Secondary

MA 11-18: some free resources which we enjoy using

For MA eNews: July 2025

For this issue, we have focused on resources to support preparation for GCSE resit in the autumn:

• The Focused 15 initiative: CfEM blog: the 'Focused 15' at Grimsby Institute - The ETF

A Scheme of Work based on analysis of which topics, if mastered, are most likely to make the difference from GCSE Grade 3 to Grade 4

This is designed

• To enable teachers to determine the speed of delivery of topics to suit their students and empower them to develop their students’ mathematical abilities for future life after the GCSE exam
• To help students bridge gaps in their existing knowledge and to track their own progress on a copy of The Focused 15 wheel
• The 5 Rs (‘Recall, Routine, Revise, Repeat, Ready’)

A revision year approach to GCSE resits in mathematics designed to improve pass rates for students moving from a grade 3 to a grade 4.

The 5 Rs help to structure each one-hour lesson for maximum impact.

You can read more and listen to a podcast interview here: Julia Smith with Craig Barton:

#092 Julia Smith: Teaching GCSE resit and the 5Rs approach - Mr Barton Maths Podcast

Access to a host of related resources has been provided by Julia here: The Craig Barton GCSE Maths Resit Revision Padlet

• We have also found it highly beneficial for any GCSE resit students to recall their GCSE exam scripts (without charge) from the awarding body, for teaching and learning purposes. This would be in August or by mid-September at the latest, to help you and the student to target their next steps.

For MA eNews: June 2025

• For KS3, KS4 and KS5, The Big Earth Data Project from MEI is using satellite data from the UK Space Agency produce new teaching materials: https://mei.org.uk/the-big-earth-data-project/

These are designed to engage and inspire students to look at current environmental challenges faced today: flooding, climate change and the hole in the ozone layer.

Three sets of resources, free to access, are being gradually released by MEI during this academic year. Each set has or will have activities designed for Key Stage 3-4 and A-Level students, using data science skills to analyse real satellite data.

These materials, directly related to specific curriculum content in all three key stages, will contribute to careers education and will help students to recognise mathematics as a vital tool for tackling environmental issues.

• For KS3 and KS4, Grid Algebra, a free software-based tool developed by Dave Hewitt, uses a grid represent algebraic expressions and equations visually, making it easier to understand them and manipulate them, particularly for students just beginning to learn algebra. 

Videos https://gridalgebra.com/intro/overview  offer an overview of the software, and details about each of the toolbar buttons.

The computer-generated, dynamic tasks https://gridalgebra.com/tasks offer challenges on various topics related to number and algebra. The teacher can set the level of challenge and, if desired, include a timer for each question. Lesson plans and worksheets are catalogued in six sections of resources.

Grid Algebra itself https://gridalgebra.com/free opens as a blank grid where you can create and manipulate your own grids or drag into the webpage previously saved grids.

For MA eNews: May 2025

• For an investigative task, for KS2, KS3 or KS4, try Xavi's T-shirt | NRICH

This problem offers an engaging context in which to search for patterns, gain insights into the structure of numbers, and lay the foundations for an appreciation of the prime factorisation of numbers.

This task was the focus of an Nrich webinar in September 2023, available here: https://nrich.maths.org/nrich-live-september-2023

Interactive options are available for both the ‘T shirt’ and ‘Scarf’ versions.

• A flexible electronic whiteboard (WB) facility is available here:

https://mathswhiteboard.com/MWB/home

This provides an easy way to generate questions to project with various styles: 

• Model it (‘I do, We do, You do’)
• Mini WB or Recall WB (one, six or more questions)
• ‘Last lesson, Last week, Last topic and Last year’, a set of four questions on different topics of your choice: https://mathswhiteboard.com/MWB/LWB

Questions can be produced at 6 different levels. If necessary, each question can also be instantly refreshed, for immediate consolidation.

For the site as a whole: https://mathswhiteboard.com/index.html

• For use at KS5, substantial A level Pure Mathematics (Year 12 and 13) exercises are catalogued in the four sections of C1, C2, C3 and C4 worksheets (pdfs) here:

https://www.mathsgenie.co.uk/alevel.php

These exercises were written for the pre-2017 specifications but are of value. Detailed worked solutions are provided, potentially useful in supporting students’ independent practice.

For MA eNews: April 2025

• Free from MathsPad, without a subscription, here is an activity to consolidate prime decomposition:     https://www.mathspad.co.uk/interactives/primeDecomposition/primeDecompositionTool.php

• For easy access to past GCSE and iGCSE exam papers from each awarding body, along with markschemes and, in some cases, model answers:

                https://www.physicsandmathstutor.com/past-papers/gcse-maths/

• Likewise, for easy access to past AS and A level exam papers from each awarding body, as well as markschemes and, in some cases, model answers:

                https://www.physicsandmathstutor.com/a-level-maths-papers/

• For additional practice papers in addition to those above, and with a range of levels of difficulty, you and some of your A level students may find the MadAsMaths useful:

                https://madasmaths.com/archive_iygb_practice_papers_mp1_practice_papers.html

• For a selection of homework assignments, designed to challenge students as well as support them with knowledge gained from lessons, you may like to explore PRET homework resources:

                 https://prethomework.weebly.com/about.html

PRET stands for Practise, Recall, Extend and Think.

Craig Barton shares some ideas on how to use Pret homeworks in the ‘Resource of the Week’ post:

            TES Maths Resource of the Week 55: Averages Homework - Mr Barton Maths Podcast

In addition to essential skill practice, PRET homeworks have additional four elements:

• The Literacy element requires students to learn the spellings and definitions of key words. 
• The Memory element requires students to memorise facts or formulae. 
• The Research element is a short independent research task. 
• The Stretch element provides some more challenging questions.

The design thus seeks to cover knowledge, skills and enrichment all in one place.

For MA eNews: March 2025

• From Underground Maths, here is an activity to consolidate understanding of the equation of a circle: https://undergroundmathematics.org/circles/teddy-bear

Year 12 students, working in pairs, have found this beneficial to reinforce recent coverage.

The website’s home page is here: https://undergroundmathematics.org/

• For use with Year 7 and 8 students, the archive of past Junior Mathematical Challenge questions from the UKMT offers a wealth of questions, fostering reasoning and problem solving:

https://ukmt.org.uk/competition-papers/jsf/jet-engine:free-past-papers/tax/challenge-type:67/

There are also free resources from the follow-on rounds (Junior Kangaroo and Junior Mathematical Olympiad): https://ukmt.org.uk/junior-challenges

• For revision of many GCSE topics, MathsGenie offers videos with a ‘My turn, Your turn’ structure:

Worked examples with clear written steps and audio commentary, then new questions so that the student can complete their own solution, having paused the video and lastly the answers explained in detail: https://www.mathsgenie.co.uk/gcse.php