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Total Maths Newsletter

Hello Colleague

Welcome back, we hope you had an amazing summer with those close to you. 😊 To support you and your students as you settle back into the classroom, we've pulled together some key information and resources for the autumn term, all in one place.

We’ve got a huge amount going on this term to support you, take a look below at everything that’s coming up. Make sure you come along to our subject briefing on Wednesday 18 September for all the latest information and updates across all maths qualifications.

For those planning to enter students in the November 2024 GCSE (9-1) Maths series, please be aware the entry deadline is Friday 4 October. The exam timetable for the series is available from our key dates and timetables webpage.

Have you seen our new major report into 11-16 education, chaired by former Education Secretary Charles Clarke? ‘Striking the balance: A review of 11–16 curriculum and assessment in England’ warns that the current volume of exams at GCSE is too high and that an overloaded curriculum is narrowing students’ education. The review addresses the curriculum and assessment challenges at Key Stages 3 and 4, focusing on four main areas including ‘English and maths at 11–16’. Read more and do let us know your thoughts.

As ever, if you have any queries or we can give you any further support, please get in contact with us. Our role is to support you as you deliver our qualifications.

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

maths@ocr.org.uk
@OCR_Maths
01223 553998

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Summer 2024 results and post-results support
student taking exam

Summer 2024 results information for our maths qualifications is available from our ‘Results for general qualifications’ webpage. For detailed analysis of your own centre’s performance with comparisons against the national data, visit our Active Results platform.

If you or your students have any concerns about a result, please see our post-results services webpage. This includes a useful infographic summarising the options available and important deadlines. Remember you also have free access to scripts too.

Mark schemes and examiners' reports (and Analysis Grids for GCSE (9-1) Maths) are available on Teach Cambridge now, along with the question papers. Please keep these secure by not posting them or solutions anywhere publicly, many centres will be using these papers for mocks in the coming year.

The new summer 2024 GCSE (9-1) Maths analysis grids have a new feature, where you can now create pdf reports for all students together in a single click of a button, so you now no longer need to run each student report individually.

View results information

Autumn term Subject Briefing, Teacher Networks and conferences

Next week we’ll be running our first ever subject briefing, to support you in delivering all our qualifications. This will then be followed throughout the term by separate teacher networks on specific topics. Places for all are free and available to book now.

Teachers in a room
  • Wednesday 18 September - Subject briefing for all maths subjects – we’ll run through all our latest maths resources and upcoming training to make sure you’re getting the most from us, as well as sharing ideas and giving you the chance to ask any questions you need
  • Thursday 26 September - GCSE (9-1) Maths teacher network – we’ll share student performance data and trends over time, up to and including reviewing summer 2024
  • Wednesday 9 October - Level 3 FSMQ: Additional Maths teacher network – we’ll look at summer 2024 student performance, review resources and share teaching ideas
  • Thursday 10 October - A Level Maths teacher network – we’ll discuss resources, professional development, using ExamBuilder and also planning and assessment ideas for the autumn term
  • Tuesday 26 November - GCSE (9-1) Maths teacher network – for anyone unavailable on Thursday 26 September, this will be a second opportunity to hear the student performance presentation
  • Thursday 28 November - A Level Maths teacher network – we’ll focus on Y13 mocks, with a discussion on using mark schemes, examiners’ reports and candidate exemplars with students and an opportunity to share planning and assessment ideas
  • Tuesday 3 December - GCSE (9-1) Maths teacher network – we’ll discuss mocks at this network. We’ll share resources that will support you and we look forward to hearing your ideas for best practice.

Get your free places now via our teacher networks webpage.

Teacher Networks


Conferences

We’ll be running several sessions at the ATM virtual conference on Saturday 5 October:

  • In session slot B (10:30–11:15) Amy and Steven will be delivering ‘Progressing from GCSE to A Level, a look at the assumed prior learning’, in which they’ll highlight key areas to focus on to help students move up to A Level Maths.
  • In session slot C (11:30–12:15) Neil will deliver ‘GCSE (9-1) Mathematics: What we can learn from candidate performance so far’; as in the networks mentioned above, this will be a review of student performance data and trends over time, up to and including summer 2024.

For more information and booking details, please visit the ATM website.

Book your place

We’ll also be at the La Salle #MathsConf36 in Sheffield on Saturday 12 October. If you’re going, we look forward to discussing our qualifications, resources, support and more with you there.

Professional Development for 2024/25
teacher and student

Our professional development courses for 2024-2025 are now available to browse and book onto. Courses below are coming up in the next few weeks, head on over to our maths professional development webpage to book your place and view other courses coming up over the year.

