Students are discovering that ‘lost learning’ needn’t be lost forever. A national project to pair young people with a tutor, who they would meet online has been a great success in the past year.
The time in school that was missed during the pandemic caused real concern that young people might have missed out and fallen behind in their study. During the past two years we have been part of the tutoring support scheme, offered free to students.
For students working up towards their GCSEs, the experience of 15 weeks of direct support has seen them boost their confidence in Maths and English, and it is very likely this will be reflected in their exam grades this summer. We have been delighted to see 132 students take advantage.
The support is not only available in Key Stage 4; students in Years 7, 8 and 9 have worked in small groups, three students and one tutor and again in Maths and English. Hearing back from the students it is clear that the support was enjoyable and effective.
Ruby in Year 7 was keen for the sessions to start again. “ I really enjoyed them, they were fun and I learned loads.”
We are grateful to parents too for their feedback. One commented that her daughter in Year 7 had more confidence and has improved in her English.
Another parent praised the effect the tutoring has had on her son in Year 8. “He has really enjoyed all the sessions and made massive improvements with his score and confidence. It has been fantastic, thank you!”
Zohaib in Year 11 said he felt he didn’t understand Maths and had struggled in class. His tutor had provided a variety of strategies, which meant that now he felt confident that he will get the grades he needs in his exams.
Across all the students who have taken part, everyone has made progress after taking part in the lessons. We are very grateful to the tutors for the excellent support they have given. Working online links our students with the tutors’ expertise often at long distances – the tutors have come from diverse backgrounds, but all are graduates who achieved A* or A at A level in the subject they are tutoring,.
With funding from the Department for Education, we will continue to be part of the tutoring programme in the autumn. Students will be given more information and will be able to register in their Welcome and Wellbeing sessions in the autumn. Students who received maths tutoring this year are welcome to make use of English tutoring next year, and vice versa.
