I am gutted that I can’t make the Maths Conference that is going on this weekend in London – I’ve been invited to another “thing” … don’t get too excited, it’s just I don’t know how much I can and can’t say about it yet but if I get the “green light” I will let you know. I’m genuinely worried that I’ve built it up now … bugger!! To be honest the move from “oop North” to London was a bit of a turn off for me, especially trying to get to the smoke for an early start on a Saturday wasn’t the most appealing thing I’ve had to look forward to (I know it was unavoidable and I would have been there if this other thing hadn’t been so appealing) … I’ll be at the next one!

**swiftly changing the subject**

This week sees our Stats and Further Maths students in school for intensive revision days and then apparently we get some “gain time” … ummm … well that isn’t going to happen! There is so much going on with transition days, a visit to primary school, other schools coming to visit and then all the usual end of term events. I am not complaining … I love being busy!

On top of that we’ve got some training going on: I’m off to Manchester on Friday doing a “getting ready to teach” event, then next week Seager is off somewhere else doing the same thing. When asked about dates for next year I was given a choice of London or Brum and surprisingly I managed to get Brum – I think he is feeling guilty as I’m off to Durham (yes it’s MILES AWAY!) at the end of the month. We’ve also got our network hub meeting on Friday 3^rd July (look out for the invite from Nikola and I’ll also send an email reminder out a week or so beforehand) – a few schools coming into visit us and that’s just the next couple of weeks.

July starts with the 5^th Edexcel Maths Conference at Warwick University on the first weekend of the month. The last 2 years that I’ve been, have been brilliant – I spent last year tweeting throughout the event but this year I’m playing “side-kick” and helping host a session (when I say “hosting” it means “heckling” from the front, just don’t tell Seager!). I do hope I can get out and see some of the other sessions as the rest of the line-up looks superb with Craig Barton doing the keynote speech (is it ok to admit that I’m a little in awe… do you think he’ll be up for a selfie!?) – check it out HERE -> EDEXCEL MATHS CONFERENCE!  Places are limited!!!.

As with all these events, meeting and talking to other teachers is one of the highlights for me and there is a Friday night gathering too (so if you’re coming, do try to come the night before!) which last year saw a few stalwarts still up until silly o’clock (and I wasn’t the troublemaker!) I wrote about the whole weekend here EDEXCEL MATHS CONFERENCE 2014 and it’s really interesting to see that I mentioned the “elephant in the room” of those students that were today getting a G, could potentially, in the new world of 9-1 end up with U. That is until AFTER the clarification about the grading structure was published in September saying that the bottom of a grade 1 was pegged at the bottom of a G. Note that the SAMs had all been submitted prior to this and so accounts for why the Foundation tier for some of the boards may have been significantly more difficult than they currently are. Talk about “moving the goalposts!”

Anyway if you’re looking for somewhere to be that weekend … be at Warwick. We’ll have plenty to discuss with the new, “new” SAMs being promised by the end of June and I promise I don’t bite!

We thought about doing it this year, but our day job continues to be a priority so maybe, just maybe we’ll do a JustMaths “conference – thang” next year … and yes I want to call it that … a JustMaths “thang” (you have to say it with a “deep south” American accent to make it work … maybe there’s a flaw in my plan).