All I want is transparency

Is that too much to ask? You may remember that I put a FOI request into Ofqual following their letter to Pearson adjusting grade boundaries upwards ( my blog was here -> ( FOI Request )? Well I’ve had a response … actually scrap that … I’ve had a non-response. To be honest all I … Read more

Fluency

I’ve been thinking a lot about the need for “fluency” (whatever that means!) and how not having a firm grasp of the basic number facts and relationships sometimes holds students back from accessing higher order topics. I think that there is a definite difference between “sums” and “maths”. Now, don’t be getting all academic on … Read more

Blown Away – Our WINNERS!

Last night I drew names out of my hat for the giveaway competition the JustMaths “boys” announced a week or so ago. OK so it wasn’t a real hat but I did print off my spreadsheet and cut every entry up into slips – as Sunday progressed and responses kept coming in I found it … Read more

Teach GCSE Resit in FE?

If you are teaching Maths in FE then resits are very close to your heart. Students now have to continue to study Maths if they haven’t achieved a grade C in Maths when they move to post-16 education. If they get a D they have to do GCSE and below a D they have to … Read more

Code Breakers

We’ve been thinking about the questions we want students to work through when we get them doing some “actual” work with our “super group” (we team teach a mahoosive group in year 11). After we’ve done the whole class explanation we usually get them practising a similar question (or questions) in the first instance and … Read more

Elegantly simple

In all the years that I have known Seager he still manages to pull “a blinder” that takes me by surprise and today was one of those days. I’d asked him for an idea to use with year 7 which involved them just “playing with numbers”. It was their first proper lesson having done the … Read more

the Super 60

UPDATE: COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED! We have been overwhelmed with the response and thank you to everyone that emailed/tweeted/commented or liked our Facebook page. Humbled doesn’t even come close! It’s Friday night and the JustMaths team are sat in a pub for our regular meeting (drinking diet coke and orange juices – not in the … Read more

Ofqual letter to Pearson

You wouldn’t expect me to let this pass without comment would you? Oh yeah you probably haven’t a clue what I’m talking about. On the 12th August Ofqual wrote to Pearson instructing them to adjust their grade boundaries on the 1MAO H paper this Summer. They were instructed to raise the boundary from 69 to … Read more

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