Badock’s Wood E-ACT Academy

Badock’s Wood E-ACT Academy is a primary school in Bristol. For the 2022-23 academic year, 64% of pupils were eligible for pupil premium with 40% learning English as Additional Language (EAL).

Of the 20 pupils who were on our maths programme in the 2022-23 academic year, 19 representing (95%) achieved the expected standard in their SATs. There was no attainment gap recorded as all 14 pupils eligible for Pupil Premium achieved expected standards in maths.

Here is what deputy headteacher, Gemma Hewson, had to say:

We realised there was a need for additional support for pupils and also for school staff, as they were teaching from 8am Monday to Wednesday in bigger groups. Action Tutoring was brought in to provide small-group support with their tutors.

In terms of pupils needs [at Key stage 2], our school focuses a lot on numbers – fractions, decimals and percentages. We found that, especially after Covid, we were having to go back and plug in gaps around things like shapes, that were harder to teach when we switched to virtual learning. Working with Action tutoring meant that tutors can focus on bridging those gaps and they’re doing it through games and being engaging.

We had a pupil join the school with poor attendance, low self-confidence, and working below expected standard. It took us a while to get him to start attending tutoring sessions but when he did, he had an instant bond with his tutor. His attendance, attitude and performance gradually started to improve. Being able to relate to his tutor made such a difference and he went on to meet expected standards.

Tutoring has improved engagement because pupils feel more confident doing their maths and speaking up in class. With a high percentage of pupils [on the programme last year] learning English as a second language, accessing tutoring and working in those small groups helped with their confidence in English so they would engage more in class.

I will advise schools to look at the marginal gains, analyse the gaps and use tutoring to fill them. Action Tutoring has enabled us to plug those foundational gaps including mental arithmetic. Their Programme Coordinator [assigned to each school] works with us to figure out those gaps and then decide what tutors should focus on, which means we’re not duplicating efforts and we have everything covered.