“You might wake up tomorrow a teacher!”- We speak to one of Action Tutoring’s very first tutors, 10 years on

To celebrate 10 years of tutoring sessions, we spoke to one of Action Tutoring’s first ever volunteer tutors, Patrick Bidder, who tells us about his time tutoring on a programme and how the experience helped prompt a career change to becoming a teacher.

Patrick Bidder- one of Action Tutoring’s first tutors

Tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do currently.

For the last three years, I have acted as Subject Leader for English at Tonbridge Grammar School in Kent. It is a terrific school, where very high achieving pupils are nurtured and encouraged to be curious and independent in their learning. I have loved the experience. I moved with my young family to Tonbridge from London for the job and to make the most of the beautiful countryside in the Weald. Teaching the International Baccalaureate English course has introduced me to new international literature and I’ve enjoyed exploring an amazing variety of texts with the pupils.

Why did you first get involved with Action Tutoring?  What were you doing at the time?  How did you hear about it?

Before my teaching career, I worked as Wealth Planning Solicitor in central London and it was during this period that I first got involved with Action Tutoring. Susannah (CEO and founder of Action Tutoring) is an old and close friend of mine, who knew I had always had a bit of a yearning to teach. When she suggested I take part, to get some experience of what teaching is like, I jumped at the opportunity and since then I haven’t looked back. Thanks Susannah!

How did you find the tutoring? What subject were you tutoring?  Where were you located?

For a few weekends, I tutored English GCSE pupils at Harris Academy Peckham. It was a very good experience, because it gave me a very realistic view of how difficult teaching is. I perhaps had a slightly naïve view of teaching, standing in front of a class, waltzing around with an open copy of Pride and Prejudice in my hand. The tutoring experience made me realise for the first time that this career is more about learning than teaching. It is not a performance – more about the nitty gritty of figuring out how children learn and progress. But don’t get me wrong, I still get to delight in literature every week!

What impact did you see the tutoring have on the pupils you were supporting?  How long did you support for?

It feels like a long time ago now! I am ashamed to say that I think I only spent a couple of terms supporting on a weekly basis. But in my defence, I think I may have been so inspired by the experience that I immediately applied for the Teach First Leadership Development programme. It then became a full time job! Teachers will often say that the highlight is the ‘light-bulb moment’ when pupils understand something for the first time. I actually quite like the bit before that. When you’re working with a pupil who is quietly and determinedly working towards that moment. Pupils are not always like that. Teaching is not always like that. But when it is, it’s a privilege to witness.

What was the best thing about volunteering with Action Tutoring?

The best thing was working with the pupils. Trying to find different ways to explain something and working towards a new understanding together. There was also a really clear goal to it – although English, and certainly life is not all about exams, when you were in the room with the pupils, there was a really positive atmosphere. They were driven and there to work hard to get the result they wanted!

What impact did the volunteering have on you? What did you learn?  What have you done since then?

It confirmed my decision to change career and become a teacher! I spent two years on Teach First at an excellent school in Peckham called St Thomas the Apostle College. I was a Head of Year 7 and 8 and enjoyed all the challenges and highlights of being a pastoral leader, before moving down to Kent where I’ve loved leading more on Curriculum and Teaching and Learning within the English department.

Have you followed the work of Action Tutoring since?  What do you think has helped the charity reach this milestone?  What has contributed to its success?

Yes, I know that the organisation has gone from strength to strength, expanding to new areas and reaching many more pupils. I also know that it played a big role in the setting up of catch up provision following the lockdown – so important for pupils across the country. I think the clarity of your charity’s vision has been vital and the focus of ensuring that the tutoring is rigorously planned and resourced. Maintaining the quality of the pupils’ experience means that I am sure you will go from strength to strength.

What would you say to anyone considering volunteering now?

Do it! It’s a very rewarding experience, and you never know…..you might wake up tomorrow a teacher!

What do you think the importance is of volunteering at this time?

No matter how hard teachers or pupils have worked, no matter how much we have used technology intelligently to connect from home to home, we cannot recreate the experience of being in a classroom. Inevitably, it is now crucial to support pupils with any learning they need clarified so that they can access the results and futures they deserve!

