Maths
There is light at the end of the tunnel for GCSE and A-level students
Many young people who are in their final GCSE and A-level years have been studying diligently over the Easter break, and they are doing this in preparation for teacher assessment in the next couple of weeks or so. In most good schools where students achieve top grades year in year out, the headteacher and staff…
Read MoreIs Online Learning the future for school children?
Is Online Learning the future? Closure of schools, caused by the lockdown as a result of the pandemic has forced society to learn how to utilise technology in solving a very big problem – loss of learning by children. However, before we get too excited about how brilliant online teaching technology is, and start thinking…
Read MoreContinued Academic Progress for Teenagers irrespective of the Pandemic
Dear Caring Parent Re: Continued academic progress for teenagers irrespective of the pandemic I hope you and the family are well and keeping safe. Now that many schools have a mixture of in-person and online learning, I trust your child is managing the transition from the older norm to the new learning environment well. The purpose…
Read MoreAdvice for a caring parent – how to ensure that all the hullabaloo surrounding GCSE and A-level does not leave your child short-changed!
There is a lot in the media at present about young people and their education, as society grapples with how to deal with the situation we find ourselves in at present. Since the start of the pandemic – with school closure for half of the year and variation in the quality of education provided by…
Read MorePositive discrimination for white working-class boys, good for the goose, good for the gander
Positive discrimination for white working-class boys…. If it’s good for the goose, should it necessarily be good for the gander as well? A distinguished mathematician, Sir Bryan Thwaites, very recently had his donation of over £1m rejected by two public schools (public schools are top independent, private schools) – Dulwich College and Winchester. The reason…
Read MoreAlas, how come some public schools don’t teach their students GCSEs, and they still take exams in it
A lesson for me from a sixteen-year-old, which you may find intriguing I was at the intensive revision course for our A-level and GCSE students today and, during the break, I was chatting to the teenagers, as I usually do. I usually try and make small-talk and chat about their travelling experience, school and so…
Read MoreFailure to plan for A-level or GCSE Exams is a plan to Fail
I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase several times that “Failure to plan is a plan to fail.” This very much applies to teenagers as many of them face what is, perhaps, the most important test in their lives to far – the summer examinations. Hard work is important and most young people are working hard…
Read MoreThe ‘Gromps’ have it! – Grammar Comprehensive Schools are head and shoulders above the rest
A new word, ‘gromp’, has just been introduced into the school vocabulary. Gromp stands for ‘Grammar Comprehensive’ – meaning comprehensive schools with the ethos of grammar schools. It was reported in the TES – Times Educational Supplements on Sunday of 20th August that the New Schools Network had conducted a survey which reveals that pupils…
Read MoreIs A-level Maths worth its weight in gold?
This is the conclusion of a four-part blog post in which I discuss issues associated with the decline in the uptake of A-level Maths by young people. In this final part, I will be continuing my argument as to why young people should not give up on Maths too easily and that we must do…
Read MoreA-level Maths – should I or should I not – will my figures add up?
In my last couple of blog posts, I looked at changes in the Maths curriculum and also highlighted the fact that there has been a significant fall in the number of students who are taking up A-level Maths. The reasons attributed to these are: the harder GCSE Maths, which has made more young people less…
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