There are an overwhelming number of resources in this document so I strongly recommend that you get support via PD from AMSP/Maths Hubs on selecting and getting the most out of them. You may find it useful to have a teacher copy of a Core Maths textbook but class sets are not necessary due to the number of free resources available.

Resource Collections created for Core Maths

• Help your students be fully prepared to study Core Maths with the AMSP Core Maths Skills course. This self study course is perfect for summer transition from Y11 to Y12 or as additional support in the Autumn term of Y12.
• If your state funded school/college is registered with the AMSP then your students will get access to our free Integral Core Maths Platform. You can get a board specific version and individual student logins. The resources include auto-marked assessments and you can also find SOWs in the tutor area - these contain links to resources on the platform. There are a huge number of resources on the platform including a section called ‘Warm Ups’ which are aimed at supporting students with lower prior attainment who are studying Core Maths.
• Questions Inspired by a News Story by Mark Dawes. A brilliant blog in which Mark has created questions based on real news stories. There is a spreadsheet so you can find resources by context or mathematical area.
• Stem Resources for Core Maths
• Collection of Resources for AQA (for papers 1 and 2A), could also be used for other specifications by Dave Gale on TES
• TLMaths Core Maths Teaching videos
• Collection of videos and resources which link the maths curriculum to careers. The top 4 videos have linked resources - version D of each resource has been designed to use with Core Maths students.
• MEI Maths and climate change resources (versions for Core Maths and Key Stage 3)

Resource Collections useful for Core Maths

• Collection of Core Maths resources from Nrich
• University of Plymouth Core Maths Support Extensive collection of questions

• Free Critical Maths resources on Integral
• Maths in Sport from the Millennium Maths Project from the University of Cambridge
• An extensive collection of resources for L3 Mathematics (all context based) from Nuffield

Technology and Spreadsheets Resources and PD

• Spreadsheet skills video clips: MEI created really useful short videos on how to do things in excel (aimed at A level LDS but also great for CM)
• Develop spreadsheet skills Digdata classroom career challenges or online career challenges
• MEI resources for analysing data with CODAP (a really intuitive and easy to use platform). Aimed at KS3/4 but also useful for Core Maths
• AMSP’s On Demand PD contains sessions on spreadsheets and data processing.
• There is a collection of Desmos activities which involve collecting and discussing student data. If you need support using these, visit the Amplify (formerly Desmos) help centre.

Resources for Estimation

Video Clips for Estimation

A Clever Way to Estimate Enormous Numbers (4 mins) on TED-Ed includes some info about Enrico Fermi and the number of piano tuners in Chicago problem.

BBC video showing how to verify the claim that Lady Gaga’s Rio concert in 2025 was attended by 2.1 million people. You may wish to show a short clip from the start of the video and then let students verify the claim themselves. This goes well with the activity below.

Short video showing how crowd size can be estimated. You can use this together with aerial shots of other events and ask students to estimate the size of the crowd. I also like getting them to estimate how many tickets they could sell to a ticketed festival in a park local to the school/college. It is useful to mark out a metre square and get them to stand in it. Nice to use with this Glastonbury overlay to see how this compares (approx 200,000 attend).

Useful video (7 mins) which stresses the importance of Fermi for business and interviews. Also highlights the importance of knowing some landmark numbers.

Landmark numbers video (16 mins) with Tim Harford and Matt Parker

Richard Osman’s House of Games contains a round called Distinctly Average. These are great ways to incorporate estimations into your lessons throughout the course. You can get everyone to do it individually then average the whole class.

You can read blog posts about Fermi Estimation by Becca Tanner and video solution to the problem by Dr Tom Crawford (TomRocksMaths)

Tim Harford on Estimation at the #CoreMathsFestival - includes Tim (from BBC’s More or Less) having a go at the AQA assessment question on the mass of strawberries sold at Wimbledon