Click to share patrick’s story

Donate your 10

To celebrate 10 years of critical tutoring for thousands of young people, we are asking whether you can donate either £10 or 10 hours of your time (or both!) to support the thousands of young people we work with each year.

How to create a charity video during a pandemic?

Producing a charity video in a pandemic, who doesn’t love a challenge? This is the story of how we, at Action Tutoring, managed to create our new video.

Click to watch the new Action Tutoring video

Back in September, Action Tutoring started its first online tutoring sessions after trials during the summer months. To encourage more volunteers to apply to tutor online, the marketing team were tasked with producing a video showing the benefits of online tutoring. The team worked with our fantastic videographer, Owen, to create the project.

Top tip 1: Create a detailed brief – formulating a plan for what the video will look like, what it must include and its overall purpose is extremely important. Make this as detailed as possible.

Producing a detailed brief for our videographer was critical, as we really wanted to shine a light on the benefits of our online tutoring. The brief detailed exactly what we were looking for, the main aims of the project and examples of other charity videos we were trying to replicate allowing Owen to have clear direction. Once we had our plan in place, the next step was to find schools that would be a good setting for our video.

Top tip 2: Find a supportive setting – in our case a school, that you have great communication with and our supportive of the work you do. We have worked with Prendergast Vale for years and this allowed us to overcome any issues quickly.

In the run up to the day of the shoot at the secondary school, a hiccup arrived. Having returned from a holiday to stay at his parents, our marketing manager’s mum started to feel unwell. A Covid test was needed. Unfortunately, the test came back inconclusive, making it impossible for him to attend the filming as they had to quarantine.

Fortunately, it had already been planned that our marketing assistant, Luc, would join the filming to support. On the day of filming, Luc brilliantly led the way, directing our videographer to ensure we secured the shots that were needed to make the video. Interviews with pupils were completed in a Covid secure way, masks were worn and social distancing was implemented.

Top tip 3: Interview people who are impacted by the work you do – interviewing pupils on camera for the first time allowed us to show the impact of Action Tutoring’s work on those who it supports.

As the plan for the video centred around interviews with our pupils, it was important to get as much content as possible, so that we were able to select the very best soundbites for the final edit. In order to make sure we covered a range of voices, we selected three different interviewees. By liaising with our programme coordinator, Lily, who knows the pupils well, we were able to interview pupils who we felt would be confident in sharing their experience of an Action Tutoring programme.

The results of the filming were great. Engaging interviews with the pupils, a comprehensive interview with the deputy headteacher and some dynamic cutaways to use in our video.

Top tip 4: Get more footage than you think you need – it’s great to have more content to choose from. There will often be issues, whether that is distorted sound or out of focus shots.

Unfortunately, due to lockdown rules, we were unable to get footage of volunteers tutoring from home. So, we made it our aim to secure some footage at a primary school.

Owing to the school closures in January, we had to cancel our planned filming at a primary school. After finding out schools wouldn’t return till March, it was decided to go ahead with producing the video with the footage we had.

Our videographer started to produce the first few drafts of the video. As you may have noticed from the final cut, we used old footage of tutors in the classrooms as we were unable to film in people’s homes – this worked really well.

Top tip 5: Don’t forget the subtitles – your video will be used on social media where people don’t have the sound on. The content should also be made accessible for all.

After much back and forth – we settled on the final version which you can see today. Despite some hiccups along the way, we are proud of the video we have produced and proved creating a charity video in a pandemic can be done.

Balancing learning and health through the crisis – the Government response so far

This month marked a year since schools were first closed to fight Covid-19 infections. Since then, there’s been a constant debate over how best to balance public health and the long-term impacts of restricting classroom learning. We’ve summarised for you the government response so far to the impact of the pandemic on education.

Closing schools: The last resort

School provides a safe, structured space for children and young people to learn and develop. Not all children can access learning as effectively at home. Weighing up the risk to public health with the risk to children’s wellbeing and future opportunities has been an ongoing challenge for politicians.

