Action Tutoring News

Action Tutoring launches home-based tutoring for pupils during school closures

With the help of our inspiring volunteer tutors, collaborative partner schools and supportive parents and guardians, Action Tutoring has begun delivering online tutoring sessions for pupils, who are currently learning from home as a result of school closures.

When schools closed at the beginning of January, Action Tutoring made the decision to continue running tutoring sessions to pupils based at home by switching as many online and in person programmes as possible to home-based delivery.

133 schools are already taking part in home tutoring this term and almost 550 pupils have already had their first session in lockdown, with many more about to get started. This means that, for the first time, our pupils will be able to benefit from extra academic support outside of the classroom.

Become an online tutor

The National Tutoring Programme officially approved Action Tutoring to offer online sessions to pupils at home. This means that we have satisfied their criteria that we can deliver this tuition effectively and safely.

Home-based tutoring is new for Action Tutoring and we know there will be some challenges along the way, as pupils access the technology from home and engage in learning outside the usual structure of the classroom.

However, after a successful pilot of this approach last year (as part of a national evaluation of online tutoring delivery), and a promising start this term, we feel on track to help pupils achieve valuable progress with their tutors at the most challenging time to their education.

Home-based tutoring explained

Action Tutoring pupils usually take part in the classroom, even if their tutor is joining remotely, but with schools closed, this is no longer possible. Pupils will now join the Vedamo virtual classroom from their homes, too.

As part of this switch, Action Tutoring’s programme staff have been working hard to manage the many logistical demands to ensure that tutoring can still take place. This includes liaising with all of our partner schools, as well as each parent or guardian directly, to seek permission for pupils to take part. These conversations also help us to make sure each pupil has access to the right technology and the adults involved learn important details about sessions going forward.

A responsible adult must be within listening distance of pupils throughout the sessions, and so communication with the adults at home is extremely important.

Action Tutoring has produced new materials specifically for parents, including online PDF and video guides, that outline what we do and give instructions on how to join tutoring sessions from home.

Despite no longer being in the classroom with pupils, Action Tutoring programme coordinators continue to oversee every programme, entering virtual classrooms to observe sessions and troubleshooting any technical difficulties that may arise.

Programme Manager for London, Nargis Taylor, said: “It has been really reassuring to see that the young people are able to have some consistency and normality whilst being unable to leave the house. It was lovely to see the pupils chatting away with their tutors. In many ways, it looked like most of the other school-based online tutoring sessions I delivered for pupils.

“Coordinating a home-based tutoring programme can require a bit more time as you need to liaise with each parent, as opposed to just one teacher. Ensuring the pupils have the right technology to join tutoring sessions can be tricky as well and you do occasionally experience some glitches with the technology, but we try our best to resolve these promptly so that pupils can continue with their learning.”

Impact on tutors

For tutors already volunteering with us online, there is little change in how these sessions run. They continue to use the Vedamo virtual classroom, already in operation for our existing online programmes, to deliver sessions remotely. Home-based sessions conclude with a virtual debrief for tutors, where they can ask questions and give feedback.

Sarah Searle-Barnes, a volunteer in Bristol, said, “I have tutored three pupils at home now (I was involved in the pilot study) and have found each experience worthwhile. I have found that the session enables the pupils to engage on a one-to-one basis with the tutor, without the distractions of other pupils in the room or the background noises of school.

“I also think that the pupils’ confidence and self-belief is bolstered by the one-to-one attention which has a positive impact on their learning.”

Response from pupils

So far, pupils have adapted to the home-based sessions incredibly well. Despite losing the familiarity of the classroom, where they would be surrounded by teachers, classmates and Action Tutoring staff, pupils have remained focused and have engaged well with the new format.

Pupil Premium Coordinator, Emma Boyd, said, “The pupils access the sessions in the exact same way as they do in school and so they know what to do and they just get on with it!

“I’m really pleased that this is an option for them and it will help them through the last stages of their GCSEs.”

The future of in-person tutoring

Action Tutoring made the decision to pause all in-person volunteering during lockdown. We plan to offer these opportunities again as soon as it is safe to. We are also considering ways to supplement any missed sessions later in the year, potentially with ‘booster’ days or extended sessions in the spring and early summer.

School closures impact pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds disproportionately, widening the attainment gap and putting them even further behind their peers. Our volunteers combat this inequality by giving an hour or more a week to boost pupils’ learning and confidence while at home.

Join us as a volunteer tutor and be part of our efforts when pupils need it most.

