Volunteer tutors unlock pupil potential, closing the academic attainment gap

Charity Action Tutoring supports young people facing disadvantages to achieve academically, through the power of volunteer tutors.

Lexi, a pupil at St Clare’s Catholic Primary School in Chester, has attended over 20 tutoring sessions with Action Tutoring. She began attending sessions in Year 5 and, now in Year 6, she reflects on her experience.

Lexi said: “My favourite part of tutoring is learning new things because when we return to class, we share what we’ve learned.

“When I first started, I didn’t like asking for help because I didn’t want everyone to know I didn’t understand. But, our tutor showed us it’s ok if we don’t get it at first.

“What’s also great about our tutor is when we don’t understand something, she makes it easier. Our tutor changes the way she teaches so we can better understand a subject. She is also really helpful when we make a mistake. She asks us to talk through how we got the answer and helps us find the right one.

“Tutoring has definitely improved my confidence and I’m not worried about putting my hand up to ask for help now. Thanks to the tutoring sessions, I now also feel a lot more confident when I do mental maths. This includes completing arithmetic practice and warm ups from the workbook.

“I would recommend the Action Tutoring programme to my friends because it will help them understand harder topics.”

Harmonie, another pupil at St Clare’s Catholic Primary School, has also been receiving support from Action Tutoring. She reflects: “It’s great the way our tutor gets us to push ourselves.

“At the start of my tutoring, I found a lot of it difficult. But because our tutor shows us different ways of finding the answer, I now feel more confident.

“If we don’t get things at first, our tutor helps us straight away. So we just work together so we can do it on our own next time. Our tutor helps us learn new ways of doing things.

“What’s also great is because we’re a small group, we have so much time to ask questions if we’re stuck. I don’t get worried about getting the answer wrong anymore and I feel a bit more confident in myself.

“I would recommend the Action Tutoring programme to my friends. It was scary at first to meet a new person in the online classroom. Now it doesn’t bother me and I look forward to tutoring.”

Action Tutoring has been working with St Clare’s Catholic Primary School since autumn 2021, supporting its pupils with their English and maths studies, ensuring they leave primary school meeting expected standards and are on the best footing for secondary school.

Action Tutoring is an award-winning education charity that supports young people facing socio-economic disadvantage to achieve a meaningful level of academic attainment, through high quality subsidised tutoring.

The charity partners with non-selective state schools across England to deliver maths and English tutoring programmes for pupils sitting their SATs and GCSEs, working specifically with pupils who are eligible for Pupil Premium funding and at risk of not reaching national standards by the time they leave primary or secondary school.

Action Tutoring select and train high-quality volunteer tutors, who use its specially designed resources to deliver impactful tutoring.

If you are interested in finding out more about how Action Tutoring’s tailored programmes could support your pupils, get in touch: 

Email: schoolenquiries@actiontutoring.org.uk 

Website: www.actiontutoring.org.uk 

Telephone: 0300 102 0094