Our charity community’s plea to the Government: keep funding tutoring

Our CEO and founder, Susannah Hardyman, is calling for Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer to urgently find new funding for the national tutoring programme (NTP). 

Alongside support from leading politicians and headteachers, our charity network is urging for immediate support for the nation’s most disadvantaged pupils.

Why supporting tutoring matters

In July, school leaders united to express their concern over the NTP ending in the same month. They called for renewed government support. 

In figures provided by the National Association of Headteachers: 

• 70% of schools in England receive less funding in real terms than in 2010 – and the attainment gap is at its widest in 12 years. 
• On average, disadvantaged pupils are 19.2 months behind their peers by the end of secondary school. 
• For GCSE pupils in 2023, only 43% of disadvantaged pupils met expected standards compared to 66% of their non-disadvantaged counterparts.

Intervention needed now

Those backing our charity’s mission to continuously campaign for reform is The Rt Hon. the Lord David Blunkett. 

As a former Labour Party MP and ex-Secretary of State for Education and Employment, Lord Blunkett is supporting us as a staunch advocate for substantial and equitable education provision. 

An excellent tool

A fellow politician championing our charity’s cause is Munira Wilson MP.

As a Liberal Democrat MP for Twickenham and spokesperson for education, Munira is backing our charity’s call for government funding for the national tutoring programme. 

Having led the parliamentary debate on tutoring provision earlier this year and passionately advocating for its sustained financial backing, Munira is a leading political voice on children and young people’s behalf. This includes calling for free school meals to be offered to an additional 900,000 children living in poverty during the September 2024 Liberal Democrat annual party conference. 

Ensuring no child is left behind

At the heart of our call for sustained funding for the national tutoring programme is our very own CEO, Susannah.

Empowering our staff team for 13 years to deliver powerful impact-based evidence on how and why tutoring works, Susannah believes action to maintain its funding is required now.

The wider picture: 2023-24

In the 2023-24 academic year, Action Tutoring supported more than 6,000 disadvantaged pupils. Key statistics include:

• 1,000 pupils received tutoring for both English and maths.
• More than 7,000 tutoring courses were delivered in total.
• 36,000 learning hours were accessed by maths pupils.
• 25,450 learning hours were recorded by English pupils.

In addition, as you can see from the graphic above:

• In 2023, after attending at least 10 tutoring sessions, 65% of disadvantaged pupils passed their maths GCSE.
• This percentage is compared to 52% of other disadvantaged pupils nationally.

Industry support

Our commitment to providing life-changing tutoring programmes is highlighted by our corporate partnerships.

This includes industry support from partners such as the QBE Foundation. We are extremely grateful to QBE for their £1.5million investment. This helps us to scale-up the access and impact of tutoring to more than 12,000 pupils.

Regional divide

A clear regional divide exists when it comes to exam results. This is true for both North and South and cities compared to rural areas.

As you can see from the graphic above, as of 2022:

• 24.9% of pupil premium pupils in South Yorkshire achieved pass grades.
• 42% of pupil premium pupils in London achieved pass grades.

A headteacher’s call for action

Paul Haigh, Headteacher of King Ecgbert School, Sheffield, which works with Action Tutoring, has suffered declining financial Government support. He witnesses the educational challenges disadvantaged children face every day.

Together, Paul and our charity are calling for action from the new Labour government:

Tackling rural educational challenges

Our tutoring impact

Want to find out more about our impact and why funding should continue for tutoring? Simply read more in our latest impact report – published earlier this year – below:

Hear from our 2023-24 pupils, volunteers and partners

It’s not just our charity which believes funding for tutoring should continue.

Hear from pupils, volunteers and partners during the last academic year in our video below, highlighting how much tutoring has benefited them.

Thank you for your continued support.

Some news about our CEO and founder, Susannah

It is with a heavy heart that Action Tutoring announces its CEO, and founder, Susannah Hardyman, will be moving on to become the new CEO of Impetus. We would like to congratulate Susannah on this exciting new opportunity! 

Joining Impetus

Impetus is Action Tutoring’s longest funder, first providing support to our charity in 2014. It is an organisation that we greatly admire and that has enabled Action Tutoring, through its financial investment and unwavering commitment to impact, to grow into the charity it is today. It feels incredibly fitting that Susannah will be bringing her wealth of experience, in both delivery and policy, and inspiring leadership qualities to this organisation. We wish her the very best of luck in her new role and take comfort in knowing she won’t be far away!

Susannah will begin her work at Impetus in January, so we still have plenty of time to reflect on, and celebrate, all that she has achieved at Action Tutoring. Susannah is leaving Action Tutoring in an incredibly strong position including having robust evidence of impact, solid financial footing and an inspiring and energised team. The Board will begin the process to recruit Susannah’s successor shortly.

Thank you

For now though, we would just like to say ‘thank you’. Thank you on behalf of the thousands of pupils’ whose lives you’ve helped change. Thank you from all of the volunteers who’ve benefited from their time tutoring with us and thank you from every staff member, over the last 12 years, that you have led, inspired and enabled to be the best that they can be.

Calling all teachers: help shape our future strategy

As part of shaping our future strategy, we are keen to understand more from teachers across the country about your views on tutoring and engagement with the National Tutoring Programme.  You don’t need to have worked with Action Tutoring to complete the survey – we’re keen to hear from as many schools as possible.

We would be very grateful if you could take 5-10 minutes to complete our survey, to help ensure our offer and service stays as relevant and beneficial to you and your pupils as possible.  Please do share with any other teachers you know.

As a thank you for taking part, we’ll enter you into a prize draw to win a hamper of goodies for your staff room! Simply add your email address on the last section of the form to be entered.

Sharing our 2018-19 Impact Report – why we’re determined to weather this storm

We are thrilled to now be able to share our 2018-19 Impact Report. The situation is not what we were anticipating it would be for this release, but we still hope you enjoy reading through the publication and reflecting on our work.  

A big thank you to all of our wonderful volunteers, funders, partners and supporters for the part you have played in contributing to this success.  

We are humbled to share some positivity at this time. Reflecting on the report has made us even more determined to weather the crisis and ensure we are able to continue delivering impactful academic support to the pupils who will so desperately need it.  With your help we can. 

This pandemic will 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.

We are particularly proud of our outcomes last year when:

• Of the primary school pupils we supported, 74% met the expected standard in reading and 81% in maths (12% and 14% higher respectively than the national average for disadvantaged pupils).  

• Of the secondary school pupils who attended ten or more of our sessions, 61% achieved a grade 4 or above in GCSE English and 58% reached this level in GCSE maths, both exceeding the national average for disadvantaged pupils. 

All pupils supported by Action Tutoring were at risk of not achieving these standards when they began the tutoring programme. 

In 2018-19, 1,150 of our inspiring volunteers supported over 2,500 disadvantaged pupils in 84 schools across seven UK cities.

We have also recently completed a wonderful new short film, hearing from a few of our amazing tutors at a session last autumn, which we wanted to share here.  We hope you enjoy it!

We know the impact the school closures will have on our pupils is significant. These are pupils who are already struggling academically and the absence of education, and any other means of support, will simply leave them further behind. It is highly likely the attainment gap will widen further as a result of school closures.  

For these reasons it’s imperative that we, as a charity, can survive and continue supporting disadvantaged young people.

We are working hard to develop our online delivery and aim to have a small-scale pilot in place in the summer term. That way, we can be ready to roll out more widely in September. 

How you can help

Spread the word – we’re always looking for more volunteers to support our work and new schools to partner with. Please share our film 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.  

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 crisis. Thank you for making a difference.

Sign up to our termly newsletter, if you haven’t already subscribed, to receive all the latest news from our charity. 

We’re looking forward to working with you all as soon as it is safe for us to do so. 

Why volunteer?

In the fast-paced world we live in, we are constantly moving from one thing to the next.  It can be hard to find a minute to ourselves, let alone a minute to give to someone else. So why would you give up some of your precious time to volunteer?  What are the benefits?

At Action Tutoring we have over 1,100 incredible volunteers who give their time for us every year.  Their support directly impacts the lives of around 2,500 pupils a year, to ensure they can progress in life.  We simply could not function without them. To us the benefits are clear – our volunteers give our young people a future.

But we know your time is precious and we know even with the wider benefits to society it can be hard to make time to give back.  Sometimes we have to be a bit selfish, and so I think it’s important to reflect on how volunteering benefits the giver…

It gives you the chance to meet people you wouldn’t have otherwise met

Any volunteering activity will take you outside of your normal social circles, offering you the chance to interact and learn from other people in your community.  At Action Tutoring we’re proud to have a diverse range of volunteers supporting us, from 18 to 80 years. One of those, Abigail, is a university student who was new to London when she joined us,

“I have met lots of different, interesting people (tutors and pupils) and been to lots of different places in London that I wouldn’t have otherwise seen.”

It helps you to use existing skills you might have or learn and develop new skills

Depending on the activity there may be new skills you can learn or for softer skills, such as confidence or teamworking, volunteering often helps you to develop and refine these.  As Chris, a HMRC Tax Specialist, comments,

“In my daily life Action Tutoring has helped me too. I am so much more confident walking into a room of people I don’t know and holding meetings at work, where I have to lead.”

The ‘feel good factor’

Through volunteering you’ll often get so see the impact of your efforts first hand, which can be incredibly rewarding.  Through our tutoring activities, our volunteers often see this in the progression of the pupils they are supporting. Patsy, a retired statistician, comments: 

“I get a great sense of satisfaction from seeing my pupils understand something that they didn’t understand before; and succeeding in their exams. Achieving these qualifications is so crucial for them and whatever else I do during the week, I know I’m helping to make a difference.”

Positive impact on your mental health

Volunteering has also been acknowledged as causing improved mental health.  Giving your time to others helps to reduce isolation, reduces stress and helps to keep things in perspective.  The Mental Health Foundation looks into this more deeply here.

In 2017-18, over 20.1 million people volunteered through a group, club or organisation – so there are plenty of opportunities to choose from.  Whatever activity you choose, you can be sure the benefits will be great for you and for others. 

For more information about volunteering with Action Tutoring, check out our impact page here and our volunteering page here.   

Rt Hon Keir Starmer MP visits Action Tutoring programme

Action Tutoring was thrilled to welcome Rt Hon Keir Starmer MP to see its work taking place at one of its partner schools, William Ellis School, last Friday, 3rd November.

At the visit Keir had the chance to meet a few of the Year 11 pupils the charity currently supports, in a maths session where they were busy working with a team of dedicated volunteer tutors. Each week around 16 pupils stay behind for an hour after school to receive this extra support, helping them to tackle any areas they are finding challenging and work through methods to prepare them for their crucial GCSE exams next year.

Action Tutoring specifically supports young people facing socio-economic disadvantage, who are at risk of not achieving a grade 4 (previously a grade C) in their final exams.  The majority of routes available to them upon leaving school will significantly decrease if they do not reach this standard.  Tutoring is an effective way to support pupils, particularly in subjects they are struggling with, but at an average cost of £30-40 an hour it is often out of reach to this group.  Action Tutoring works in partnerships with schools to deliver an impactful tutoring provision.

Action Tutoring now works with over 30 schools across London and one of its earliest partnerships was with William Ellis School, “We are delighted to have worked in close partnership with Action Tutoring for the last five years. The Action Tutoring team have played an important part in securing the success of pupils in their GCSEs through their individual tutoring sessions.  Pupils are committed to the programme and parents value it and are keen for their sons to take part.”

During the visit, Keir was able to chat with both the pupils and the volunteers to get an understanding of the impact the tutoring has had, “It’s been a real privilege to spend time with Action Tutoring and the Year 11 students at William Ellis School. One to one support makes a real difference to pupils and helps ensure they have the opportunity reach their full potential. However, it’s a service that isn’t available to everyone, so it’s great to see voluntary initiatives such as this giving pupils that extra helping hand.”

Action Tutoring empowers members of the local community to support these young people by training and developing them as volunteers.  Last year the charity worked with nearly 500 volunteers in London from all walks of life, including university students, coroporate employees and retired individuals – helping them to build and enhance their skills in the role. The charity is proud to deliver an activity that benefits both the pupils and the volunteers involved.

One of the inspirational local volunteer tutors at William Ellis reflected, “It is great to be a volunteer tutor at William Ellis and use my skills and experience to give them a boost with their GCSE maths.  And very satisfying to know that the four boys that I have worked with over the last two years all passed their maths GCSE.  Passing their GCSE maths means that they have more choices after Year 11.”

As a small but steadily growing charity, Action Tutoring is keen to showcase its work and spread the word about the importance of its efforts to level the playing field between disadvantaged pupils and their wealthier peers.

Jen Fox, interim CEO at the charity added, “Mr. Starmer’s visit is a lovely opportunity to highlight the incredible volunteers and pupils we work with in Camden. The time and commitment these volunteer give to our local young people is admirable and we are privileged to be a charity that brings these two groups together to make education more fair in this country.”

Action Tutoring started in London in 2011 and now provides support in partnership with schools in seven cities and areas across the UK: Birmingham, Bristol, Liverpool, London, Newcastle, Sheffield and Sussex. The charity needs to recruit as many volunteers as possible to ensure that these pupils can be supported.