If you would like to tutor in person rather than online, we still encourage you to apply and sign up for training, so you can be ready to start as soon as schools reopen.

Your help will make a difference.

Become a volunteer

School closures: Action Tutoring aims to deliver online sessions during lockdown

With the recent government announcement that schools will close until at least 21st February to help curb the spread of Covid-19, Action Tutoring aims to continue as many online tutoring programmes as possible during lockdown, to support disadvantaged pupils when they need it most.

We have been officially approved by the National Tutoring Programme to deliver tutoring to pupils at home. This means that we have satisfied their criteria that we can deliver effective and safe tutoring to pupils who are based at home. We piloted our home-based approach, as part of a national evaluation of online tutoring delivery, in 2020.

As a result, we intend to switch all online school programmes to home-based delivery and we are currently working with our existing schools to adapt our current provision, so that we can continue delivering tutoring remotely during lockdown.

Last year’s lockdown has shown us that school closures impact pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds in a disproportionately negative way, widening the attainment gap and putting them even further behind their peers.

Become a volunteer

We know that every hour of tutoring delivered will make a big difference to the young people we help, and we are currently in contact with our school partners to discuss arrangements for pupils to receive home-based tutoring during the lockdown.

Due to the rapidly changing and unsettled situation, we anticipate some initial challenges with logistics, technology and engagement. Thank you for bearing with us through this – we’re so grateful for your support. Any session you are able to deliver will make a positive difference to the young people we help. Every session counts. 

Face-to-face tutoring on hold

While online programmes convert to home-based learning, Action Tutoring has made the decision to pause all in-person programmes during lockdown. We are looking at ways to supplement the missed sessions later in the year, potentially with revision days in the spring and early summer.

We know face-to-face sessions are of high value to tutors and pupils, and we intend to resume them as soon as it is safe to do so. When schools reopened in the Autumn term, in-person tutoring took place in line with government advice. We hope that we can continue to deliver these sessions when restrictions ease and we will keep volunteers informed about when we will be returning to schools.

Photo courtesy of Abbeywood School

Our tutoring will be 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.

If you would like to tutor in person rather than online and such spaces aren’t available immediately due to school closures, we still encourage you to apply and sign up for training, in order to be ready to start as soon as schools reopen.

Similarly, if you’re a school interested in finding out how we might be able to support you this year and what our home-based set-up requires, do get in touch. 

Partner as a school         Become a volunteer

Steering the Action Tutoring ship into 2021

Action Tutoring Interim CEO, Jen Fox, reflects on her time at the charity so far, and looks towards leading the organisation to more exciting growth in the new year.

Growing up in the seaside town of Bray in the Republic of Ireland, you’d be forgiven for assuming I had at least some experience on the water. While I’m not one to shy away from a New Year’s Day swim, my time on board ships has been limited. And yet, I find myself drawn to the analogy: steering the Action Tutoring ship into 2021.

I joined AT back in September 2015, fresh out of teaching science in a secondary school in South London. Initially appointed as London and Curriculum Manager, I soon found myself learning about what it takes to run a successful education charity.

I was fortunate to cover Susannah Hardyman’s first maternity leave in 2017-18. During this year, Action Tutoring grew significantly, mostly due to an expansion of our programmes into primary schools. Perhaps it was this experience that influenced Susannah and the Trustees to welcome me back as Interim CEO for a second time around? I’m delighted, excited and proud to be part of the AT team in a year where our ambition is to double in size.

The destination has been set, the Captain grounded (with a new born!) and the crew more passionate than ever to make a difference. My job is to make sure that the AT ship stays on course.

Setting the destination has taken months of strategic and financial planning, but the confirmation of Action Tutoring as an approved Tuition Partner of the National Tutoring Programme removed any doubt that AT could spread the power of volunteer tutoring to more deserving young people this year.

I didn’t have a tutor growing up, but I was lucky to have several teachers and family members who gave me the time and support structures that I needed in order to learn. I was the first person in my family to attend university, an experience that changed how I viewed the world. My mum (who graduated from the Open University two decades after having her family and while she was working full time) instilled a belief in me that education is transformative. I’m known for often concluding any debate about social, emotional or political problems by stating how they can be solved through education. I truly believe that is the case.

In a year overshadowed by a pandemic alongside continued school disruption, I’m certainly not expecting smooth sailing. However, I feel confident that any storms or course diversions ahead, whether they be treasure chests or mirages, will be weathered with ease.

