holding a sequence and executing it in order is a working memory skill that underpins multi-step maths for the next decade, and Foundation is where you notice whether it is there.

The fix: two-step instructions daily, moving to three when two are reliable, given once and not repeated. Barrier games where one child instructs another to build something they cannot see are the highest-value version, because they force precision and order at the same time.

VC2MFN04: part-part-whole to 10

Partitioning and combining collections up to 10, recognising and naming the parts. The single highest-value descriptor at Foundation, because it feeds directly into VC2M1N04 (adding and subtracting within 20 using part-part-whole knowledge to 10) and every mental strategy after.

The misconception: that it is early addition and needs symbols. It is not. It is the recognition that a quantity is made of parts, built entirely with materials and talk.

What you will see: a child who counts confidently to 20 but, shown five counters split into three and two, counts all five to know there are five. They are not seeing parts inside a whole.

The fix: the same small number, broken every way it goes, daily for a week, then the next number. Five is four and one, three and two, two and three, one and four. Ten-frames, fingers, counters shaken in a cup and spilled. The target is finishing “seven is four and …” without counting.

VC2MFST01: two outcomes, one comparison

The misconception: that a bigger survey is a better one. Favourite colour with seven options produces a display no Foundation child can reason about, and it quietly breaks the descriptor, which asks for a two-outcome question.

What you will see: children who can build the display but cannot answer a question from it. Ask “how many more?” and you get the height of the taller column rather than the difference.

The fix: two columns only, physical objects before pictures, pictures before drawn graphs, and always finish with the comparison question spoken aloud. The data work is a vehicle for comparing two quantities, which is why it belongs at the end of the year rather than the start.

What students need to arrive with

Foundation has no prior level, so the prerequisites are developmental rather than curricular: oral counting to about 10 in a stable order, one-to-one correspondence when touching objects, the language of more and less, and enough fine motor control to move materials. Children arrive with wildly different amounts of this, and the gap on day one predicts very little. What predicts a great deal is whether part-part-whole has landed by the end of the year.

What this level sets up

• VC2MFN01 and VC2MFN03 (to 20) become VC2M1N01 and VC2M1N03 (to at least 120).
• VC2MFN04 becomes VC2M1N02 (partitioning one- and two-digit numbers) and VC2M1N04 (adding and subtracting within 20).
• VC2MFN05 becomes VC2M1N05, where mathematical modelling and simple money transactions appear. Victorian students meet money at Foundation, so this is a step up rather than a first encounter.
• VC2MFA01 splits into VC2M1A01 (pattern sequences, which in Victoria explicitly include Australian coins) and VC2M1A02 (repeating patterns with an identified repeating unit).
• VC2MFM01 becomes VC2M1M02, where informal units and the uniform-unit idea arrive.

A term-by-term order

1. Term 1: vocabulary, sorting and instructions. VC2MFM01 comparing attributes, VC2MFSP01 sorting and naming shapes, VC2MFSP02 positional language, subitising to 3 from VC2MFN02, and the instruction half of VC2MFA01 as a daily routine. Nearly all oral.
2. Term 2: counting with meaning. VC2MFN01 and VC2MFN03 to 10 with heavy emphasis on cardinality, subitising extended to 5, and the pattern half of VC2MFA01 across different media.
3. Term 3: parts and wholes. VC2MFN04 as the centrepiece, one number at a time, with VC2MFN05 acting out addition, subtraction and simple shop situations using materials. VC2MFM02 days and times of day as a lighter second thread.
4. Term 4: extend and apply. Counting and comparing extended to 20, VC2MFN06 equal sharing and grouping, and VC2MFST01 two-outcome data, which pulls sorting, counting and comparing into one activity.

Part-part-whole sits in Term 3 rather than Term 4 because it needs a full term of daily repetition, and Term 4 should be consolidating it rather than introducing it.

Five checks before Level 1

• Flash 4 dots for one second. How many? Counting or hesitation means VC2MFN02 is not secure.
• Count 7 counters, then ask how many. Recounting means the cardinality inside VC2MFN03 is missing.
• Show 5 counters split 3 and 2. How many altogether? Counting all five means VC2MFN04 has not landed. The most important of the five.
• Give three instructions at once and watch. Stopping after the first is the VC2MFA01 instruction clause showing you it needs work.
• From a two-column display, ask how many more. Getting the taller column’s height instead of the difference means VC2MFST01 built a picture but not a comparison.

Capabilities and record keeping

Victoria assesses four Capabilities separately from the learning areas, and the Personal and Social Capability has its own Foundation content on collaboration, recognising emotions and working with peers. Foundation maths runs almost entirely on partner work with materials, so a single partitioning session with a partner can legitimately evidence both a Mathematics and a Personal and Social code. We cover this in the four capabilities in the Victorian Curriculum.

Whether you are programming for a class or building a VRQA home education portfolio, record the code on the activity as you go. “Counting games” tells a reviewer nothing; “VC2MFN04, part-part-whole to 10 with ten-frames, 12 May” answers the question before it is asked. Our guide to homeschool resources in Victoria covers what the VRQA looks for.

Foundation is the level where the wrapper matters most, because a five-year-old will do twenty minutes of counting dinosaurs and about four of counting counters. Sprout Lessons builds an interactive lesson from any of these codes, pitched at Foundation and wrapped in whatever the child is currently obsessed with, with the VC2 code recorded in the footer. Try it free.

Curriculum codes reference the Victorian Curriculum F–10 Version 2.0 © VCAA. The curriculum can be accessed directly at f10.vcaa.vic.edu.au. The VCAA does not endorse this product. Always verify against the current content descriptions and achievement standards.

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