Schools in the UK closed from March to September 2020, resulting in up to 14 weeks of lost classroom learning for pupils. During this time, 71% of schools in England remained open to vulnerable children and those of key workers who weren’t at home to supervise learning, compared to 34% in Wales, 30% in Northern Ireland and just 24% in Scotland. Learning time fell significantly for pupils while schools were closed; the Institute for Fiscal Studies has found that pupils did not settle into remote learning during the first lockdown. As schools began to reopen, worries around sending pupils back to classrooms meant that inequalities worsened.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson called closing schools a “last resort” for suppressing the rate of infection, given the detrimental impact on pupils. However, in January 2021, the Government changed its plan and announced that schools would close in the third nationwide lockdown. A surge in pupils attending in person then led the Government to issue more guidance and encourage key-worker parents to keep their children at home if they could, to relieve pressure on schools.

On 22nd February, the Prime Minister announced that English schools would reopen from 8th March. Although there would be no phased return for the different age groups (a decision criticised by education unions) schools were encouraged to consider staggering the daily timetable to reduce the risk of infection and secondary pupils had to undergo testing before they could re-enter the classroom. A petition calling for school and childcare staff to be prioritised for vaccination exceeded 500,000 signatures and was debated by parliament in January. However, the Government chose not to revise the priority groups to include teachers.

Improving access to remote learning

Once pupils were sent home, the gap in access to technology posed a big challenge. School communities weren’t ready for the sudden switch to remote learning and pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds were more likely to miss out.

Access to devices and stable internet connection has varied greatly throughout the pandemic, with pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds more likely to be affected. The DfE’s Get help with technology scheme was introduced to address this. In England, the Government made efforts to deliver laptops and routers by the end of June 2020 and by 7th March 2021 over 1.25 million devices had been delivered. 

Recent research by Ofsted found that many schools surveyed parents to assess gaps in tech, and then made great efforts to source equipment from within the community. Despite these efforts, many pupils still lack adequate technology to access home learning. Schools will continue to be legally required to provide remote learning to pupils that can’t attend school, even after classrooms reopened on 8th March. The pandemic has brought digital inequalities into focus and, as restrictions ease, the need to be ready for remote learning isn’t likely to disappear.

More money for schools to boost recovery

The Government recognised that schools would need more resources to cope with the impact of Covid-19 on pupils. Not all the funding has been made directly available to schools. A proportion is designated for tutoring, paid directly to quality-checked providers that schools can approach for support.

Last year, the Government announced a £1 billion catch-up fund for schools in England for the 2020-21 academic year. This was equivalent to £80 for every pupil in a mainstream school from reception to Year 11 (and more in specialist settings). While schools were offered some flexibility to decide how to use the money, it was meant to be used “for specific activities which will help pupils catch up on missed education”, with the Education Endowment Foundation publishing a guide for schools to identify the most effective approaches.

Around a third of the catch-uping fund made available for schools last year was ring-fenced for tuition. In June 2020, the Government a new National Tutoring Programme worth £350 million would be set up to help disadvantaged pupils recover from the educational disruption caused by Covid-19. Funding would be paid directly to accredited providers, to be approached by schools.

Tutoring organisations of all kinds, private and non-profit, were invited to apply to join the scheme and were subject to quality checks. Action Tutoring was officially approved as a Tuition Partner in November, and the initiative has enabled the charity to reach thousands more pupils in need of an academic boost. In January the scheme was extended until 2022, with an additional £200 million set aside, subject to future spending reviews.

As of February, the NTP had reached 70% of its target schools. However, professor of social mobility, Lee Elliot Major, recently said that the NTP would need to be scaled up considerably if it is to have the desired impact. At present, not all pupils eligible for free school meals are benefiting from tuition through the scheme and the NTP’s data suggests that access is lowest in the North East, North West, Yorkshire and the Humber. The initiative represents a huge opportunity. But more will need to be done to ensure it is available to all those that need it for the long term. 

The future of education recovery: Catch-up commissioner appointed

The impact of Covid-19 and school closures on education is deep and will be long lasting. Children and young people of all backgrounds will need additional support for years to come – support that spans academic attainment and mental and physical wellbeing. Sustained action will be needed to address the inequalities worsened by the crisis.

Numerous options have been considered in the public discussion around education catch-up, including longer school days, additional school terms, summer schools and forest schools. 

