News & Insights 14 January 2025

Packing an impact punch! The rationale for our approach to curriculum

Creating a tutoring curriculum that makes a genuine difference in pupils’ lives requires much more than simply aligning sessions with national standards. At Action Tutoring, we have carefully developed a curriculum that is evidence-based, inclusive, and designed to address the unique barriers faced by pupils facing disadvantage. Here’s how our approach ensures maximum impact, one carefully crafted session at a time.

Grounded in research and evidence

Our curriculum is built on a foundation of up-to-date research into effective teaching and tutoring practices. This ensures that pupils benefit from the latest insights into how young people learn best. For example, our Year 6 English curriculum draws on guidance from the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) and incorporates evidence-based strategies like structured scaffolding and retrieval practice.

This commitment to research isn’t a one-time effort. Our Curriculum Leads (CLs), both of whom are experienced educators, conduct regular literature reviews to ensure our maths and English materials are informed by the latest studies and align with educational standards. By keeping our curriculum dynamic and reflective of current best practices, we give our pupils the best chance to succeed (and achieve the all-important passing grades in their SATs and GCSEs).

Tackling barriers to learning head-on

We recognise that all pupils face challenges, but those from disadvantaged backgrounds often encounter additional hurdles. Our curriculum is designed to mitigate these barriers, including:

1. Poor attendance

Attendance is a significant challenge for many pupils facing disadvantage. To address this, our team of Programme Coordinators (PCs) works closely with schools to maximise attendance. Additionally, our curriculum incorporates recap activities and opportunities to recall prior knowledge, to ensure that each session can ‘stand alone’ to promote pupil progress. 

2. The vocabulary gap

Research shows that pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds often face a significant gap in their vocabulary. Alex Quigley’s ‘Closing the Vocabulary Gap’ refers to this; he emphasises that many pupils lack exposure to rich language and diverse texts, leaving them less equipped to tackle challenging material. 

David Didau highlights this issue in his blog on closing the language gap, sharing an example from a foundation-tier exam on Of Mice and Men. The exam included a seemingly straightforward question about ‘dreams’, specifically addressing the ‘futility’ of dreams. Unfortunately, none of the pupils attempted to answer it – not because they didn’t grasp the concept, but because they didn’t know what ‘futility’ meant. Despite their understanding of the underlying idea, their limited vocabulary left them unable to engage with the question.

This challenge has only grown since 2015, as the English curriculum has advanced in complexity, particularly through its vocabulary demands. Simply encouraging ‘reading for pleasure’ is insufficient to close this gap. Pupils from lower socioeconomic backgrounds often don’t get the language exposure needed to access a lot of material.

That’s why our sessions are designed to model effective reading strategies and explicitly teach tier 2 vocabulary, such as “lunged” and “benevolent,” alongside tier 3 subject-specific terms like “metaphor” and “oxymoron.” By embedding this instruction into engaging, scaffolded activities, we help pupils build the language skills they need to access and excel in their learning.

3. Difficulties in accessing learning at home

A lack of access to technology or a suitable learning environment can hinder progress. That’s why our online tutoring sessions are fully equipped with the resources pupils need; such as headsets and printed anthologies of texts to annotate; delivered in the safe and structured setting of their school.

4. Closing learning gaps

Our curriculum is targeted at helping pupils catch up in areas where they may have fallen behind. For example, our Year 5 English grammar curriculum focuses on three essential areas: tenses, prefixes/suffixes, and fronted adverbials. These skills are foundational for success in Year 6 and beyond.

Aligned with the National Curriculum

Ensuring continuity with classroom learning is essential. Our curriculum aligns closely with the National Curriculum, enabling pupils to strengthen and build on their classroom knowledge. For instance, our maths resources integrate problem-solving questions and opportunities for “maths talk,” which mirrors the emphasis placed on reasoning and communication in schools.

Inclusive by design

We believe that a truly impactful curriculum must reflect the diversity of the pupils we serve. That’s why diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) principles are woven into every stage of curriculum design. We aspire towards:

  • Author diversity: A 50/50 gender balance in our primary resources, and 25% of authors from ethnic minorities.
  • Inclusive content: Names and scenarios in our curriculum reflect a variety of cultures and avoid stereotypes. For instance, traditional binary groupings like “boys and girls” have been replaced with creative alternatives, such as “guinea pigs and rabbits.”
  • A proactive approach: DEI isn’t a bolt-on gesture at the end – it’s embedded from the very beginning of the design process.

Looking to the future

At Action Tutoring, our curriculum is more than just a set of resources – it’s a carefully designed tool to empower pupils, tutors, and schools alike. By addressing the specific challenges faced by pupils facing disadvantage, prioritising inclusivity, and constantly striving for improvement, we aim to deliver a tutoring experience that truly packs an impact punch.

We work with primary and secondary state schools across England to deliver heavily subsidised, high-quality tutoring for pupils facing disadvantage in Years 5, 6, 7, 10 and 11, in English and maths. If you’re interested in finding out more, visits our schools page:

Read our curriculum guides:

Action Tutoring’s curriculum is designed to ensure comprehensive SATs and GCSE preparation for pupils. Our specialist Curriculum Leads for English and maths are fundamental to this, bringing a wealth of knowledge from their experiences as Lead Practitioners in schools.

You can view our current Curriculum Guides for schools below: