Pupils

Talisa, Greenfield E-ACT Academy

Talisa is in Year 5 at Greenfield E-ACT Academy in Bristol. Her tutor, Matt, comes to the school each week, and they work on maths together for an hour along with another Year 5 pupil, Jenson. Matt has been very impressed by Talisa’s hard work and enthusiasm, and has really enjoyed watching the progress his pupils have made.

Talisa says:

“[Before tutoring] I really didn’t like it. I’ve always found maths really hard. I like it more now because it’s more fun. Matt [tutor] and Jenson [fellow pupil] make it really fun because they say a question and somehow make it funny. [My favourite subject] is probably when we get to do art. This week we are making clay.

[Tutoring has] helped me in a few lessons because maths is used in a lot of lessons. If you are writing a recipe, you have got to put in the right amount of ingredients, like putting in 200 ml of liquid in a glass jar.

[My tutor] is fun to talk to and makes everything funny. Three words I would use to describe him are funny, kind and helpful. [Tutoring will help me achieve more in the future because] I’ll know more and will accomplish more things. [Tutoring] would probably be good for [other pupils] because it will help them learn more and you get to practice things from class again like adding, taking away and multiplying. It’s really fun and all of the tutors are really kind. They’re actually trying to help you. If you’re in a class with 30 other people, then it’s harder for the teacher because they have to help everyone at the same time. It’s better to have a tutor because children are at different stages of learning. Thank you [to the tutors] for being there to help us!“

Cooper, Dalmain Primary School

Cooper is in Year 6 at Dalmain Primary School in Forest Hill, South London. His tutor, Kay, comes to the school each week, and they work on maths together for an hour along with another Year 6 pupil. Kay has been very impressed by Cooper’s hard work and enthusiasm, and has really enjoyed watching the progress her pupils have made.

Cooper says:

“[At the start of the school year], I was quite nervous and I didn’t really know what was going to happen. I felt no confidence in maths at all. I couldn’t get anything right…I had rubbish times tables, I couldn’t really do anything.

Tutoring has definitely been helpful for me with maths. Because, it’s not strict or anything, it’s like perfect, and you just get your own little time to do like whatever you want to do and get better.

My tutor is always really nice, and she doesn’t say things that would make you want to stop or whatever. At the end we do like a ‘noughts and crosses’ where we have to answer a sum and if we get it right we get a turn, and if we don’t get it right we have to give the other person a chance.

Maths is important, this has helped me a lot so I’m very grateful and it’s been really really good. All I can really say is it’s really really good and it helps a lot, because I was not confident with maths at all and now I’m quite confident and I can do a lot better than I did before, that’s the only thing I can really say to encourage [other children].”

Muhammad, Oasis Academy South Bank

Muhammad is in Year 11 at Oasis Academy South Bank in London. He has been receiving maths tutoring on Tuesday mornings from one of our volunteers, Christine. He has attended every session this academic year, which hasn’t been easy as he first met Christine in person but then attended sessions online from home during the spring 2021 school closures. Since returning to school, he’s been working with Christine from school using our online tutoring platform.

Muhammad says:

“[At the start of the year] I couldn’t even imagine sitting an exam in maths! It’s been difficult being in and out of school because of the pandemic. It means it’s been harder to hold onto the things you’re being taught, it’s really easy to forget the skills you’re learning and to lose your confidence.

Knowing you have that extra support has given me more confidence in class. It’s meant I feel safe about taking the things I didn’t understand in class and talking to my tutor about them in a space outside the classroom, which has been especially helpful because we’ve been so in and out this year!

I could not understand ratios at all when I started Year 11. I would always try to practice in lessons but it just wouldn’t stick. Christine gave me lots of examples and we did all sorts of questions about it, applying the skills in different ways.

I want to go into sixth form and study English lit, psychology and history. I also want to be an actor so I’m part of a lot of drama and theatre groups where we put on productions. Maths isn’t obviously relevant to all of that, but it’s really important to get the help on all of your core skills for a good start in life, I think.

I would absolutely recommend tutoring. I always thought it was a great way to start my Tuesdays and it’s completely changed how I think about maths. Online was a bit different because it’s a strange way to show your working out but it’s still good to get that dedicated time where you can talk to someone about your learning and where you need help.

Christine is amazing. She’s fun, she asks how you are. She has a personality, which goes a long way! We’re both really bubbly and energetic, even on a Tuesday morning, which I think really helped us to understand each other.