  • Thursday 12 September – Starting to Teach AS & A Level Further Maths A
  • Thursday 19 September – Starting to Teach AS & A Level Maths A
  • Tuesday 24 September – Starting to Teach GCSE (9-1) Maths
  • Thursday 3 October – GCSE (9-1) Maths - Higher Tier summer 2024 exam review
  • Tuesday 8 October – Choosing OCR GCSE (9-1) Maths
  • Tuesday 15 October – GCSE (9-1) Maths - Foundation Tier summer 2024 exam review
  • Wednesday 16 October – Starting to Teach AS & A Level Maths B (MEI)
  • Thursday 17 October – Starting to Teach AS & A Level Further Maths B (MEI).

Materials from past courses are available to you to download from Teach Cambridge. Select your qualification, then in the left-hand menu go to ‘Training’, then ‘Past training events’.

Maths professional development

Pre-release data sets for Core Maths B and AS & A Level Maths B (MEI)

The Core Maths B pre-release data set for use in the summer 2026 series is now available. It can be downloaded from the ‘Pre-release materials’ area of both Teach Cambridge and the public qualification webpage.

It's the same data set that will be used in the summer 2025 series, no changes have been made. It's available in both Excel and pdf formats and includes an information sheet featuring an outline of data sources and field descriptions.

Person looking at our blog on a tablet

For further support, our Core Maths ‘Notes on the Pre-release Data Set’ resource has ideas that you and your students can use to explore the data, as well as links to online resources. It’s available to download now from Teach Cambridge, in the ‘Pre-release materials’ area.

Also now available is Large Data Set 9 for AS and A Level Maths B (MEI). It will be assessed in the AS Maths B (MEI) H630/02 exam in summer 2026 and the A Level Maths B (MEI) H640/02 exam in summer 2027. You can download it now from the ‘Pre-release materials’ area of both Teach Cambridge and the public qualification webpage.

It is the same data set as Large Data Set 6. For more information and support, please see MEI Curriculum Developer Keith Proffitt’s large data sets blog.

Teach Cambridge

New additions to ExamBuilder
teachers at a computer

We’re pleased to let you know that you can now construct tests and question papers in ExamBuilder for Core Maths A & B and Level 3: FSMQ Additional Maths.

ExamBuilder is free to use for all our schools and colleges. Using a bank of past exam questions for each qualification, you can build bespoke exam papers and assessments to suit the needs of your students. You can also use it to download editable Word versions of past papers, making it much easier for you to amend questions as needed.

If your school or college isn't using ExamBuilder yet and would like to set up an account, please visit our sign-up page to get started. If your centre is already using ExamBuilder and you don’t have access, please speak to a colleague already using ExamBuilder and they'll be able to set you up with an account.

ExamBuilder

Further qualification support from Cambridge CEM and MEI

If you’re looking to boost your students' success in GCSE (9-1) Maths, then discover how baseline assessments can make a difference in Cambridge CEM’s free upcoming webinar with Karen Barker, Deputy Head & SENDCo at Finborough School.

teachers at an event

The webinar will cover:

  • how adaptive assessments adjust questions to meet the student’s ability level
  • interpreting reports to quickly gain an accurate picture of student ability and potential, including predictions for GCSE performance
  • interventions and adaptations you can make to best support your students in reaching their potential.

If you’re unfamiliar with Cambridge CEM, their data allows teachers to gain valuable insights into their students' cognitive strengths and weaknesses. This enables teachers to plan strategies, resources and pace in lessons to meet the needs of their students. To help you understand your students' abilities and potential in maths, read this free guide to using baseline assessment data to improve teaching and learning.

CEM webinar

For teachers of AS and A Level Maths B (MEI) and Further Maths B (MEI), are you aware that MEI offers a wide range of support? If you teach any of these qualifications you can join the MEI Staffroom to access extra resources, sign up for free online professional development and access further support from MEI.

This term, the first series of free online professional development comprises five sessions looking at the 2024 exam papers. The first session will be on Tuesday 24 September 16:00–17:00, which will then be repeated on Thursday 26 September 19:00–20.00.

MEI staffroom

Ambassador centres
Teacher and student in a classroom

Would you be interested in working closer with us and becoming an ambassador for maths?

We’re looking for up to 10 centres from across the country to become ambassador centres, giving you direct access to our support and much more.

As an ambassador centre you’ll get membership to our maths consultative forums (usually held twice a year) to gain qualification insight and guide future developments, the opportunity to give feedback through Recollective (our teacher consultative panel), invitations to our future maths events and also the opportunity to recommend the future resources and training that we develop to support centres across the country. We’ll also be able to directly support you with qualification information and expertise.

In return, we’d ask for your feedback on our qualifications and support, as well as to allow us to host regional maths teacher network meetings (at least one per year) from your centre.

Are you interested? Get in touch with your centre name and a sentence or two about why you’re keen to become an ambassador centre, then we’ll do the rest. 😊

Become a maths ambassador centre