Ross Scherer is the Year 11 Assistant Principal for Achievement at Kenton School, Newcastle, and supports the Action Tutoring Programme
Coordinator to ensure sessions run smoothly.
The school established links with Action Tutoring before Ross took on his role, after hearing about the organisation through another school in the city. At 52%, the school has a high proportion of pupils eligible for Pupil Premium funding.
“As the vast majority of our parents could not afford to pay for a tutoring provision the school uses the services offered by Action Tutoring as an intervention strategy to narrow the gap between pupils eligible for the Pupil Premium and those that aren’t, in English and maths attainment, which is key headline figure when judging the quality of education in schools across the country. Kenton School’s motto of ‘all equal and all different’ aligns itself to the fundamental vision and philosophy of Action Tutoring. All Action Tutoring staff and volunteers have embraced the ethos of our vision and have worked tirelessly to positively support pupils in achieving their aspirations in
the core subjects.
“Jo [the Action Tutoring staff member] recruits and trains the tutors to an exceptionally high standard and goes above and beyond in supporting the school to support pupils. The resources provided to pupils have plugged gaps in learning and have been an effective revision aid.
“Pupils have openly informed the school that they felt more confident going into the examinations and the strategies that tutors covered with them significantly reduced stress levels before going into their exams. Pupils’ self esteem throughout the year has increased significantly and the relationship that they form with their tutors is a huge part of this. Pupil mindsets changing from ‘I can’t do this’ to ‘let’s do my very best’ is something that the programme scaffolds pupils with fantastically.”