Taskmaster S7 EP1 | Measure The Caravan Circumference in Baked Beans

Resources for Estimation

• This introduction to Core Maths presentation contains some multiple choice estimation questions at the start
• The Questions Inspired by a News Story blog by Mark Dawes contains many that involve estimation. Use the spreadsheet and search for ‘estimate’ or ‘Fermi’ in the maths topics column.
• Desmos taster session on estimation
• This Desmos activity, put together by Tom Carpenter, contains questions taken from Richard Osman’s House of Games. Students add their estimate and then the estimates of everyone are displayed in a box plot.
• Between 2 numbers - nice for starters
• Collection of Estimation resources on TES from @reflectivemaths
• Estimathon (team based contest on estimation)
• The card games More or Less and Confident are popular with Core Maths students.
• Article on festival waste (possible activities: show images from this year’s festivals and get students to estimate the number of tents given the area, the volume of landfill generated, the money wasted and time taken to clean up and compare with figures in the article)
• Article ‘Students urged to urinate in shower’ - justify the statement 'save enough water to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool 26 times' shared by Lily Tang-Gentile
• Article on Australia running out of piano tuners (contains the classic piano tuner estimation)

Critical Analysis

Video Clips for Critical Analysis

Video clip from the miniseries Dopesick showing a misleading graph about Oxycontin levels in patient’s blood. Read more in this article.

They Live Sunglasses (3.5 mins) clip to show at the start of Critical Analysis

Clip of Trump talking about a graph “you don’t need to know what the hell is on it. All you know is that’s a good line” Longer clip on youtube. You will also find an interesting graph on Wikipedia which shows Trump’s false or misleading statements over time - this would make a good slow reveal graph.

How statistics can be misleading TED-Ed Clip (4 mins) and activities

Mona Chalabi’s TED talk (11.5 mins) on 3 Ways to Spot a Bad Statistic

Manipulative numbers (10 mins) How we use statistics to get what we want | David Spiegelhalter. It works well to give students the task of turning headlines with negative frames into positive ones (see World of work video clip and resource below)

Resources for Critical Analysis

• There is a Warm Up activity on Critical Analysis on the Core Maths platform. It includes 5 multiple choice questions and two activities.
• What is going on in this graph ask students to consider graphs and say ‘what do they notice’ ‘what do they wonder’ and finally describe the story that the graph is telling. They can share their thoughts directly on the New York Times website. This activity can be embedded throughout the course (and in KS3/4)
• Questions Inspired by a News Story @mdawesmdawes. A brilliant blog in which Mark has created questions based on real news stories. There is a spreadsheet so you can find resources by context, mathematical area and length of time needed.
• Also from Mark Dawes, What the Graph?
• Play the fake news game. Online game which aims to expose the tactics and manipulation techniques used to mislead people and build up a following.
• Slow reveal graphs - slide decks which reveal a hidden piece of the graph at a time
• Mathigon Fix this Chart lesson
• WTF Visualisations - visualisations that make no sense
• Data is Ugly on Reddit - collection of misleading graphs
• World of work video clip and resource (Version D) this involves taking negatively framed headlines and turning them into positive ones
• Numeracy in the News by the Economist Educational Foundation
• Misleading real life graphs
• Sleep the silent killer from Nrich
• Where are you flying from Nrich
• Guardian’s nine point guide to spotting a dodgy statistic
• Article from the Economist on their (accidentally) misleading graphs and versions they think would’ve been better.

Finance

Video Clips for Finance

Advert ‘I’m in debt up to my eyeballs’. Good intro to activities on borrowing

Matthew’s story from Stop Loan Sharks

Dan Ariely ‘Are we in control of our own decisions?’

Question time clip of man who claims his £80k salary is average. Great clip for introducing tax

Resources for Finance

Finance resources list was getting too big so I created a padlet just for finance resources

Resources for Statistics

Video Clips and Images for Statistics

Florence Nightingale on Big Data (4 mins)

Five charts that changed the world (6 mins)

Skew the script is an excellent collection of relevant statistics resources. Each lesson has an accompanying video

A big collection of videos from Creative Maths on Statistics, Probability and Spreadsheets

The late Hans Rosling (late author of Factfulness) on ‘The Best Stats you've Ever Seen’ You could show this clip before using amazing tools on Gapminder 

What normal distribution looks like in the gym image

David Speigalhalter on the surprising art of statistics (15 mins)