I can say this because I know the crew we have. From the 64 employees to the 2000+ volunteer tutors and hundreds of supportive Link Teachers, I am confident that they will face whatever lies ahead with integrity and commitment. This will enable us to give as many disadvantaged young people as possible a better chance to succeed in the next stage of their lives.

If you would like to join us as a volunteer, apply now to start tutoring on a January programme.

 Become a volunteer

Policy update: November 2020

Government launches flagship scheme to tackle COVID learning-loss

The government has now launched its multi-million-pound effort to help disadvantaged pupils catch up on learning they’ve lost during the pandemic through the National Tutoring Programme. Action Tutoring, now an official provider under the programme, was closely involved in campaigning for catch-up provision and is glad that the strong evidence for tuition boosting pupils’ progress has been recognised.

The full list of 33 providers – who underwent a lengthy assessment process – was published earlier in November. It includes charities like the Tutor Trust, The Access Project, CoachBright and Brilliant Club, as well as private tutoring firms. Pupils access tuition when their school approaches any of the official tuition partners, who must deliver at least 15 sessions for each pupil this year to access the funding. The provision will be heavily subsidised for schools, who will contribute 25% of the cost. The Department for Education has issued a notice calling for ideas on how to extend the programme as they look to make a decision on its future.

The pandemic has significantly affected children and young people of all ages, worsening existing inequalities. We know that efforts to repair the damage must continue beyond summer 2021 if the NTP is to have a significant legacy and make a sustained difference. The Fair Education Alliance is calling on the government to extend the NTP and our CEO, Susannah, has co-signed a letter to the prime minister calling for an extension. The 2020 Spending Review will conclude next week and could offer some additional funds for catch-up in 2020–21.

If you are curious to learn more about the NTP, like which subjects are covered or the quality criteria used to assess providers, check out the NTP website.

The campaign against holiday hunger

You may have been following the high-profile campaign to provide free meals outside term time to school children from low-income families. The fact that so many children and families rely on free school meals is heartbreaking and the pandemic has worsened deprivation, with hundreds of thousands more children becoming eligible this year.

The campaign has been driven forward by 23-year-old footballer Marcus Rashford, alongside charities and think tanks focussed on alleviating child poverty. The campaign already saw great success when the government changed its course and provided meals over the summer holidays, having previously said that increased welfare was reaching these families via other routes.

Rashford launched a petition to expand support further, which gathered over a million signatures. However, the government voted against extending free meals over the half-term break, prompting an overwhelming public response and many businesses and councils stepping forward to offer free lunches.

On 8th November, in a victory for campaigners and children in need, the government changed its position and announced a large support package to address hunger – including a £220 million extension of the holiday activities and food programme in 2021 and a £170 million winter grant scheme to help families facing hardship pay for food and bills.

Of course, questions remain over how the additional funding will be deployed effectively to reach those with greatest need, and how holiday hunger will be addressed beyond the pandemic. Holiday hunger and the considerable need for free school meals is not a new issue in 2020. Important charities, like the Trussell Trust and Magic Breakfast, work hard to deliver nutritious meals to disadvantaged children year round, so nothing gets in the way of them learning and flourishing.

What will happen to exams?

Last summer, the cancellation of exams and the alternative grades awarded had a big impact on young people. Already affected by the pandemic, GCSE and A Level pupils were heading into an uncertain future, without having had the chance to obtain the grades they’d worked for – many not equipped to make alternative plans or navigate the appeals system.

Elsewhere in the UK, in light of how much education has been affected, governments have already taken the decision to cancel exams in 2021. GCSE and A Level exams in Wales will be replaced with classroom assessment and National 5 exams in Scotland will be replaced with teacher assessment and coursework. Meanwhile, in England exams are still set to go ahead, although three weeks later than usual. A survey conducted by LSE suggested strong public support for exam reform, to ensure the 2021 cohort are treated fairly. After a consultation earlier this year, exams regulator Ofqual has made a number of small modifications to how certain subjects will be assessed.

The Education Policy Institute has made some practical recommendations to help make exams fair and deliverable, like offering pupils choices between questions if they’ve not covered a topic and spacing out papers as much as possible. The report also offers a contingency, including more standardised mock exams as a fallback. Action Tutoring volunteers will be working with pupils for as long as possible this year, supporting them to get them back on track in their subject and improve in confidence, regardless of how or when their learning is assessed.

Additional reading…

The impact of lockdown on attainment
Research suggests that disruption to schooling during the pandemic has already resulted in a significant decline in attainment among pupils. In particular, younger year groups and those eligible for the Pupil Premium have shown the largest average declines in attainment levels, as well as those attending schools in deprived areas or in the North and Midlands. To combat this loss of learning and ease the transition to secondary school, Action Tutoring is supporting significantly more Year 7 pupils this year.

