This weekly round-up is here to save maths teachers time, but also to keep a bit of mathematical curiosity alive in the middle of a very busy term.
This week there is a genuinely helpful tool for teaching 3D Pythagoras and trigonometry, a website full of interwoven maths tasks, a fast-paced revision game that could work well for retrieval practice, and one bigger professional question about whether pupils are learning isolated procedures or seeing the ideas that connect them.
There are also a few exam-season signals worth knowing: Ofqual’s provisional 2026 entries show maths entries continuing to rise, and JCQ’s final summer dates are still worth keeping visible.
The 5-minute version
| Priority | What matters | Who should care | Useful action |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A new 3D geometry tool, Trimension, helps pupils see the hidden triangles inside 3D Pythagoras and trigonometry problems. | KS4 teachers, tutors, intervention leads | Use it with one cuboid or pyramid problem before asking pupils to sketch the internal triangle themselves. |
| 2 | Interwoven Maths is worth exploring for tasks that connect topics rather than keeping them in separate boxes. | KS3, KS4 and A level teachers | Save one interwoven task for a Year 10 or Year 11 revision lesson next week. |
| 3 | Class Duels offers quick head-to-head revision quizzes across KS3, GCSE and A level maths. | Teachers looking for retrieval starters or revision energy | Try it as a five-minute starter, not as a whole-lesson activity. |
| 4 | Ofqual’s provisional 2026 entry data shows GCSE maths, A level maths and further maths entries are all up. | Heads of maths, SLT, KS4 and KS5 leads | Use it as a summer stocktake prompt for staffing, tiering, resit support and transition. |
Three things worth knowing this week
1. A better way to teach 3D Pythagoras: show the hidden triangle
What happened
Resourceaholic’s latest “5 Maths Gems” post highlighted Trimension, a new tool by Neil Kendall for visualising 3D Pythagoras and trigonometry problems. The tool lets teachers build 3D models, inspect internal triangles, share diagrams and export images. Resourceaholic describes its key feature as the ability to extract internal triangles into a flat diagram. Source: Resourceaholic.
Why it matters
Many pupils do not fail 3D Pythagoras because they cannot square, add, subtract or use a calculator. They fail because they cannot see which triangle the question is asking about.
That is a different teaching problem. It is not just “more practice”. It is about helping pupils move between three representations:
- the 3D object,
- the hidden 2D triangle,
- the calculation that follows.
That movement is often where the learning is. If we skip too quickly to the calculation, pupils can copy the method without ever understanding the geometry.
Useful action
Use Trimension for one carefully chosen example. Show the 3D object first. Ask pupils where the right angle might be. Then extract the triangle and ask them to sketch it themselves. Only after that should they calculate.
A good follow-up question is:
“What did the diagram make easier to see?”
That small question helps pupils notice that the hard part was not the arithmetic. It was choosing the right structure.
Sources: Resourceaholic and Trimension.
2. Interwoven Maths is worth a proper look
What happened
Resourceaholic also highlighted updates to Nathan Day’s Interwoven Maths, including a contents page and a page of small tasks. The site includes tasks that deliberately connect topics: ratio with algebra, Pythagoras with trigonometry, averages with fractions and surds, circle theorems with equations, and many more.
The site describes itself as “Maths teaching resources by Nathan Day” and includes interwoven tasks, small tasks, booklets, worked examples and revision resources. Source: Interwoven Maths.
Why it matters
This is the kind of resource site that can make revision feel less like a march through disconnected exam topics.
That matters because pupils often know more maths than they can use. They can solve a linear equation in an algebra lesson, find an angle in a geometry lesson, and calculate with ratios in a number lesson, but struggle when those ideas appear together.
Interwoven tasks help with that problem. They ask pupils to hold more than one piece of maths in mind, but in a structured way. That is useful for GCSE preparation, but it is also useful much earlier than Year 11. Pupils need regular chances to see that maths is connected.
Useful action
Choose one interwoven task and use it as a short department discussion:
- Which prior knowledge does this task depend on?
- Where might pupils get stuck?
- What would we model first?
- Which part should pupils have to think about for themselves?
That kind of discussion is often better CPD than a generic training session, because it starts with the actual mathematics.
Sources: Resourceaholic and Interwoven Maths.
3. Class Duels could add some retrieval energy without taking over the lesson
What happened
Nathan Day has also shared Class Duels, a free classroom revision quiz site. It includes maths, science, English and computer science. The maths section covers KS3, GCSE and A level topics. Pupils can play in two-player mode, timed single-player mode, or streak mode. The site explains that if a player gets a question wrong, their remaining time is halved and the turn switches. Source: Class Duels.
Why it matters
Used carefully, this kind of tool can give retrieval practice a bit of pace.
The caution is that competition can become noise if it is not tightly framed. The win is not “make the whole lesson a game”. The win is to use a short, focused burst of retrieval to wake up prior knowledge, then move into quieter, more deliberate work.
Useful action
Try it as a five-minute starter with one clear topic selected. Keep the class routine simple:
- one round only,
- one topic only,
- one follow-up question afterwards: “Which question type caught people out?”
That final question is important. It turns a game into a teaching moment.
Sources: Resourceaholic and Class Duels.
Resource worth saving
Trimension: visualising 3D Pythagoras and trigonometry
Best for: Year 10, Year 11, GCSE intervention, tutors and teachers revisiting 3D geometry.
Why it is useful: It tackles a real classroom problem: pupils often cannot identify the right triangle inside the 3D shape. Trimension lets teachers show the object, inspect the internal triangle and export or share diagrams. Source: Trimension.