Royal Statistical Society short video clips of advice when looking at stats

Resources for Statistics

• World of work video clip and resource (Version D) this involves looking at a small data set and using it to advise a marketing team in Just Eat of who they should market their next advert at.
• Correlation and Regression and Analysis of Data resources on TES from @reflectivemaths. Includes presentation, handouts and homeworks.
• Visualising inequality resource - students create hand drawn data visualisations
• The Stats Medic has a brilliant collection of statistics resources. US based but lots relevant for Core Maths
• Great collection of statistics resources in set in challenging/relevant contexts by Skew the Script
• Oak National statistics resources (aimed at Higher GCSE but lots of overlap with Core)
• Resourceaholic Stats lessons (lots of overlap with Core) @mathsjem
• Amazing graphs and data from gapminder
• Nrich resources on making sense of Statistics - I particularly like ‘Which List is Which’ for standard deviation.
• Into Normal Distribution by Nrich
• Our World in Data teaching resources
• Who should win? by Nrich
• Nenana Ice Classic lesson plan (also available on AMSP Core Maths platform)
• Quizlet based on key words and phrases needed for AQA Paper 2A by @reflectivemaths

Resources for Probability and Risk

A big collection of videos from Creative Maths on Statistics, Probability and Spreadsheets

Numberphile video on Monty Hall problem (5.5 mins)

Follow @justsayinmice and @justsaysrisks which provide articles with misleading headlines.

• Stats medic’s Can you smell Parkinson’s disease? lesson
• Probability simulation resources
• Eating bacon sandwiches is bad for you!
• Discussing risk and reward by Nrich
• How risky is life by Bowland Maths
• Probability - chances of a boy? from aliali on TES
• Article - I nearly aborted my baby because of an unreliable test
• Simpsons super bowl predictions
• Drug testing by Nrich

Resources for Critical Path Analysis

• Collection of resources from @Whitehughes

Resources for Graphical Techniques

• Guessing the Graph from Nrich
• The Language and Functions of Graphs from the Shell Centre. Questions, mark schemes and sample student answers from page 16.
• AQA’s bridging unit on graphs
• Interpreting Distance-Time Graphs from the Maths Assessment Project
• Describe what is going on in the Hurdles Race from Transum
• Introducing Exponential Functions with Bacteria from @geogebrain
• Graphing Stories Watch the video then graph the story
• Graphical Interpretation activities from Don Steward
• Desmos activity on the graphs of filling water containers
• Algebra and Graphs L2 from Nuffield

Assessment Collections (reminder that the free Integral Core Maths platform contains assessments)

• See the pre-release column on the padlet for ideas and activities for working with the pre-release material
• Starter questions on percentages and estimation from @reflectivemaths
• Youtube videos from @Mathswithlloydy which go through past exam questions
• Assorted assessments from London Central and NW Maths Hub
• Three tests - 1. a trial test using world statistics and some basic analysis and interpretation, 2. a test for medical science students focusing on probability, 3. a test for software engineer students on number types and coding from aliali on TES
• Diagnostic Questions by Mr Barton on Data and Statistics
• Diagnostic Questions by Mr Barton on Money
• Diagnostic Questions by Mr Barton on Reverse Percentages
• Edexcel Maths in Context Specimen and Past Papers
• OCR Core Maths A Specimen and Past Papers
• OCR Core Maths B Specimen and Past Papers
• AQA Mathematical Studies Specimen and Past Papers
• Quizlet based on key words and phrases needed for AQA Paper 2A by @reflectivemaths
• You will find questions similar to Core Maths in the Scottish Qualification, Higher Applications of Mathematics.

Inspiring Books to Read

• The Art of Statistics by David Spiegelhalter
• Math on Trial by Coralie Colmez and Leila Schneps
• Factfulness by Hans Rosling
• The Undercover Economist by Tim Harford
• Why do Buses Come in Threes? by Rob Eastaway
• Maths on the back of an Envelope by Rob Eastaway - available to pre-order now!
• The Life Changing Magic of Numbers by Bobby Seagull
• Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez
• The Perils of Perception by Bobby Duffy
• Humble Pi by Matt Parker

Things you can do/join/follow

• Take part in AMSP and Maths Hub PD
• Listen to BBC R4 More or Less 

• Dave Gale’s blog on beginning to teach Core Maths @reflectivemaths
• Subscribe to the Advanced Maths Support Programme to get updates on PD offers this year
• Follow and use #coremaths on X
• Teaching Maths for Social Justice Network