Two teachers, one very unfortunate surname.

✓ the examiner

Mr Poore

Current AQA examiner · Head of KS4 Maths

I'm a current AQA examiner, and I'd argue that's the single most useful thing about me. Every summer I sit and mark real scripts from real students — hundreds of them — so I know exactly what a mark scheme rewards, what it forgives, and precisely where students throw marks away. Not in theory. Line by line, with the mark scheme open in front of me.

By day I'm Head of KS4 Maths at a secondary school, and I teach the full stack: A Level Maths and Further Maths, GCSE Maths, GCSE Statistics and the AQA Level 2 Certificate in Further Maths — the qualification this site was practically founded on. I also hold a master's degree in applied mathematics, which mostly means I chose to do more maths on purpose and would do it again.

Everything I write here is built the same way: from the specification, from past-paper patterns, and from what marking has taught me about how students actually gain and lose marks. Real papers, real mark schemes, no filler — because a resource that doesn't think like an examiner is only doing half the job.

✓ the specialist

Miss Garrod

GCSE Maths specialist · 5 years teaching · All ability groups

Over five years, I've taught every ability group GCSE Maths can throw at me — from the students who walk in convinced they can't do maths, to those aiming for top grades. That breadth matters. It taught me that there's no one way to explain anything, and that every student deserves a teacher who understands their starting point. GCSE Maths is my specialism, and Foundation tier is my passion, but I've learned something crucial from every cohort I've taught: when you meet students where they are, everything changes.

I presented research at a national teaching conference on mathematical confidence between boys and girls, exploring whether real differences exist and how we can build confidence equitably in every classroom. That work shaped how I teach, and it's woven through everything I write here. Every resource on this site is designed with one principle front and centre: every child can succeed in GCSE Maths, and it's my job to make sure they do.

There is genuinely no better feeling in this job than watching a student go from “I can't do maths” to walking out of that exam hall knowing they've nailed it. That journey is what every one of my resources is built for: clear methods, no jargon, questions that build confidence instead of knocking it, and a structure that meets students where they actually are — not where a textbook assumes they should be. I also coordinated Year 5 and 6 transition at my school, which taught me how critical it is to build mathematical foundations early and to never assume anything about what a student knows.

I write the Foundation and OCR strands of everything on this site, including the November resit packs. If your goal is to pass — and pass well — these are written for you, by someone who has spent five years helping students do exactly that, across every tier and every starting point.