Read our COVID-19 safety guidance for tutoring face to face in schools here.
We support any decision that’s needed to help curb the Covid-19 crisis and due to the school closures we stopped delivering our programmes in schools in March. You can read our full statement on the current situation here. With schools returning this term, Action Tutoring will be delivering a mixture of online and face-to-face programmes from October, following social distancing guidelines in relation to COVID-19.
We know the impact the school closures will have on our pupils’ learning and wellbeing is significant. These pupils were already struggling academically and the absence of education, and any other means of support, will simply have left them further behind. It is highly likely the attainment gap will widen further as a result of school closures.
We know that our help is needed more than ever to support pupils, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, to catch up. We need to engage many more volunteers to ensure we can help these pupils get back to where they should be.
Please find below some FAQs relating to our delivery and operations during the crisis. If you can’t find the answer you need, please drop us an email: [email protected].
Are sessions still going ahead?
We will begin running tutoring programmes again, both online and face-to-face, from this October. These opportunities are currently advertised to volunteers. We have developed guidelines for maintaining social distancing on face-to-face programmes and are in touch with our schools so we can adapt our delivery as needed.
How will face-to-face programmes adhere to COVID-19 safety guidelines?
We are looking forward to welcoming tutors back to Action Tutoring programmes this autumn term. To ensure that social distancing can be maintained during sessions and programmes can go ahead safely, we have created some guidelines for our volunteers. These describe the measures in place, what to do before, during and after sessions, and when you shouldn't attend your programme.
Where partner schools are enforcing their own social distancing measures, we will keep volunteers informed as appropriate. Action Tutoring's policies are subject to change as further guidance is released by the government.
Read our COVID-19 safety guidance for volunteers on face-to-face tutoring programmes.
Did GCSE exams and Key Stage 2 SATs still take place this summer?
Due to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) crisis, exams were cancelled. You can read the full guidance on the government website here. However, Year 11 pupils did receive GCSE results, based on their schools' assessment of the grade they would have achieved should exams have gone ahead. More information from Ofqual on this is available here.
Can we do tutoring online?
Moving our delivery online was already part of our strategic plans before the crisis hit, but we have now refreshed the timescales to enable us to deliver it much sooner. We delivered a small-scale test phase in June and July and have now begun sharing our first wave of online tutoring programmes with our volunteers for autumn 2020-21.
Please apply now via our application form if you would like to join us as an online tutor. If you are interested in online tutoring for your school, please do get in touch.
What happened to my pupils from last academic year?
Unfortunately we do not have direct contact with the pupils but we stayed in touch with schools during lockdown to find out the best ways we could support them. For some programmes, we were able to pass along messages from tutors to their pupils via the school.
Please do remember our safeguarding policy and do not attempt to make any direct contact with your pupils from last year.
Will volunteers be able to be trained online?
We are now delivering training to prospective volunteers online. This is a new venture for us and we are requesting feedback from volunteers after their training sessions as usual. If your tutor application is successful, we will invite you to join an online training session and explain the process for completing your DBS check remotely following training.
I don't live in any of your regions - can I still apply to be an online tutor?
Yes, you can! From October we will be launching our online tutoring platform, meaning you'll be able to join one of our tutoring programmes from anywhere in the country. This is a new development for us and we are currently going through the testing phase.
Please do apply via our normal online application form - https://www.tfaforms.com/332860 - you can select 'None of the above' under the 'Region' question. This means you'll be able to support as an online only tutor. We'll invite you to some online training and process your DBS for you before you get started in the autumn.
