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Maths October newsletter
Supporting you through 2020-2021
Total Maths - October

Hi everyone,

Welcome to the October edition of Total Maths. We hope this term has got off to a great start and all is well for you in the classrooms. As ever, please get in touch if there is any further support that we can provide for you in the current period.

For anyone attending the La Salle Education online #MathsConf24 this Saturday, Steven and Neil will be available in a virtual 'drop-in room’ at various points through the day and then delivering a GCSE and A Level session in Period 6. If you’re attending, we’ll see you there, virtually…

Please be aware that the entry deadline for the autumn 2020 GCSE (9-1) Maths assessments is later this week, Sunday 4 October. For more on the autumn series, see the first article below.

You may also have seen in June, Ofqual suggested that boards might offer an extra GCSE (9-1) Maths series in January 2021. Please note, we've no plans to offer an extra GCSE (9-1) Maths exam series in January 2021. We’re focused on preparing for our assessments in November 2020.

If you have any questions or feedback, then please contact us. Our role is to support you as you deliver our qualifications.

Neil, Ruth, Caroline and Steven -  your Maths Subject Advisors
maths@ocr.org.uk
@OCR_Maths
01223 553998
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Autumn 2020 series details
Autumn 2020 series

Exam timetables for the autumn 2020 series are now available from our key dates and timetables page.

AS, A Level and Core Maths assessments will be held in October, from Monday 5 - Friday 23 October.

GCSE assessments will be held in November, from Monday 2 - Friday 27 November.

For AS Maths (H230 & H630), A Level Maths (H240 & H640) and Core Maths (H868 & H869) the Large Data Sets and other pre-release materials that will be assessed in the autumn 2020 series will be those originally issued for use in the summer 2020 series. See our subject information update for more information.

Key dates and timetables
We’re keeping 2019 past papers secure for longer

To ensure you continue to have secure materials available for mock assessments, we’re keeping our past papers and related materials (mark schemes, examiners’ reports, candidate exemplar resources, etc.) available only securely through Interchange for longer this year.

Materials from the summer 2019 series (and the November 2019 GCSE series) will remain only available securely until April 2021.
Past paper schedule for maths

Materials from the upcoming autumn 2020 series will be published on Interchange a few days after each paper is sat, then remain available securely only until December 2021.

See our past paper schedule page for more.

Past paper schedule
Do you deliver Foundation tier GCSE (9-1) Maths?
Foundation Maths

As part of our efforts to build better digital products, we’re looking for Foundation tier GCSE (9-1) Maths teachers who can spare a little time to talk about how they identify gaps in student knowledge and what works (or doesn’t) to support students with these topics.

If you’d be able to assist or have any queries, please drop us an email at maths@ocr.org.uk. 

We’ll then set up a time convenient with you to talk and get your feedback on a few ideas.

Get in touch
New maths resources and blogs

We’ve published more new maths resources for you in the last few weeks.

For GCSE (9-1) Mathematics planning, we’ve updated our one-year Curriculum planner with many new resource links, published a mapping guide to resources on the Cambridge International Resource Plus site and updated our Foundation and Higher tier Revision Checklists.
New maths resources

For GCSE (9-1) Mathematics topic based tests, we have published the first of our ExamBuilder Topic tests (along with a guide to creating your own using ExamBuilder) and a new Check In test. More of these are on the way…

For both A Level Maths A and A Level Maths B (MEI) we’ve published Exam Hints For Students resources along with Revision Checklist resources, which list the learning outcomes and the content for students to work on.

For A Level Further Maths B (MEI) we’ve published new Section Check In tests for the Statistics option, covering ‘Continuous random variables’ and ‘Inference’. AS Further Maths B (MEI) versions are also available from the ‘Section Check Ins for AS and Stage 1’ zip folder on the page.

Steven has also written not one but two A Level blogs recently. Read his blogs on hypothesis tests and comprehension papers now.

As ever, there's still more to come, keep watch on @OCR_Maths for the very latest updates.

View resources
Training for 2020-2021
Online Maths professional development training

Book your places now for our Professional Development training programme for maths qualifications.

All training for the foreseeable future will be held online, offering the same high-quality training as our face-to-face training.

Courses coming up in the next few month are below:
  • On Tue 6 and Wed 14 October we have Entry Level webinars. In these Caroline will cover everything you need to know to get started with Entry Level, including course content, assessment structure, the written tests, the practical task and moderation, as well as answering your questions.
  • If you have questions you’d like to put to one of our GCSE examiners, then on Wed 7 October we have an ‘Ask the examiner’ Q&A webinar.
  • On Thu 15 October we have a 'Understanding the Assessment: Exams Preparation for GCSE (9-1) Mathematics' webinar, where we’ll look at student performance in previous series to inform the teaching to current students.
  • We have a ‘Functional Skills: Admin Essentials’ webinar on Thu 15 October.

Keep an eye on the page for more courses appearing shortly.

View upcoming Professional development
AMSP Core Maths online support groups

The Advanced Maths Support Program is running a range of Core Maths online support groups through this term.

These provide you with the opportunity to discuss and share your experiences, as well as develop your practice around the teaching of Core Maths with teachers who are in a similar position to you.
AMSP core maths

There are specific sessions for Core Maths A (21 Oct) and Core Maths B (3 Nov), as well as ‘New to teaching Core Maths’ groups that are not qualification specific (two session on 20 Oct and also 22 Oct).

Find our more about our Core Maths qualifications.

AMSP Core Maths online support group

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