5 Maths Gems #194

Welcome to my 194^th gems post. This is where I share some of the latest news, ideas and resources for maths teachers.

1. 1st Class Maths 

It's great to see more A level resources from 1st Class Maths. There's now a full collection of excellent exam style questions for the statistics content of AS level maths, and now he's started to add mechanics exam style questions too. Unlike collections of exam questions on other websites which are often just made using ExamWizard, these questions are totally original and carefully thought through, meaning this is an excellent resource for use in lessons or for homework or revision.

I've added these to my Mechanics resource library. 

Also check out the accompanying videos which are very high quality and well explained as always.

2. Dr Austin

Thank you to Dr Austin for continuing to add incredibly useful resources to her website. Recent additions include multi-step trigonometry problems and a Pythagoras Pile Up.

There are also some new resources for congruency proofs, a topic that has always been under resourced. 

Dr Austin also continues to grow her A level collection. Recent additions include resources for binomial expansions and trigonometry.

3. Circle Theorems

Dan Lewis' post on Bluesky about angles in the same segment got me thinking about how I don't provide enough non-examples when teaching circle theorems (see Task 2 below). 

4. M4TH5
The website m4th5.co.uk has been redesigned. It features a number of free resources including a free and easy to use calculator emulator, interactive A level maths flashcards, an AS Further Maths Starter generator and a 100-mark A level exam paper with worked solutions (which is free, but only if you create an account). 

5. RISPs
Many of you will already be familiar with Jonny Griffiths' RISPs - a collection of open-ended investigative activities aimed at A level students. Jonny has updated the collection and created a new RISPs eBook which can be accessed at risps.co.uk. Thank you Jonny!

Update

TMUA

I have a number of students taking TMUA in January so am very grateful for the resources that have been shared for this. @andrewmaths1 has posted an excellent set of questions in a blog post and @etzsmc has shared another set of TMUA notes and exercises on TES: this time for TMUA Paper 2 on Logic and Proof. 

Conference Dates

Complete Maths conference dates for 2026 have been published. #mathsconf40 is on 7th March in the South, #mathsconf41 is on 6th June in the Midlands and #mathsconf42 is on 17th October in the North. As always, I'll attempt to attend all three if I can afford to.

The MEI Conference takes place on 2nd and 3rd July 2026 at Keele University. I'm speaking on the Friday so will be there then, and may also attend on the Thursday, depending on my timetable and school commitments. If I can't get the Thursday off school then I will still endeavour to attend the conference dinner on the Thursday night (a free bar sponsored by Casio is not to be missed!) Have I mentioned that I absolutely love the MEI Conference? I highly recommend it.

Subject Associations
No doubt you're aware that the long-awaited merger of maths subject associations has now happened and the Association for Mathematics in Education (AMiE) has been born. Congratulations and well done to everyone involved in this lengthy process. It's going to be great to have a single body representing maths teachers in the UK.

News from me

My latest post 'Things I assumed you knew' went down well, with a lot of readers getting in touch to say that they learnt something new from it (particularly the quick way of using equation editor).

I'm looking forward to reading Tom Briggs' book 'The Mathematicians' Library: The Books That Unlocked The Power Of Numbers' which my husband kindly bought me for Christmas. 

Thank you to Jamie Frost for hosting drinks at his house followed by a meal at his local pub just before Christmas. As always it was lovely to catch up with this brilliant bunch of maths teachers.

Finally, I'll leave you with this brilliant 3D printed tool for drawing trig graphs from @thechalkface.bsky.social.

Happy New Year everyone! All the best for 2026.

5 Maths Gems #193

Welcome to my 193^rd gems post. This is where I share some of the latest news, ideas and resources for maths teachers.

1. 1st Class Maths 

I'm always happy to see new resources from 1st Class Maths. The latest is a set of exam style questions (in both AQA and Edexcel style) on reverse percentages.

Resources for compound interest and loci are coming soon.

2. Certificate in Further Maths

AQA's Certificate in Further Maths is a very popular qualification - I have a page dedicated to it here. I like Andy Lutwyche's latest resource: a Further Maths topic list with examples of questions for every topic. There are two versions: one with Sparx Codes, one without. This is a really helpful revision resource for students. Thank you Andy!