New legal duty to educate children at home
The Department for Education has made it law that schools have to provide the same education to children at home and in the classroom – though schools still face big obstacles to ensuring every pupil can access remote learning effectively, particularly around technology.

NEU campaign for schools to close
At the start of the month, the National Education Union launched a campaign for schools to close during the four-week lockdown, gathering over 150,000 signatures from teachers and support staff. It also called for a rota system to be in place for secondary pupils at the end of lockdown, to reduce the spread of the virus.

Reversing cuts to school funding
The Institute for Fiscal Studies published its annual report examining education spending and found that, with the extra £7.1 billion allocated to schools in England in 2022–23, this year’s funding increases will just about reverse the cuts experienced since 2009–10. Further Education has suffered the greatest cuts of all education stages.

Comparing policy responses
The Education Policy Institute released a comparison of different education policy responses to the pandemic, highlighting how different governments in the UK have sought to balance education and public health.

Action Tutoring announced as an official National Tutoring Programme Tuition Partner

If you cast your mind back to the warmer and lighter days of June, you might well remember that the government announced a large package of support to help children catch up on the lost learning from Covid-19, including announcing the introduction of a National Tutoring Programme (NTP).

Action Tutoring played an active role campaigning for this initiative, culminating in giving evidence to the government’s education select committee in early June on the impact of Covid-19 on pupils and how a programme like ours could be scaled up.

To get a programme of this size and scale off the ground inevitably takes time, but today we are thrilled to share that Action Tutoring has been approved as a National Tutoring Programme Tuition Partner.

We know the NTP received a large volume of applications, only taking forward a small number that met the quality and scale criteria and we are very proud to have made the final provider list.

Closing the attainment gap through tutoring

Long before the NTP was announced by the government, Action Tutoring’s mission was to make the benefits of tutoring available to those that couldn’t otherwise afford it, ultimately to help narrow the attainment gap and give pupils the best possible chance of progressing well to further education, employment or training. That’s always been our mission and the NTP doesn’t change that.

We believe though that what it does change is the public recognition of the importance of this mission, why it’s a good idea not just for the individual, but for society as a whole and the potential to scale it to have a national impact.

Since we registered as a charity in 2012 and particularly since we began working with Impetus in 2014 we have developed and refined an impactful, proven tutoring model that’s delivering results for children from disadvantaged backgrounds at risk of not succeeding in English and maths.

To do that hasn’t been easy. Understandably, pupils don’t always want extra lessons in a subject they are likely finding difficult. Schools have a lot of pressure and demands and making partnerships between schools and external organisation work well requires effort on both sides. Finally, none of our work would have been possible without the huge numbers of high quality volunteers signing up to tutor with us.

“Our children need champions. Champions – who never give up on them, who understand the power of relationships and insist they become the best they can possibly be. That’s just what the volunteers from Action Tutoring are doing.”
– Lynne Gavin, Headteacher, Pakeman Primary School

But over the years, we’ve learnt what works and we’re excited to now be able to deliver that on a much larger scale, including expanding our geographical reach and significantly expanding our online tutoring.

Expanding Action Tutoring’s work across England

Our ambition through the NTP is to double our reach and the NTP is giving us the support to do this, and indeed the scale for other organisations too, to help us grow at a rate we couldn’t on our own in order to make the benefits of tutoring as widely available as possible.

Partner as a school     Become a volunteer

A recent Bloomberg article has highlighted the scale of the NTP as a great education experiment that could be the game changer needed for social mobility. At Action Tutoring, we certainly believe that has the potential to be the case.

There is fantastic evidence that tutoring works; that’s precisely why so many parents will pay for it for their children. But the tutoring industry will only be a driver of widening the gap in social mobility if it is not made available to those that can’t afford it too, especially those that are struggling most in their education.

That’s why Action Tutoring was founded and we’ve built strong evidence we can make tutoring work for disadvantaged pupils to drive results and close the attainment gap.

Action Tutoring commissioned an external evaluator, NIESR, to carry out an evaluation of the work we do with our pupils. The headline results, from this piece of work, suggested that:

• The programme has a positive impact on GCSE point scores equivalent to 1/3 of a grade with just 5-6 sessions.
• For those pupils who attend 7-8 sessions an additional 1/2 a grade progress was found.

