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Hands using a calculator - Maths newsletter
Total Maths - June

Dear Colleague,

How are you? We hope you had a relaxing break over half term and your work to determine grades is now either finished or nearing completion.

Our Grade Submission System is now open for you to submit the grades that you have determined for students. Please ensure that you have submitted grades by Friday 18 June. If you or your Exams Officer need any support in using the system, please see our dedicated support page.

Provisional exam timetables for autumn 2021 have now been published. If you have any feedback regarding them, please contact JCQ by 21 June. Included are provisional dates for AS/A Level maths and Core Maths (GCSE (9-1) Maths dates were finalised earlier and can be found in the separate 'Final exam timetables' section on the page).

As always, if there is any further support that OCR can provide for you in this current period then please do contact us. Our role is to support you as you deliver our qualifications.

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

maths@ocr.org.uk
@OCR_Maths
01223 553998

OCR-Newsletter-Box-shaddow
Summer 2021 support
Students working in a classroom

To help with any final grading queries you may have, we recently published a summer 2021 maths grading FAQs blog, with answers to the most common questions you’ve been asking us.

We also published a specific summer 2021 Entry Level grading FAQs blog, which responds to the specific queries for that qualification we’ve been receiving.

Also still available is our series of ten videos covering all aspects of the JCQ guidance from grading to appeals, plus a roundtable discussion video between OCR staff and representatives from centres across England, answering more of your queries.

Further information is also available from the summer 2021 pages of the OCR website.

If you have any additional queries, do please get in touch with us (contact details are at the end of the introduction above).

Find out more

Grading/Sampling support for Core Maths, FSMQ and Entry Level

To supplement JCQ and Ofqual guidance, we've now published additional guidance for our Core Maths, Level 3 Additional Maths FSMQ and Entry Level qualifications.

Student working in a classroom

For more information on sampling for other qualifications, please see pages 10 and 11 of Ofqual’s updated ‘Information for heads of centre, heads of department and teachers on the submission of teacher assessed grades: summer 2021’.

Ofqual has also published a blog summarising all stages of the summer 2021 quality assurance process, covering centre policies, virtual visits and the sampling of evidence.

Ofqual quality assurance in summer 2021 blog

GCSE (9-1) Maths Alternative Papers
maths students in the classroom

We’ve just published a full set of 6 Alternative Papers for GCSE (9-1) Maths.

These Alternative Papers are amended from the recent November 2020 papers (the words and language are the same, but the values in questions have been changed so that students need to make new calculations).

They give your students at both Foundation and Higher tiers more opportunity to practice. Using both the original and the alternative papers with students at different times can also help you monitor their progress.

An Interchange login is required to download these papers (please speak to your Exams Officer if you don’t have access).

Alternative papers - November 2020

Core Maths and trigonometry in A Level Maths blogs

With the new Core Maths A and B (MEI) textbook forthcoming, Ruth has written a new blog interviewing its authors to find out how it will help students and teachers. Pre-order the textbook and read a sample chapter at the Illuminate Publishing website.

Steven has also written a new blog, the second part of his look into trigonometry in A Level.

Reading OCR blogs on a tablet

Here Steven looks at the use of dynamic geometry software to understand the algebra within trigonometry, reviews comments from examiners about common mistakes and misconceptions and suggests sources of support for students.

You can also still read the first part, where Steven looked at how the topic of trigonometry progresses from GCSE to AS and on to A Level.

Maths blogs

Large Data Set 6 for AS/A Level Maths B (MEI)
OldhamSixthFormCollege-English-Alevel-0917-4087_OCR_OCR

We’ve just released Large Data Set 6 for use with AS/A Level Maths B (MEI) (H630/H640).

It will be assessed in AS (H630/02) in summer 2023 and A level (H640/02) in summer 2024.

We’ve also published a set of teacher notes to support you with using Large Data Set 6.

To read all about the AS/A Level Maths B (MEI) approach to the Large Data Set, please see our guest blog by Keith Proffitt, MEI Curriculum Developer.

Teacher notes   Guest blog

Introduction to OCR GCSE (9-1) Mathematics webinar

Whether you’re interested in learning more about OCR GCSE (9-1) Maths, new to the qualification, or an experienced teacher wanting to make sure you’re getting the most of the qualification and its support, book yourself a FREE place on our webinar introducing the qualification.

GCSE Maths for all

In the webinar we’ll look at…

  • the benefits to delivering the OCR qualification,
  • about how the specification sets out content to aid your teaching,
  • differences between our qualification and other GCSE (9-1) Mathematics qualifications,
  • free resources and support available to you.

Introduction to OCR GCSE (9-1) Mathematics webinar