3. Dr Austin

Dr Austin has published some new percentages resources including Mixed Percentage Change Fill in the Blanks.

And for A level, there are new resources for graphical inequalities, algebraic fractions and algebraic division. 

4. Quadratic Inequalities

@AddvanceMaths published a booklet for teaching quadratic inequalities. It starts with prerequisite skills (solving quadratics, drawing inequalities on number lines and sketching quadratic graphs). It then has examples of how to solve quadratic inequalities, loads of increasingly difficult practice questions, and some problem solving.  Answers are provided too.

5. Circle Theorems

@MrLevMaths created a great set of questions which interweave circle theorems and trigonometry.

Update

• Maths teacher Peter Browne emailed me about his website IGCSEMathsTutor.com which has impressive online practice sheets like this one on Changing the Subject of a Formula. 
• Hannah Kettle continues to build her collection of cover resources at hannahkettlemaths.co.uk/cover.
• Paul Rowlandson published a new blog post 'Thinking About Perpendicular Bisectors'.
• Stephen Cox shared some really useful resources for TMUA preparation.
• Good news! AQA have made Maths ExamPro totally free for AQA Centres.
• Did you catch my recent post about adapting worksheets? It was nice to get some comments on this post and a few teachers even sent me their scaffolded resources which was fantastic.

I had a great day out at #mathsconf39 in London a couple of weeks ago. It was very well attended. I presented on Don Steward's resources. Loads of people told me they'd never heard of Don Steward - this made me sad, and I realised how important it is to keep sharing his tasks and make sure that new teachers joining the profession are made aware of everything he so generously shared. 

Read Atul Rana's blog post for a great write up of #mathsconf39. As always happens in October, this mathsconf was the day after an Inset Day for me, so I had the pleasure of attending maths conferences two days in a row. Here's a photo of part of my team at Inset Day on the Friday, and a photo from the pub after #mathsconf39 on the Saturday. 

Finally, I'll leave you with this video from Mitchell and Webb which made me laugh.

 

5 Maths Gems #170

Welcome to my 170^th gems post. This is where I share some of the latest news, ideas and resources for maths teachers.

1. GCSE Revision Mats and Papers

I have a page dedicated to GCSE revision resources and in my last gems post I shared some new additions to this page. Since then a few more new resources have been shared:

• @MrMorleyMaths created a Foundation revision mat. It should be printed as a double sided A3 sheet - one side has an example or explanation, the other a corresponding exam style question.
• @1stclassmaths shared another completely original practice paper for AQA 1F, created using high frequency topics. This is part of a fantastic set of well-written practice papers for both Edexcel and AQA, available on 1stclassmaths.com. I used Higher Paper 1B in a Year 11 lesson on Thursday - there are loads of great questions in there.
• Third Space Learning has a number of GCSE revision resources, available for free if you enter your email address. Their collection includes practice papers, worksheets and revision mats.
• @MattTheApp shared a free AQA Foundation revision mat for Paper 1, featuring worked examples, rehearsal questions and answers.

Also - this isn't GCSE but will be helpful to A level Further Maths teachers - @ECR_Maths made a warm up grid for her AS Further Maths students to do before AQA Paper 1.

2. TES Author

I was delighted to discover a fantastic collection of resources on TES from @HTMaths. I've already started to make good use of these. Last week I used Exponential Equations (Index Laws) in a Year 11 revision lesson which worked really well. 

I also used GCSE Trigonometry - Exact Values which was very useful.

There are loads of great resources here for both Key Stage 3 and 4 - I've added many of them to my resource libraries. 

3. Brackets
I really like this double brackets task from Karen Hancock. Thanks Karen!

 

4. Dr Austin

Dr Austin completed her collection of 23 revision grids, which are designed for IGCSE but useful for GCSE too. Thanks Amanda!

She has also been producing other great resources including tasks for rearranging formulae and bounds.

