Schools

Sandy McNicholl, Deputy Head, Ambler Primary School

Action Tutoring has been working with Ambler Primary School since autumn 2018. 

“Action Tutoring was recommended by the network of schools who received funding from the Richard Reeves Foundation. All the schools involved in the consortium chose Action Tutoring to deliver tutoring to Year 6 pupils. Our Pupil Premium numbers have dropped over the last few years and currently 24% of the school fits this category. However we are very aware of the factors that affect our families leading to hidden deprivation – families who do not claim benefits due to a number of different circumstances. In addition we have a large number of EAL (English as an additional language) children, with over 53 languages spoken in the school. This is certainly a factor that affects attainment. Covid-19 has had a big impact on our school community with some families leaving the UK; children affected by death in the family; some families too scared to send their children into school and families without the IT facilities or the knowledge to support children with remote learning.

The first lockdown in March 2020 has impacted children academically but also mentally and emotionally. The majority of children really enjoy the opportunity to work with a tutor in pairs. The tutors work very hard to build positive relationships with the children. The data from previous years has shown the children all to make progress over the academic year. [We have] nothing but praise for Action Tutoring! The communication between myself and the lead is fantastic. They really know the children and always flag up any concerns if they see pairs of children not working well or just individuals who are not working so hard or are distracted. I think it is an extremely valuable resource and I am delighted to continue working with Action Tutoring. I value the hard work and dedication of the volunteer tutors and the fact that they are so reliable. The delivery of sessions face to face has been exemplary.” 

Sandy McNicholl, Deputy Head, Ambler Primary School

Prendergast Vale School

Action Tutoring has been working with Prendergast Vale School since spring 2017, supporting its Year 10 and 11 pupils with English and maths.

“Overall the tutors that we’ve had from Action Tutoring have been really good quality. They’ve been really receptive to feedback and they’ve been really passionate about the subjects they’re tutoring and about working with the young people. I know that our pupils have benefited greatly from working with them and have had really positive things to say. We discuss the work we’re doing in class with the tutors and Action Tutoring, so that they can link in with it through the tutoring. The pupils will also provide feedback to the tutors on the areas that they’re struggling with so that the tutoring can be tailored to their needs. The tutors are external role models for our pupils. It’s key for them to see people from different walks of life and that’s really shown with Action Tutoring and the variety of tutors we get. They’re all really positive about the subjects they teach and our pupils respond really well to that. If I could describe the Action Tutoring tutors in one word I would use the word ‘passionate’.

This year we’ve moved to online tutoring, for obvious reasons, and it’s been a seamless experience for our pupils. We’ve had face to face tutoring from Action Tutoring for the past few years and this year the technology and the platform that Action Tutoring use for online has worked really well. The pupils have been really positive about the online tutoring and have been really grateful that it’s still been able to happen despite the circumstances we’ve found ourselves in. I would definitely recommend Action Tutoring to other schools. At Prendergast Vale they’ve made a massive difference to our pupils so I could not recommend them highly enough. I would definitely say that Action Tutoring represents value for money: the progress that our pupils make and the confidence that they build is definitely worth the money.” 

Mark Shaw, Interim Deputy Headteacher, Prendergast Vale School