An old chestnut. Good as an extension or a challenge. I use it at the end of a lesson to see which pairs of similar triangles they can see (there are many). I find that many pupils correctly guess the height (2/3) but are unable to prove it. The steps in this PowerPoint should help.

Foundation GCSE requires that students can draw and later recognise graphs representing relationships in direct or inverse proportion. In each example, if a student works out a conversion for ONE x-axis unit then they have actually worked out the corresponding k in the equation for direct proportion (y=kx) or the equation for inverse proportion (y=k/x). The resource sheet provides scaffolding for the first two graphs.

The resource I always use to introduce histograms. The context is that I've asked various groups (eg Year 7, Year 8) to do a simple jigsaw puzzle and timed how long they took. The sheet starts with "read only" questions, then drawing questions then exam style questions. The scales constantly change.

Warm Up If a single journey is split into two parts then we have distances, speeds and times associated with each part of the journey but also for the journey as a whole. The early problems involve all 9 measures (3 distances, 3 speeds and 3 times) but only 4 are given. Students must fill in the remaining 5. Main Investigation The later questions require students to think about the connection between all 9 measures in more generality. Other details Read the file labelled Read Me first!

I wrote these questions that mix together direct and inverse proportion because I couldn't find any elsewhere. Plenty of textbooks contain the unitary method and questions about builders building walls but none mix these ideas together. Partly inspired by the question about 8 machines making bottles on the Edexcel GCSE non calc mock. My classes always find direct and inverse proportion easy separately, but find these questions very challenging. Use with high ability or as a challenge for KS3 classes.

We were recently asked to map SMSC (Spiritual, Moral, Social & Cultural) to our curricula on a departmental basis. We all do SMSC all the time (yes, even in maths) without realising. I share this document in the hope that if you are asked to specify SMSC in your maths department you won't have to start from scratch.

The new 9-1 higher syllabus requires pupils to expand three binomials. I built a visualisation for (a+b)³ using multi-link cubes.

A simple worksheet that encourages students to make a generalisation about reflections in y=x and y=-x. Extension - ask pupils what the connection is between the co-ordinates of vertices on the object and corresponding vertices on the image.

Recently the government's Brexit strategy was described as "one of trying to fill a swimming pool with a teaspoon". We only have two years to complete negotiations, so will the swimming pool be filled in time? Requires volume of prisms, capacity, metric units conversion, time calculations and rate calculations. Could be linked to direct and inverse proportion.

Functional maths questions on a Bastille Day theme. Pupils need to select relevant information from a fact sheet to answer the (increasingly more difficult) questions. Our school organises cross curricular activities on 14th July to celebrate "La Fete Nationale" and this is the maths department contribution. Plus it's the end of term and we've finished everything else!

The pack includes: Exercises on “real life” uses for percentages. Contexts are (simplified) income tax, gift aid, cycle to work schemes, student loans and mortgages. Answers to the exercises (both handwritten and typed). A possible structure for a series of computer room lessons where students explore finances related to university living and young adulthood.

A cube of jelly is approximately 2cm by 2cm. When you cut it certain ways you expose different faces and thus change the total surface area (without changing the volume). Jelly is cheap to buy. Kinaesthetic learners can cut up jelly cubes and see new surfaces appear. You can make the task cross curricular with science. The way I use the pictures: 1. Split the kids in to groups and give them a couple of cubes of jelly each. 2. Ask them to cut a cube of jelly like Picture A or B or... or E (leave F as extension). 3. Ask them find the surface area (can be done by counting squares). 4. Put the cut jelly into a beaker and pour over boiling water. Time how long it takes to dissolve. 5. Collect class results and put them into a scatter diagram. The line of best fit should be linear.

A progressive worksheet on the topic of finding inverse functions.

A few silly Christmas themed S1 questions. I currently have no 'off the shelf' solutions. If someone wants to do them please send me a link to your solutions!

The Powerpoint uses compound interest as a context for all types of “repeated % change” question found in the higher tier GCSE (9-1). I normally use the Powerpoint for examples then get the kids to fill in the table (docx file).

A revision of rotation, reflection, translation and enlargement. The solution makes a minion. M# is the mirror line for Shape # E# is the centre of enlargement for Shape # C# is the centre of rotation for Shape #

Pupils must find the equations of straight lines that pass through given points. Saboteurs interrupt ghostbusters by shooting perpendicular lines at the line killing the ghost. "Ghostbuster A" tries to kill "Ghost a" and "Saboteur Alpha" tries to interrupt. There's a Ghostbusters theme, so make sure you play the theme music whilst introducing this activity!

Some silly Christmas themed FP1 questions. Complex numbers, matrices, numerical methods, roots and conic sections.

This is a task designed to help pupils ignore most of the diagram and "see" the classic circle theorem shapes pop out. It's a good starter if you've already spent a couple of lessons on the theorems individually and now you want them to solve mixed/exam problems. I print slides 1 and 13 and give this to the kids as a handout for them to write on. I tell them that I've designed the questions to be hideous and really hard to solve. "You'll probably make the mistake everyone does and think it's really complicated - everyone looks at it and says they can't do it. The smart folks try to ignore most of the diagram and only focus on one bit at a time. Oh look - there's a diameter" etc...

I wrote this sheet with a middle ability Year 7 class in mind. The sheet structures the kind of self guided exploration that is necessary during the distance learning of lockdown!

This revises much of the Year 1 content plus some Year 2 stuff. No mechanics. 3 = Light Green 2 = Dark Green 1 = Blue Anything else = Use your common sense!