5. MathsPad

MathsPad is my favourite maths resources website - I use it every day at both Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4. And the booklets are incredibly useful for cover lessons! They've recently added some excellent new features:

• Their new free Interactive Graphing Tool allows you to draw functions, lines and points on a grid. You can include sliders - the interface is really easy to use. It projects well on a screen and you can also use it to make customised blank grids that can be exported to PDF to printing.
• Not free, but well worth the subscription, is the new Graphing Inequalities Tool which has a manual fill tool for shading regions bounded by lines. Along with this are three new lessons including student worksheets.

• There are also two brilliant new booklets for Higher GCSE: Expressions, which includes equating coefficients and proof, and Circle Theorems.  

Update

At my school Year 11 don't have study leave until after half-term, so I still have another six lessons with my class, plus my last Papers Society of the year, plus breakfast warm ups on Friday. I'm using a variety of non-calculator resources including my revision workouts, revision mats and breakfast activities. 

I'll be speaking at three conferences this term:

• A Future Teaching Scholars event in Birmingham on 20th May where I'm presenting 'Challenge in the Maths Classroom'
• #mathsconf32 in Derby on 24th June where I'm presenting 'Challenge without Acceleration' 
• The MEI Conference in Keele on 29th June where I'm presenting 'Good Task, Bad Task'.

I hope to see lots of you at these events.

Have a great week everyone! 

5 Maths Gems #159

Welcome to my 159^th gems post. This is where I share some of the latest news, ideas and resources for maths teachers. 

1. Proportional Relationships
@nathanday314 shared some questions that he used in a Year 9 lesson. He says they provoked fantastic discussion amongst his students. Notice the connections between each question.

2. Area of Trapezium

@steelemaths shared a creative trapezium task. 

3. Circle Theorems and Similarity
I love these Higher GCSE questions shared by @DrPMaths.

4. Using Geogebra
@Mr_Rowlandson has created an excellent training booklet for secondary maths teachers who are learning how to use Geogebra. Thanks Paul! 

5. Pie Charts and Bearings

@giftedHKO shared loads of excellent resources at #mathsconf29. I particularly like this clever bearings task:

And this lovely proportional thinking task on pie charts:

Update

It seems like a ridiculously long time since my last post. I can't handle the workload that my role brings in the second half of the summer term (timetabling, running assessments and reports, primary transition, etc etc, and all without the luxury of gained time because we only have Years 7 to 10!). Thankfully next year things will be different, as I'm changing roles, and I hope to be able to give resourceaholic more of my time.

Despite the challenges of the summer term, I did (of course!) make time for mathsconf last weekend. I have done a mathsconf every June since 2015. I love it when these conferences take place in Kettering because it's so easy to get to by train (except when there's a national train strike...).

Thank you to everyone who attended my talk 'Challenge in Every Topic' which I particularly enjoyed planning and delivering. It was one of my favourites. I've decided not to share the slides here so I can repeat the workshop at conferences in the future, but delegates have been sent the slides by La Salle.

I also had the privilege of attending the MEI Conference on Thursday and Friday. I was given two days away from school to attend this, which I am incredibly grateful for. The conference was sponsored by Casio who not only provided the best conference goody bags ever (including Casio hoodies!) but also funded seemingly endless wine with the conference dinner! Yay for Casio. 

The MEI Conference has a very different vibe to the Saturday mathsconfs. It's more academic, moves at a different pace and feels highly collaborative (there were lots of opportunities to have deep, reflective discussions with both fellow teachers and maths education experts). 

I had a great time at both events, and now have a lot of ideas buzzing in my head for September.

I also enjoyed wearing my two new maths t shirts to these conferences! (both from Redbubble - I ended up getting one for free because they messed up my order!).

Here are a few things you might have missed in recent weeks:

• Simon Singh is hosting free online maths circles. He runs four interactive circles every week for children from ages 9 to 18. For more information check out parallel.org.uk.
• I enjoyed reading two threads recently about teaching particular topics. They are both worth a read. @blatherwick_sam tweeted about teaching vectors and @VMN_alex tweeted about angles in parallel lines.
• Here's one to share with your science colleagues. I love these science root word cards from @fabdisalvo. I've blogged about a maths version in the past. 

• Sparx Maths has produced a free Year 6 - Year 7 Transition Booklet. Here they've collated a list of 130 questions to support Year 6 students' transitioning into Year 7. You can download it here.
• La Salle recently released a free 128-page Task Booklet. It's a collection of carefully crafted tasks which aim to promote mathematical thinking and behaviour in the classroom.