For context, typically, in a whole academic year, schools would expect pupils to make one grade of progress outlining the impact tutoring, and in particular, our work has been having on disadvantaged pupils.

Now, through the NTP there is an opportunity for this work to be delivered on a significantly bigger scale.

The National Tutoring Programme must continue beyond next summer

In order for the benefits of the NTP to be embedded and make a game changing difference to social mobility, it will need to run for more than a year and while we’re delighted today to be beginning our journey as an NTP Tuition Partner, we hope it won’t be one that finishes next summer.

The NTP has been kickstarted by the need for covid catch up; with covid highlighting just how big the inequalities in our society are for children and young people. But prior to covid the UK already had one of the largest attainment gaps in the developed world and evidence from the EPI has shown that in recent years the progress to close that gap has slowed. If the NTP is extended, it has the potential not just to support covid catch up, but to actually help close the UKs attainment gap significantly further. Progress on that really would be something huge to celebrate, benefiting wider society as well as individuals.

So as this new ‘education experiment’ gets underway, we look forward to playing our part for the long term, to ensure that all pupils, regardless of their background, are supported to achieve the best they possibly can.

Partner as a school     Become a volunteer

For more information about the National Tutoring Programme, please visit our dedicated page.

Online tutoring can be a powerful tool to help pupils affected by school closures, study finds

A successful pilot project conducted by the Education Endowment Foundation, Impetus, The Sutton Trust and Nesta has shown that online tutoring can be extremely effective in supporting pupils’ learning that has been disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The project aimed to test the feasibility and promise of online tutoring as a way to support learning under lockdown during summer term and holidays. Action Tutoring and four other charities took part in the study to support over 1,300 primary and secondary school pupils earlier in the year.

In total, more than 7,000 lessons were delivered to a variety of year groups, ranging from Year 5 to Year 11. The EEF’s Teaching and Learning Toolkit, an accessible summary of educational research, shows that high-quality tutoring can deliver approximately five months of progress on average.

Implementing learnings from this initial test phase, Action Tutoring then launched its first full online programmes in October. The study showed that online tutoring had a positive impact on the disadvantaged pupils supported.

Nine in ten children say tutoring helps with their schoolwork. Pupils say what they particularly like about tutoring is the one-to-one support for issues they are struggling with, the reduced fear of peer judgment and the flexibility to learn at their own pace.

In the 65 schools that took part in the pilot project, the majority of pupils supported were disadvantaged children – 81% of those in primaries and 69% of those in secondary schools.

The pilot project was co-funded by the EEF, alongside Wellcome Trust, Paul Hamlyn Foundation, the Hg Foundation, the Dulverton Trust and the Inflexion Foundation and was independently evaluated by NatCen Social Research.

“Online tutoring with Action Tutoring has allowed pupils to get personalised intervention in maths, increasing their engagement in a subject they don’t find easy. The few weeks of online tutoring has made a huge difference in their confidence and attainment in key topics in maths.”

Rakhee Dattani, Head of Maths at Arts and Media School, Islington, London

The National Tutoring Programme (NTP), which aims to make high-quality tutoring available to schools to help disadvantaged pupils whose education has been affected by school closures, will build on the pilot’s findings when it launches on 2nd November.

Professor Becky Francis, Chief Executive of the Education Endowment Foundation, said: “This study shows that online tutoring can be an essential tool to support pupils and teachers this academic year. Until social distancing restrictions relax, online tutoring offers a flexible and much needed way to get tutoring into schools across England.”

Professor Francis added: “Schools are best placed to decide which pupils need help the most and what type of support is suitable. Each child will have different needs – some will respond better to online tuition others to in-person support. This is why the NTP will provide teachers with a menu of options from an approved list of high-quality providers that schools can choose from.”

To join us as an online tutor to help support with the Covid-19 catch up, apply now through our application form.

Schools and charity partnerships: Challenges and solutions

The impact of the pandemic has been wide-reaching.  Schools have been significantly affected, having to respond instantly to establish remote teaching and now working to support pupils catch up from the learning they have lost.  Action Tutoring, and many other educational charities are eager to contribute positively to this effort but support must be delivered in the right way to make a meaningful difference.

The Centre for Education and Youth and Action Tutoring recognised that good relationships between charities and schools can have a significant impact on pupils’ learning and wanted to harness best practice and guidance from the field to help others benefit.