Use it on Monday: Start with a cuboid. Ask pupils to predict where the useful right-angled triangle is. Use the tool to reveal it. Then remove the support and ask pupils to sketch the triangle for a similar problem.
Good teacher question:
“What was hidden in the 3D diagram that became obvious once we flattened it?”
Website worth exploring
Interwoven Maths
Interwoven Maths is the site I would spend ten minutes browsing this week. It is not just another worksheet bank. It is built around mathematical connections.
That makes it useful for revision, but also for curriculum thinking. If pupils only meet topics separately, they can come to believe that maths is a set of unrelated tricks. Interwoven tasks push against that. They ask pupils to notice how ideas sit together.
A sensible starting point would be one of the mixed Pythagoras and trigonometry tasks, one of the ratio tasks, or a quadratics always-sometimes-never task. Do not try to download everything. Pick one task, teach it well, and see what it reveals about pupils’ thinking.
Source: Interwoven Maths.
Research-informed corner
Are pupils learning procedures, or are they seeing the big ideas?
This week’s more interesting professional read is Professor Colin Foster’s free site, Teaching the Big Ideas in School Mathematics.
The site argues that school mathematics can feel like a checklist of many disconnected procedures. Foster’s alternative is to give greater attention to five big ideas that connect school mathematics: thinking multiplicatively, thinking algebraically, thinking geometrically, functions and graphs, and modelling.
This is not an argument against fluency. In fact, the site is clear that fluency matters because without it pupils can be overwhelmed by the technical details. The more useful point is that fluency should serve understanding, not replace it.
For teachers, the practical question is:
“When I teach this topic, what is the bigger mathematical idea I want pupils to see?”
For example:
- When teaching percentages, are pupils seeing multiplicative change?
- When teaching straight-line graphs, are they seeing relationships between variables?
- When teaching Pythagoras, are they seeing structure in right-angled triangles, not just substituting into a formula?
- When teaching expanding brackets, are they seeing distributivity, not just a rule about arrows?
That is the kind of thinking that can make a department meeting genuinely mathematical.
Source: Teaching the Big Ideas in School Mathematics.
Evidence note for maths leaders
Grouping is not a magic lever
The EEF’s Student Grouping Study is not a brand-new release this week, but it is worth keeping in mind as departments begin thinking about September groups.
The study compared maths outcomes for pupils taught in mixed attainment groups with those taught in sets. The headline is not that one structure automatically solves the problem. The EEF reports that pupils taught in mixed attainment groups made one month less progress in maths overall than those in set groups, although this finding should be interpreted with caution. Pupils with lower prior attainment and pupils eligible for FSM made similar progress regardless of grouping.
The more useful finding for leaders is about implementation. The EEF notes that mixed-attainment maths lessons in case-study schools sometimes resembled bottom-set rather than top-set teaching, especially in pace, and that extension activities for higher attainers were often unrelated to the main lesson content.
The practical point is clear: grouping structure matters less than the quality of teaching pupils receive within that structure. If a department uses mixed attainment grouping, the challenge for higher attainers cannot be an optional worksheet at the end. It has to be planned into the core mathematics of the lesson.
Source: EEF Student Grouping Study.
Exam, assessment and policy watch
GCSE and A level entries
Ofqual published provisional entries for the summer 2026 exam series on 9 June 2026. GCSE maths entries rose from 856,430 in 2025 to 876,955 in 2026, a 2.4% increase. A level maths entries rose from 105,755 to 109,875, and further maths entries rose from 18,730 to 20,340. Source: Ofqual provisional entries, summer 2026.
The maths leadership point is not complicated: there is continued pressure around maths participation, GCSE resits, KS5 transition and secure core fluency. It is worth building those issues into summer planning rather than waiting until September.
JCQ summer dates
JCQ’s June 2026 key dates confirm that the final common GCSE examination date is 17 June 2026, the final common GCE examination date is 23 June 2026, and the contingency day is 24 June 2026. A level results are released to candidates on 13 August 2026, and GCSE results are released to candidates on 20 August 2026. Source: JCQ key dates, June 2026 series.
It is worth repeating these dates clearly to pupils, families and tutors. At this stage of the year, clarity is a kindness.
Ofsted update
Ofsted has updated inspection materials for use from September 2026. The update includes wording around pupils’ attainment and progress compared with similar schools, mobile phone policies, and leaders’ engagement with pupils with SEND and their families. Source: Ofsted inspection materials update.
This is worth knowing, but it should not dominate maths department thinking. For most maths leaders, the sensible action is simply to know it exists and check any school-level summary from SLT.
One thought for maths leaders
A useful summer-term department meeting might start with one mathematical object, not a spreadsheet.
Take a task from Interwoven Maths, a 3D problem from Trimension, or a chapter from Teaching the Big Ideas in School Mathematics. Ask the team:
- What is the big idea here?
- What do pupils usually see?
- What do we wish they saw?
- What representation, question or example would help bridge that gap?
That kind of conversation respects teachers’ subject knowledge. It is also more likely to improve lessons than another generic discussion about “challenge” or “engagement”.
One Numeracy Ninjas note
This week’s theme is really about connection: helping pupils see the structure beneath the task, not just complete a procedure.
That still depends on fluency. Pupils are more likely to notice patterns, choose methods and think flexibly when the basics are secure enough not to overload them.
Ninjas Essentials is designed for that steady foundation-building: short 5-minute skill checks, self-marking slides, visible progress and low-prep numeracy routines. It is not about replacing rich maths teaching. It is about giving pupils the fluency that helps them access it.
Seen a useful maths link, teaching idea, CPD opportunity, research item, website or classroom resource for next week’s round-up?
Send it over and I will consider it for the next This Week in Maths.