Graham Cumming
@mathsnot.bsky.social
Former Maths Subject Adviser at Edexcel
Oh no, Jenkins on maths! (NB The volume of a sphere is 4πr³/3 rather than 4/3πr³ but journalists and formulae, eh?)
We are teaching children maths they will never use. Isn’t it better to help them speak fluently? | Simon Jenkins
The education secretary is right to focus on what students need most: the ability to express themselves. As for maths, grab a calculator, says Guardian columnist Simon Jenkins
theguardian.com
Of course it is, I’ve never known one that wasn’t. There will be the same lag for vocational GCSEs, online exams, etc etc
National curriculum consultation delayed until ‘later this year’
School leaders voice frustration as delay to consultation on study and subject content confirmed
tes.com
Just had an email from my bank to say they’re removing my overdraft limit - so now I don’t know whether I will have an overdraft limit of zero or whether I will have no overdraft limit at all
Less than six weeks until the next compulsory GCSE resit, btw
Compulsory GCSE resits in England harm teenagers’ mental wellbeing, study finds
UCL researchers warn repeated exam attempts may dent students’ confidence and raise risk of dropping out
theguardian.com
I’ve recently been inducted into the world of LPG suppliers - they’re the IGCSE of energy companies A bit like the more widely used alternative but totally unregulated, much more expensive and all the numbers are made up as they go along
The “one-day ‘Investigating with Mathematics’ event” sounds like quite the innovation 🤔
Ireland Could Destroy Its Secondary School Mathematics
The proposed Leaving Certificate reforms are incredibly concerning
thefitzwilliam.com
Ironic, I suppose, that the development of GCSE Natural History continues at a glacial pace
“I believe that degrees in science, engineering and mathematics are amongst those that genuinely offer the greatest personal, social and economic value to our nation”
Science and maths degrees offer most value to the nation, says minister
Chris McDonald told a room full of vice-chancellors that science, engineering and mathematics ‘offer the greatest personal, social and economic value’
thetimes.com
With GCSE exams, you can get the questions, the performance data, the sampling data, the scoring rationale I can’t get any of that with PISA. I wait to be convinced
Why say “the exam boards” when in this case it’s almost certainly “the AQA exam board” which is meant. Teachers are always looking for a way to discriminate between exam boards - maybe marking accuracy would be a good metric
Jonathan Mountstevens@mrmountstevens.bsky.social · 2mo agoWe had a student’s English Lit GCSE go up by 26 marks and two grades on review. I am a big believer in exams as the fairest form of assessment but sometimes it feels like the exam boards do their level best to undermine the confidence I have in the system. Surely they can do better?
Have been doing the elderly parents’ financial audit today and now I’m going to lobby Lucy Powell to introduce compulsory Maths to 80
Happy centenary of the Underground connecting South West London to civilisation!
GCSE Maths Resit - two months to prepare. Everyone who missed grade 4 by a few marks will have dropped one or two among the first five questions on each paper - but you should be aiming to answer all of those. Practise them until you can’t get them wrong
GCSE Mathematics: There’s quite the gap between the percentage of marks needed for a grade with AQA/Pearson and OCR/Eduqas, particularly at Foundation tier - they’re about one grade adrift. For example, 44% on F will get you a grade 4 with OCR - but that would score a Grade 2 with AQA or Edexcel 1/4
Where to resit to get that Grade 4 in GCSE Mathematics? Results for 17-19 year olds by local authority (source: Ofqual Analytics)
AS qualifications again. This summer saw 106 quals, many of them duplicates, offered by four exam boards in England. 93 of those had <1000 entries and in total just under 50,000. OCR offered 38 quals for fewer than 5000 entries! They surely can’t be financially viable - they’ll be gone by 2030 1/3
Thats enough gooey sentimentality about exam boards - I see we’re already back to the “all marking is dreadful” part of the year (usually from people who didn’t step up to be markers slagging off the efforts of those who did)
Graham Cumming@mathsnot.bsky.social · 2mo agoThey don’t often get a lot of praise, so I’ll say thank you and well done to the exam boards for successfully delivering another year’s worth of Level 3 qualification results with maximum efficiency and minimum fuss @cambridgeocr.bsky.social @aqaeducation.bsky.social plus Pearson, WJEC and CCEA
People of the A303 and beyond! Here are the entries and grade distributions for 16 year olds sitting GCSE Mathematics in the South West in 2026 by county or unitary authority Source: Ofqual Analytics
Londoners! Here are the entries and grade distributions for 16 year olds sitting GCSE Mathematics by borough in 2026 Source: Ofqual Analytics
Grade distributions and entry numbers by subject and exam board for all GCSE qualifications awarded by English awarding bodies in Summer 2026 (Pearson IGCSE also included for comparison, though without entry numbers)
Pearson/Edexcel GCSE Mathematics Summer 2026 by centre type, age and sex from mathsemporium.com/1ma1-grade-b...
Grade 9 in GCSE Mathematics gets less likely the further you are from London and the South East
GCSE Mathematics 2026 by centre type (England) - % of students achieving Grade 7+ and Grade 4+ Source: Ofqual Analytics
