Mr. Pigott Maths

I don't think it is guidance that stopped schools being phone-free. My school doesn't allow them to be used, but a good amount do, mainly in the toilets. Unless this comes with a funded way (and insurance?) to allow schools to collect them during the day it's just a cheap way of getting a headline.

I don't think I've had to do one in any of my last few jobs - it feels like it's been subsumed into the 'supporting statement' section. I think that section is valuable - when reading applications I want somewhere where people can give details of their experience.

In #MathsToday (yesterday) most of my focus was trying to plan ahead to set the department in a good position while I'm on shared parental leave next term. Feels like there's actually a limited amount that you can do though without being in the building!

I'm wary of doing more Mechanics or Statistics as the marks we get in the single maths applied don't feel high enough to me to justify it. So the only other option would be further pure.

As a student I wanted to do them all, but my preference was for the pure modules. I enjoyed decision though!

Starting teaching Further Maths this year, we've gone with D1 and D2, as it's a branch of mathematics they've not done before, and accessible without assuming prior knowledge (even with Core Pure we've had to delay doing volumes of revolution as they've not done calculus yet). (1/2)

In #MathsToday I had a great time explaining logarithms to a pupil who has met them in Chemistry but wanted to have a more concrete understanding of what they are.

In #MathsToday I finished my first full week of two after paternity leave before I go on shared parental leave in January. So tired I can't remember the lessons, but I think we did some Maths in them?

My issue here is that the data isn't inflated at the same consistent rate. Some schools and departments will give reasonable but positive predictions. Some will give dreams and wishes. There's no standardisation, so I struggle to trust that there's any consistency.

I think this is separate to other prediction problems, as the UCAS grades get inflated because of their purpose. We regularly have pushback from pupils wanting their grades raised as they view it as limiting where they can get offers from. For us that's important as it means they're realistic.

This looks really good and useful, but I'm only managing to open the line in Google Docs. Any advice on how I can get it to open? Thanks for sharing it. :-)

Worked hard on a big revision of my risps. Weeding out mistakes, making tasks clearer, writing Geogebra and Excel files, all with better navigation; look out for the free eBook coming out in January!

Forgot to tag this. In #MathsToday as well as getting my Year 9s to solve linear equations properly, my cover for the Spring Term got advertised. Please share if you know Maths teachers in London looking for work!

Maths Teacher (temporary covering parental leave) - Koinonia Federation, 1 Hendon Street, London, Greater London Closing date: Midnight, Mon 1st Dec, 2025. View full details and apply online at MyNewTerm.

I am planning to be out from school for the Spring Term, so if you know any Maths teachers around London looking for work please forward them the link!

mynewterm.com/jobs/4199925...

I like that everyone is nice about it, but I hate that it's a story. It sounds like they could have emailed the abbey about it with the same outcome, without the poor guard having his understandable decision to interpret 'a summoning of ancient terrors' in a negative way broadcast nationally.

#FridayFive
1. Open Arms by Elbow
2. Still by Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbott
3. Rainbow Connection by Kermit
4. Everything I Know by Mandy Gonzalez (from In The Heights)
5. Hurt by Johnny Cash

Exactly. The only circumstance where it would feel appropriate is one where you need to ensure the message is received, and this doesn't do that!

That is an awful feature. If you emailed someone every two minutes for twenty minutes about something it would be seen as a form of harassing them.

For me sometimes it's looking at whether I've helped make other people's lives easier that week. That can be pupils, it can be teachers, but being able to say someone's week was easier because of my work is enough for me. It's a low enough bar that it's relatively easy to manage! 😂

I think cooking language translates well to maths problems. With a difficult problem the best approach might be to let it simmer for a bit in the back of your mind until you bring it to the boil and solve it.

In #MathsToday I've been checking GCSE scripts. Annoying on Edexcel 2F question 9 that pupils aren't getting a mark for part ii if they put *exactly* the right answer if they didn't do the corresponding calculation in part i. Feels like the question is set up to deduct marks rather than avoid them.

With last year's grade boundaries I would have predicted the right amount of Grade 9s, but we only got 2 as it was. I'm just not sure how other schools got their higher pupils to do so much better, so want to learn everyone else's secrets!

How has everyone else found the grade boundary increase with Edexcel Maths? Really hit our Higher cohort - don't really know what we should have been doing differently. #MathsToday

Have found them and will definitely be coming back to them to use - thank you for sharing them!

Thanks - will definitely check out all the Integral resources! Have got a different textbook from a course I went on last year.

Will hopefully be teaching Further Maths this year. Anyone got any sources of resources that they think are useful? Trying to organise my folders at the moment. I've raided the maths emporium and looked at Dr. Frost, but wondering if anyone has any other people/places that they have found useful?

Picard management tip: Debate honestly. The goal is to arrive at the truth, not at your preconception.

We direct ours to the sources of practice papers we want them to try to try and stop that - I have a OneDrive folder with them all saved in, but to be honest I think your students are just practising more than mine! 😂

I would *love* to be on a plateau of productivity. The last few weeks have been a dip of distractions!

My solution to the issue of pupils getting hold of mock papers has always been to use papers from different series. For Year 12 worked brilliantly because with one pure and one applied we didn't have to worry about repetition of topics, but for the others if it's not a problem for Edexcel... 😙

If I can budget it I buy the Corbett Maths revision cards for Y11. Offer something different than what they will otherwise use. Apart from that I echo the subscriptions mentioned - they get used more then textbooks in my experience! Most used is probably MathsPad!