I plan to write a few blog posts over summer about challenge at Key Stage 3, so do look out for them.

Finally, have you seen the lovely new maths sets from Helix? They sent me a few to try out. I love the colours, and the fact they are made from recycled materials. Thanks Helix!

5 Maths Gems #158

Welcome to my 158^th gems post. This is where I share some of the latest news, ideas and resources for maths teachers. 

1. Revision Resources
Back in 2018 I created three sets of 'breakfast revision' resources for both Foundation and Higher GCSE (note: they don't have to be used at breakfast!). Jess Prior (@FortyNineCubed) has edited these for the Edexcel Advanced Information 2022. Thanks Jess!

Based on @mathsjem's GCSE breakfast revision resources, I've created a set for 2022 Paper 1, using the Edexcel advanced information. There are four different levels of difficulty (two higher, two foundation) with answers, and an editable version. https://t.co/MuhtFwwH9r pic.twitter.com/z3gtLCEMeU

— Jess Prior (@FortyNineCubed) May 14, 2022

Check out the Twitter feed of @1stclassmaths for excellent revision resources in a similar format for both AQA and Edexcel Foundation and Higher.

@1stclassmaths has also started to share a series of topic booklets for AQA Certificate of Further Maths. Their first one is on matrix multiplication.

 

Thank you also to @DrBennison for sharing an AQA A Level Maths Practice Paper 1 based on the 2022 Advanced Information.

2. ExamQ

Thanks to a comment on my GCSE revision blog post, I discovered the new website ExamQ from @ExamQbyMrWatts. This is a very well designed website where you can find exam questions that match each of the topics listed in the Advance Information. It covers GCSE, AS and A level. The website has a beautiful layout - it's user-friendly and it's free!

3. Maths Universe
@JakeGMaths has created a really smart teaching tool. mathsuniverse.com/whiteboard has lots of cool features. For example, say you're circulating round the classroom and you spot something interesting in a student's book that you want to share with the class. You can take a photo of it on your phone or tablet and it just pops up on the board instantly. No need for special software, equipment or logins. Then you can write on it, either from your phone or at the board. The user interface is lovely.

Another nice feature is instant replays. You can use this tool to model solutions on the board and replay your modelling in one click. It's so easy to use.

I also like the way you can easily display a PowerPoint that's on your PC and then use all the functionality - pens, timer, instant replay etc - over your slides.

While you're checking out mathsuniverse.com, have a look at the skills grid creator too. Again, a really clever interface - you can quickly create a series of linked starters and it automatically generates smart printable versions and worked solutions.

4. Ratio Tables
@alcmaths has gone through the entire White Rose Key Stage 3 and 4 curriculum and produced a brilliant guide to where and how ratio tables can be used.

Ratio tables mapped throughout the @WRMathsSec curriculum, building from year 7 to year 11 content.

Examples are included for each topic to support staff CPD.
Link: https://t.co/oKIo1hxrag pic.twitter.com/zjv0BV9NiC

— Amie Coley (@alcmaths) May 2, 2022

5. Interwoven Maths
Some great new tasks have been added to @nathanday314's website interwovenmaths.com. 

@karenshancock wrote one on circle theorems that draws on simultaneous equations, ratio, and Pythagoras' Theorem. 

@karenshancock also wrote a series of tasks on areas of trapeziums which feature fractions, decimals, compound shapes and solving equations. 

Both tasks have been added to my resource libraries.

Update

I've been swamped at work lately so I haven't got much to report!

• Don't forget to get your tickets for #mathsconf29 and the MEI Conference.
• MA President @colinfoster77 's latest blog post offers a sense-making approach to learning multiplication facts.
• Did you read my Gem Awards 2022? It's full of amazing resources so do check it out.

If you teach Year 11, good luck over the coming weeks! Exciting times.

I'll leave you with this incredible article "An Interactive Introduction to Fourier Transforms" from @jezzamonn. I have never seen a complex concept explained so clearly. It worth reading for two reasons: 1. to see how to construct a good written explanation and 2. to learn about Fourier transforms.