It has been so much fun to work with her and I will always remember our conversations. I know she has another job so it has been really huge for me that she would give up some of her time to help me. She has made a real impact on my life that I will never forget.“

Gustav and Mateo, volunteer tutor and pupil

Gustav is a law student in London and finds tutoring a refreshing change from his degree. It gives him the chance to meet all sorts of different people, and working with primary school pupils has really improved his communication skills. Every week he works with Mateo, a Year 6 pupil who wants to be an engineer. Mateo thinks Gus is great and likes that tutoring gives him a chance to ‘step up’ his knowledge of maths and English.

Gustav says,

“I’m studying law at university and tutoring is completely different, such a contrast, and that’s mostly why I picked it. I saw it at a careers fair and thought this will be something very different to my degree, much more rewarding. It’s such a great escape, it’s so enjoyable. I’m thinking completely differently. Being able to communicate with a ten year old is a very useful skill!

I’ve definitely noticed a change in my pupil. The questions [my pupil] is asking are far more analytical and also the confidence, that’s another thing – at the beginning, obviously anyone would be frightened to ask certain questions and now he’s realising that there’s no stupid questions.

It’s nice to see that we’ve built a rapport and he doesn’t feel afraid.

My pupil is quite confident anyway, but even by his standards I could see he was quite timid. If I prompted him he’d talk but then outside of that he wouldn’t. And now he actively might interrupt me and ask a question which is good. That’s exactly what I want.

Lots of volunteering is working with people that you wouldn’t normally work with, or you can’t work with in a corporate setting. The thing that I’ve found the most is that it’s an escape from my degree – high pressure, constant work, dealing with people all the time and also very stressed. This is a world apart from that, people that are down to earth and that are learning themselves.

There’s so much to love about it. There’s lots of support from Action Tutoring in particular. The workbook makes it easy to get through the work and there’s also a lot of scope to do things you want to do. If you want to take it a step further you can, but if in some weeks you’re busy and you don’t have the time you can just stick to the workbook.  I think Action Tutoring is a very good option.”

Mateo says, 

“I like tutoring because they kind of like step it up. They teach me words that I never really experienced. They let me read textbooks and sometimes they have extra information that I can use if I have to do English lessons.

I think my tutor is very nice. He makes it simple for me to understand and he’s great.

I want to be an engineer. I want to make some things, mechanical parts! English doesn’t really help with it but I would like to study English at university. I like to read books from authors’ imaginations or sometimes real books about people, autobiographies.

[I think other people should have tutoring] because it could help them a lot if they don’t understand certain things, because you have a baseline assessment – so they kind of go through things we need to go through and I think tutoring just helps with that a lot.”

Cara and Sobia, volunteer tutor and pupil

Sobia is in Year 6 at Walnut Tree Walk Primary School, London, and has maths tutoring each week with Cara. Sobia wants to be a doctor or a scientist when she grows up, and she says working with Cara has given her a ‘boost’ and makes her feel more confident . For Cara, watching her pupils make progress has been incredibly rewarding. 

Cara says:

“I work for a bank, working on international compliance, so that keeps me really busy.  I come [to tutoring] before work. Fortunately I work in central London so this is nice and convenient. It’s on the way in.

Maths is a really great subject, but how you get pupils excited about it – I was a little apprehensive about that. Maths is so important to get right and if I can instil in them at this age an enthusiasm and really encourage them through this, then this is a really great start before secondary school. This is the time when they can really learn and catch up.

I was quite nervous but the children were so lovely and enthusiastic. I learned early on that if I play a little game with them then they are quite competitive with each other in a good way. It helps to break up the session. [I can see] the joy in their faces, they enjoy it.

I get a lot of support from Action Tutoring. The workbook helps me plan my sessions and I receive regular emails. The Programme Co-ordinator is always on hand to answer any questions I might have.

As they first came in, they were reserved but now they are much more confident and fly through the questions.

I would encourage anyone who was thinking about getting involved to just do it, it is really rewarding.”

Sobia says:

“My favourite part of tutoring is working the questions out together.  Cara is very kind and she always helps me out. Whenever we get stuck on a question she will always be able to help us out.”

I think I want to become a doctor or a scientist but I still can’t decide. I would be a medical scientist, because I want to help out people in the world. Imagine if there’s like a new disease then I would be able to figure it out.

Action Tutoring really gives you a boost at school. You feel more confident.”