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Maths newsletter

Hello Colleague

We hope you’re having a great term so far and managing to avoid the rain. 😊

The entries deadline for the summer 2026 series is Saturday 21 February. Please ensure your exams officer has made your entries by then.

Provisional exam timetables for summer 2027 are now published on our key dates and timetables webpage. If you’d like to raise any concerns before the final timetables are agreed, please do get in touch via the email address on the webpage. Please share any feedback you have by Friday 20 March.

As always, if you have any queries or if we can give you any further support, please let us know. Our role is to support you as you deliver our qualifications.

Neil, Caroline, Amy, Steven and Ruth - your Maths Subject Advisors

maths@ocr.org.uk
@OCR_Maths
01223 553998
OCR-Newsletter-Box-shaddow
A Level Maths & Further Maths alternative papers
Teacher working on a laptop

New alternative papers are now available on Teach Cambridge for A Level Maths A & B (MEI) and the mandatory pure papers of A Level Further Maths A & B (MEI).

 

These alternative papers are amended versions of the original summer 2025 question papers, providing you with another set of papers for use as mocks or to help review student progression.

Alternative papers based on the GCSE (9-1) Maths November 2025 question papers should hopefully be published next month.

 

Teach Cambridge
Core Maths pre-release materials

Pre-release materials for Core Maths A and Core Maths B will be available from 1 March. Please note this is slightly earlier than previous years. For more information, please see our recent subject update. 

To support you with using the pre-release materials, AMSP are running discussion webinars. You can book your place on their website for either Wednesday 18 March at 14:00 or Thursday 19 March at 16:00.
Teacher pointing at a laptop

Core Maths pre-release details
Upcoming maths Teacher Networks
Teacher working with two students

Our online Teacher Networks are continuing throughout this term. These are free to attend and set up to bring maths teachers together, so we can share relevant updates, answer your questions, discuss best practice collectively and more.

Book your place now for any of the below:

  • Thursday 26 February – A Level Further Maths A & B (MEI) (online) - We’ll focus on the mandatory Pure content, including a look at the content requirements, challenging exam questions, teaching strategies and more.

  • Tuesday 3 March – A Level Maths (online) - The full agenda is still to be confirmed, please email us with any topics or issues you’d like to discuss.

  • Tuesday 17 March – GCSE (9-1) Maths (online) - To support revision for summer 2026, we’re giving you a second opportunity hear about student performance in the summer 2025 series (this network will repeat material previously presented in our autumn 2025 networks).

  • Thursday 19 March – A Level Further Maths A & B (MEI) (face to face at Dulwich College, London) - We’ll focus on the Additional Pure / Extra Pure Further Maths options and teaching strategies to deliver their content.

Whether you’re already teaching a qualification or just interested in learning more, you’re very welcome to attend. We look forward to seeing you there.

If you’d be interested in running a future face-to-face network at your school or college, please let us know.

Teacher Networks
Free A Level Maths B (MEI) and Further Maths B (MEI) professional development from MEI

If you’re delivering A Level Maths B (MEI) or Further Maths B (MEI), a range of free professional development on different aspects of the specifications and assessment is available from MEI Staffroom.

The spring-summer 2026 programme starts this month and runs on Thursdays, with each session running twice on the scheduled day (16:00-17:00 and then repeated at 19:00-20:00).
Students in lesson

For more information about the MEI Staffroom and details of how to join, please see their website.

MEI Staffroom
New maths blogs
Teacher working on a laptop

Several new maths blogs are now available to help support you.

In ‘Level 3 FSMQ Additional Maths: strengthening kinematics understanding’ Steven explores examiner feedback on kinematics FSMQ questions and shares practical strategies for addressing common misconceptions.

 

Steven’s also just published ‘A Level Maths: modelling problems involving trigonometry’, where he reviews student performance on questions involving mathematical modelling using trigonometric functions.

Finally, Keith Proffitt from MEI (who’ll be delivering the MEI Staffroom sessions mentioned in the article above) has updated his ‘Why three large data sets for the MEI specification?’ blog to cover Large Data Set 10 published last term.

Read our full range of maths blogs.


Maths blogs
Are you considering teaching our GCSE (9-1) Maths? Join our free webinars!

In April, we'll be running free short webinars focusing on different aspects of our GCSE (9-1) Maths qualification. These webinars are also a great opportunity for you to ask us any questions you may have.
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Upcoming webinars:

  • 📅 Understanding the Assessment, 13 April 2026, 4.00 - 4.30pm
  • 📅 Content and Specification Overview, 16 April 2026, 4.00 - 4.30pm
  • 📅 Support and Resources, 22 April 2026, 4.00 - 4.30pm

Book your place
Examine with us
Teacher smiling

We still have vacancies for summer 2026 examiners for AS / A Level Further Maths.

Visit our assessor recruitment website and search for ‘mathematics’ to find out more and apply.

Additional vacancies in other qualifications may become available in the coming weeks, keep an eye on the recruitment website for the latest opportunities.

Assessor recruitment

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