Earlier in the year we brought together expert voices in a roundtable discussion. 18 charity and school leaders, across the primary and secondary sectors, took part to discuss partnerships and share best practice.  We produced a joint report, highlighting the key findings from the event, which provides tips for best practice in four areas:

1. Building a reputation: a charity’s reputation is extremely important for building connections with schools.
2. Building strong relationships: effective communication plays a crucial role in helping charities and schools build relationships.
3. Working together: schools and charities should plan how they will work together at the start of their partnership and should clarify any non-negotiables.
4. Evaluating impact: schools and charities should work together to collect meaningful data and measure impact.

You can read the full report here. 

You may also like to watch the discussion in full here.

Action Tutoring: Fair Education Alliance Scaling Award Winners

Action Tutoring is thrilled to have been announced as one of seven winners for this year’s Fair Education Alliance Scaling Award!

Action Tutoring is honoured to have been granted this award, a two-year accelerator programme designed to provide bespoke support for deepening charities’ impact. The programme draws on the expertise of the Fair Education Alliance’s extensive network of members and supporters. The team at Action Tutoring is excited to connect, learn and ultimately extend its reach to more pupils in need.

Learn more about the programme and seven winners here.

Determined to Change, Determined to Sustain: Black Lives Matter at Action Tutoring

Last month, Action Tutoring put out a statement in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. Since then, our entire organisation has been working together to find ways to take anti-racist action both in the short and long term. 

In our earliest meetings, we discussed the need for both immediate, purposeful change and for a sustained commitment to our pledges and actions. We agreed that we need to do so much better, but knew all changes had to be meaningful, well implemented, and long lasting.

We formed three cross-organisational working groups, each focusing on a key area of the charity: our pupils and resources; volunteer tutors; and staff. Between weekly whole-team conversations, these groups have been meeting more regularly to reflect on the current limits of our work, to read and research, to brainstorm ideas, and to turn our observations into actions. In the short term, this has manifested itself in a number of ways. For example:

• We are reaching out to MPs across the country asking them to champion measures to tackle systemic racial inequality and commit to sustained scrutiny of policies that disadvantage Black children and young people, as well as those from all other minority ethnic groups.
• Two sub-groups are combing through every workbook to audit their cultural representation and messaging. This research will inform changes to help improve our resources. Any new resources we produce (such as for half-term catch-up days) will follow new diversity criteria.
• We have created a group to centre anti-racism in staff learning and development. Staff will meet regularly to share reading, webinars, policy, and history and discuss what we’ve learned in relation to anti-racism in our work and sector.
• We are creating diverse suggested reading lists for pupils. These will also be useful for tutors who may ask us about the kinds of texts they could bring to sessions for ‘reading for pleasure’ activities.
• We are adding a clause on anti-racism to Action Tutoring’s school partnership agreements, laying out our expectation for staff and tutors from Black and other minority ethinc backgrounds to be protected from racism. Although we hoped this would be implicit, we realise we must make it explicit. 

As for the longer term, we have plenty of ideas in the pipeline and are currently researching the best ways to carry them out. Some of our thinking includes:

• Creating an additional training based on recognising and tackling unconscious bias. All our staff already undertake unconscious bias training but we would like to share the principles with our volunteers.
• We are examining how we could improve our hiring practices to ensure our staff body is more inclusive, representative, and enriched by greater diversity. We recognise the precedence this must take whilst also thinking about the diversity of our volunteers.
• We are exploring ways to diversify our volunteer pool to further enrich and expand the experience of our pupils and strengthen our community. We are putting together focus groups for different stakeholders to hear their experiences of the organisation and their ideas for building actively anti-racist practices into our community. If you would like to contribute, please contact us at hello@actiontutoring.org.uk.
• We commit to ensuring all resources we produce from now on meet a new set of diversity criteria to promote healthier and proportional representation.

We are committed to making sustained anti-racist action central to how we work, recognising where we have failed in the past and being held accountable for any mistakes. We welcome any input from you into how we can further this work.

Action Tutoring’s response to government catch-up plans

The school closures have had a huge impact on pupils, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, with recent reports suggesting as many as 2 million pupils have done almost no school work during lockdown.

At Action Tutoring we have been highlighting the impact of this on disadvantaged pupils in particular, since schools were closed in March, and have been calling on the government to provide catch-up support. We are therefore delighted that today it has announced a national tutoring programme for disadvantaged pupils and the additional funding for schools to spend more broadly on catch-up.

We are ready to play our part in this vital catch-up and would be delighted to hear from new schools and new volunteers interested in working with us to reach as many young people as we can. We are optimistic that with this package of funding and the fantastic organisations who deliver academic support that all pupils stand a strong chance of reaching their full potential.

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