GCSE formulae

With the introduction of the new 9-1 GCSE, the government decided that a formulae sheet will no longer appear in the front of the exam booklet, and that students will need to know all the formulae they would have previously been provided with.

This means that variations on this:

have been replaced with this:

and that students are expected to know all of these. The one bonus to this is that they are still not expected to know the formulae for volume and surface area of spheres (I'm not 100% sure why they're so special!)

Now, I don't know about you, but that need to know formulae sheet looks awfully busy to me - it's not the prettiest thing to look at, but it sure is functional. For in an exercise book. But for referencing to a class, and being something they're exposed to all the time - not so much.
Something I knew I wanted to do in my classroom since the start of the year was a formulae display board, and I finally got round to doing it - now I can reference the display when I'm talking about specific formulae (very useful these past few weeks with my lovely year 10's doing their area and volume topic), and with the constant exposure, they'll hopefully have at least a few of the formulae stuck in their head for the foreseeable future!

Honestly, I'm really impressed with myself and this display! We didn't have a lot of choices for backing paper in the department, so I went for a deep purple to stand out, and bought the border and lettering from here. I got my hands on some black card and chalkboard pens, and got to work!

Hopefully, I'll be able to get some more good and helpful displays up in the future, but for now I'm really happy with this one!

Welcome to my blog!

I am writing this on a Monday morning, during my first free period of the week.
I wanted to get this up and running after a long weekend of planning lessons and getting myself prepared for the week ahead, especially after a long week of OFSTED visits last week!

My intentions for this blog are to provide an insight into my teaching life, and provide some support for the classes I am currently teaching. Whether this be revision support, homework support or just general guidance and help with learning.

A bit of background about me:
I am 23 years old, a recent graduate of Bishop Grosseteste University in Lincoln (no one has ever heard of it, it's only a tiny university but specialises in education studies and teacher training). I moved from Tameside to Lincoln and back again, wanting to set up roots near my hometown.

I have landed on my feet quite nicely this year. I am only an NQT, and have ended up teaching back in my old high school. It's definitely odd being back here as a teacher, but it feels good being in an environment I know I am comfortable in to set myself up. My classes are all wonderful (wonderful doesn't negate challenging though), and I really feel as though I am making a difference to their education.

It's far from easy, but with my colleagues' support and guidance, I know I can become the teacher I want to be and provide all the kids I teach with a quality maths education. I am looking forward to my career ahead and building this blog from the nothing it currently is to the support network for my lovelies that I hope it can become!