I mean National Reference Tests! An update was published recently on the Ofqual blog and on several occasions I’ve written about these in December 2015, June 2015 and April 2015 so I’ve been following their development quite closely. Basically I think they’re a rubbish idea! I get the fact the government are crapping themselves about … Read more
My thoughts recently have been concerned with resits of one form or another, both at either end of the 11 -16 age spectrum. So not only are we dealing with the impending new 9-1 GCSE, the ends of my spectrum are blurred with uncertainty (it isn’t as painful as that sounds!?!) and I find that … Read more
To HOD or not to HOD – The poison chalice? Occasionally, when I’m not being over-protective about this being “my blog” I hand over the reigns to a guest author and this evening is one of those times -having put a “shout out” for guest posts it looks like I’m going to have a series … Read more
As the saying goes: “every day is a school day” and last weekend at a meeting of the Teaching Committee of the Mathematical Association (the MA!) I found out about the primary maths challenge which is aimed at students in years 5 and 6. It is held every November with bonus rounds usually in the … Read more
So I’ve shared the fact that we had “the call” (Part 1) and was observed (Part 2). Now time for the feedback session. You may remember (I know it sounds odd) that myself and Seager met with the lead inspector to get feedback on our lessons together. As we walked in it felt OK (we … Read more
oh come on … of course it’s not a genius idea. Right … brace yourself. For the record this is not a primary v secondary school debate – we’re all in this together and the fact is primary teaching is becoming ever more accountable, if that is even possible. The idea of resits in year … Read more
Sorry I got distracted this week and have builders in at home so most evenings have been spent cleaning up after them before I’ve been able to get down to doing some work, so the blogging has had to wait! This is a long post so there will HAVE to be a part three at … Read more
In true fashion … don’t be expecting answers. Just more questions and things for you to consider. Back to school tomorrow and if you’re like me you haven’t done all the things you meant to do this holiday. The holidays started with the tree going up on the day I finished work and it is … Read more
Ofqual have an open consultation and one of the things they are consulting on, is whether there should be an additional resit opportunity for the current Maths GCSE in the Summer of 2017. DUH!! OF COURSE THERE SHOULD! Let me lay out the facts … Current year 11 take their exams in June 2016. Those … Read more
You may remember that I did some work collecting questions “by topic” on the new SAMs and practice paper. Well … now I know that I should have sought permission to use them from the exam boards (I have to say in my defence that it didn’t occur to me because they are readily available … Read more
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