Sir Kevan Collins, former chief executive of the Education Endowment Foundation with 30 years of teaching experience, has been appointed Education Recovery Commissioner. The Commissioner will report directly to the Prime Minister and Education Secretary, and will “consult closely with parents, teachers and schools to make sure every young person has the opportunity to progress and fulfil their potential.”

Whatever plans are announced in the coming months, we hope they will address all the aspects of pupils’ learning and wellbeing that have been impacted by the pandemic. We also hope they will draw creatively on the full evidence available for what works, and that they carefully consider the demands placed on our school workforce.

Action Tutoring’s response to Covid crisis

Following the Government’s announcement that schools would reopen on 8^th March 2021, Action Tutoring made the decision to resume in school tutoring from this date.

From 8th March onwards, Action Tutoring resumed face-to-face tutoring sessions in schools, with social distancing in place. We continued to offer online programmes alongside these in-person sessions.

For many families, this news may have brought anxiety as well as relief, but we know school is the best place to be for the young people we support.

The Government announced that from 9th April, everyone in England would be able to access free, regular, rapid coronavirus testing. We’re pleased that all of our volunteers who are supporting in schools can access these tests to help protect themselves, teachers and pupils. For more information about rapid testing, please see the latest government guidance.

Our tutoring is needed now more than ever before, to help make up for the time lost. Please spread the word about our volunteering and encourage others to get involved.

For more updates, read our blog and subscribe to our newsletter.

Making up for lost time

The Covid-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on pupils across the UK, with the first lockdown resulting in the closure of schools. As a result, we temporarily stopped programme delivery in March 2020.

Schools remained closed for many months and the impact this will have had on pupils is significant, in particular the disadvantaged pupils we support. These are the pupils who are already at risk of not achieving and the absence of education, and any other means of support at home, for this duration of time, will simply push them further behind.

Action Tutoring is a charity that supports the academic attainment of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds so that their futures are not negatively impacted by their circumstances. Many families will have been able to provide their children with extra resources to enable them continue their education at home, or pay for a private tutor, while schools were shut. For the young people we support, this was simply not an option.

Even before the crisis, disadvantaged pupils were, on average, already 18 months behind their non-disadvantaged peers by the end of secondary school and this will only worsen.

During the first lockdown period and the months following, we were unable to return to schools. Instead, we focused our team and resources on:

• Sharing our materials with our partner schools, to support pupils’ home learning in the short term.
• Keeping in touch with our network of over 1,000 volunteers to ensure they were not negatively impacted by the isolation period.
• Moving our induction training to new volunteers online and began delivering, so that tutors were ready to get started as soon as we were able to deliver again.
• Developing our online tutoring platform and programme, progressing through a testing phase and ready to roll out widely in autumn 2020.
• Speaking out about the impact of the crisis on disadvantaged pupils particularly.  Collaborating with other charities and schools to look for solutions and calling for government support too.
• Fundraising to support as many pupils as possible to get back to where they should be academically and enabling them to flourish.

In early October 2020 our tutoring recommenced after nearly seven months, with the support of the charity’s incredible and inspiring volunteer tutor pool, partner schools and staff team who are determined to ensure disadvantaged pupils can still succeed. Additionally, we launched our online delivery in schools, uniting volunteers from across the country with pupils to tutor them in maths and English.

When the government announced school closures once more in January 2020, Action Tutoring took the decision to pause all face to face programmes until after this date, supplementing missed sessions with revision days in the spring and early summer.

During this time, we we were officially approved by the National Tutoring Programme to deliver tutoring to pupils at home. As a result, we began delivering online tutoring sessions for pupils based at home, by switching as many online and in person programmes as possible to home-based delivery.

Action Tutoring is incredibly grateful to all of its team and network who worked tirelessly to ensure its tutoring support could return for the autumn term and was able to continue with home-based programmes. The charity would like to thank everyone involved for their hard work, passion and commitment which has enabled disadvantaged pupils across the country to begin their academic catch-up.

This type of academic support is vital. These pupils need this support now more than ever before to ensure they can get back to where they should be.  Action Tutoring needs volunteer tutors to enable this to happen.

