I had a nice surprise today; on my way to my classroom after lunch, our receptionist waved me over and hefted a heavy cardboard parcel into my hands. I had no idea what it was, so it was quite exciting to unwrap this free sample copy of the Cambridge Mathematics GCSE textbook that I'd completely forgotten I ordered at the Maths Conference in March.

I've just had a little peruse through, and as it's the first new GCSE book I've got my mitts on, I thought I'd write a quick post about first impressions for anyone who may be shopping for new textbooks for next year.

The outside's quite attractive, but it is a very hefty book - although it says "Student Book" on the front, I doubt there would be any scope for pupils carting this to and from school, and carrying a class set around school would certainly strengthen those biceps - kinda reemphasises just how much content will be in the new GCSEs.