New South Wales curriculum and worksheets
NSW syllabuses · NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA)
New South Wales teaches its own NESA syllabuses, organised by Stage rather than single year, and informed by (but not identical to) the national curriculum.
- Curriculum authority
- NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA)
- Curriculum used
- NSW syllabuses
- First year of school
- Kindergarten
- Our worksheets
- Mapped to national ACARA v9 maths codes, answer keys computed in code
What curriculum does New South Wales use?
New South Wales does not teach the national Australian Curriculum directly. Instead the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) publishes its own syllabuses, which are informed by the national curriculum but have their own outcomes, focus areas and codes.
NSW is part-way through a major curriculum reform. New Kindergarten to Year 2 English and Mathematics syllabuses have been taught since 2023, and new Years 3 to 10 English and Mathematics syllabuses since 2024. Remaining primary syllabuses are being phased in, with all new syllabuses due by 2027. Because this is a live rollout, check the current syllabus on the NESA site before you rely on a specific outcome.
How it maps to the Australian Curriculum
The biggest structural difference is that NSW is organised by Stage, not by single year. Kindergarten is Early Stage 1, then each Stage spans two school years: Stage 1 is Years 1 and 2, Stage 2 is Years 3 and 4, Stage 3 is Years 5 and 6, and so on. Content is written as outcomes for the whole Stage.
The mathematics is close in substance to the national curriculum. NSW covers the same broad ideas as the ACARA strands (representing whole numbers, additive and multiplicative relations, geometric measure, two dimensional and three dimensional spatial structure, data, and chance), so a topic like two digit addition or fractions lands at a similar point in a child's schooling in NSW as it does nationally. The outcome codes and exact wording differ, so we map by topic and year band rather than claiming a one to one code match.
Year-level equivalents
How New South Wales names its year levels, and the matching SproutSheets pages (which use the national year names). Primary is strongest for ready-made worksheets.
| In New South Wales | Australian Curriculum | On SproutSheets |
|---|---|---|
| Kindergarten (Early Stage 1) | Foundation | Foundation |
| Stage 1 (Years 1 and 2) | Years 1 to 2 | Year 1· Year 2 |
| Stage 2 (Years 3 and 4) | Years 3 to 4 | Year 3· Year 4 |
| Stage 3 (Years 5 and 6) | Years 5 to 6 | Year 5· Year 6 |
| Stage 4 (Years 7 and 8) | Years 7 to 8 | Year 7· Year 8 |
| Stage 5 (Years 9 and 10) | Years 9 to 10 | Year 9· Year 10 |
Years 11 and 12 in New South Wales
After Year 10, New South Wales students work towards the Higher School Certificate (HSC), issued by the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA). SproutSheets worksheets target Foundation to Year 10, so senior secondary is reference only. How Years 11 and 12 work across Australia.
Using SproutSheets in New South Wales
Our worksheets are labelled by the national ACARA v9 Mathematics codes, and our year pages use the national year names (Foundation, Year 1 and so on). To use them in a NSW classroom, translate the Stage to the years it covers: for Stage 2, use our Year 3 and Year 4 pages; for Stage 1, use Year 1 and Year 2.
The maths content itself transfers well because the topics line up. The safe way to use SproutSheets in NSW is to pick the year within the Stage you are teaching and check the sheet against your NESA syllabus outcome. Every maths answer key is computed in code, so the arithmetic is never wrong, whichever framework you plan from.
For breadcrumbs and planning, remember NSW counts in Stages: Australian curriculum, then New South Wales, then Stage 2 (Years 3 and 4).
Official sources
Curriculum content is set by the authorities below. Several jurisdictions are mid-rollout, so check the current version there before you rely on a specific outcome or code.