Please apply now to volunteer with us and make a difference to young lives.

Back to school! Action Tutoring resumes face-to-face tutoring as schools return

Photo courtesy of Abbeywood School

As pupils return to schools this week, we’re delighted to be able to begin delivering face-to-face tutoring sessions again, in order to support the young people we work with to catch up on the learning they have missed.

The impact that school closures have had on disadvantaged pupils is extreme, and Action Tutoring welcomes the news of teachers, tutors and pupils being able to return to schools, to resume normal classroom teaching and help make up for the time lost.

For many families, the news of schools reopening may bring anxiety as well as relief, but we know that school is the best place to be for the young people we support.

We are working hard to ensure that tutoring can be delivered in person as safely as possible, in line with the current government guidelines, and we have updated our Covid-19 safety guidance for face-to-face programmes accordingly.

Action Tutoring is incredibly grateful to all of its team and network, who have worked tirelessly to ensure its tutoring support has been able to continue online while schools have been closed.

We would like to thank everyone involved for their hard work, passion and dedication, which has helped disadvantaged pupils across the country with their academic catch-up so far. We are committed to ensuring that our pupils continue to receive support they need to get back on track.

Programme update

Following the government announcement that schools were to open on 8th March, Action Tutoring made the decision to resume in school tutoring from this date. From 8th March onwards, Action Tutoring will resume face-to-face tutoring sessions in schools, with social distancing in place.

We intend to continue to deliver most of our current programmes online until at least the Easter holidays. Pupils will take part in these online sessions from school, while tutors will continue to deliver them remotely, from home.

As face-to-face tutoring resuming, we are in need of volunteers to deliver in person sessions more than ever, to support disadvantaged pupils make up for the learning they have missed. We know that in person tutoring is of great value to both pupils and tutors, and we endeavour to make sure that these sessions can continue to go ahead safely.

Become a volunteer

Evidence shows that school closures have widened the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers further. Action Tutoring is committed to providing tutoring to as many young people as possible during this unsettling and challenging time.

This type of academic support is vital. Disadvantaged pupils need this support now more than ever before to ensure they can make up for the education lost and progress academically. Action Tutoring needs volunteer tutors to enable this to happen.

Apply now and become a volunteer with Action Tutoring to help disadvantaged pupils with English and/or maths, for as little as an hour a week.

For more information, please visit our Covid-19 FAQ page and read our Covid-19 statement.

Action Tutoring shares its 2019-20 Impact Report – how we’ve adapted to continue supporting disadvantaged pupils

We are delighted to share our 2019-20 Impact Report with you. The last year has been a turbulent and uncertain one, with school closures and further disruptions to learning impacting disadvantaged pupils significantly. As a charity, we are proud of what has been achieved in response to the pandemic and are committed to helping pupils make up for the time lost.

Our impact report includes some of our key delivery statistics from before the pandemic and it details how we adapted and developed over the period of school closures, to be ready and equipped to support with the catch up in the autumn. It also gives core statistics on the impact the pandemic has had on pupils’ learning nationally, particularly the disadvantaged pupils we support.

 Action Tutoring 2019-20 Impact Report

We are extremely proud to have delivered 8,983 sessions from September 2019 to March 2020, with the help of 1,098 incredible volunteers. This meant that we were able to reach 2,0108 disadvantaged pupils, in 95 schools, across eight cities.

We would like to thank our wonderful volunteers, funders, partners and supporters for the part you have played in contributing to this success. 

The pandemic has hit disadvantaged young people incredibly hard. This report shows how relevant and necessary Action Tutoring is in helping them get back to where they should be.

Key Findings

We are so pleased to be able to share some positive outcomes from over the past year. Here are some key findings from this year’s impact report: 

How you can help

Spread the word –  Please share our impact report and our social media posts, to encourage anyone you know who’s interested to apply to join us as a volunteer or email us to discuss partnering as a school.

Click to share our impact report via Twitter

Join us – become a volunteer tutor and support disadvantaged pupils to catch up on the learning they have missed.

Fundraise or donate – either individually or as a team, to help us raise vital funds which will support our delivery and help us recover from the financial loss resulting from the pandemic.

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