We welcome the Government’s announcement of a £350m National Tutoring Programme through which schools can access subsidised tutoring for pupils most in need of catch up support.
It is clear that the attainment gap, already over 18 months at GCSE, has worsened dramatically during lockdown - and the most disadvantaged are even further behind.
This announcement comes at a pertinent time for schools who are developing recovery plans for the next academic year. We look forward to further details on how it will operate in the coming weeks.
Small group tuition, as provided by Team Up, will be central in schools’ plans for helping pupils catch up. The Education Endowment Foundation is clear that tutoring is the catch-up approach supported by the strongest evidence.
We were pleased to play our part in the coalition of tutoring charities who called on the Government to make catch up funding available for those most impacted by the current crisis, led by the Fair Education Alliance including: Teach First, Action Tutoring, The Access Project, The Tutor Trust, Brilliant Club, TalentEd, CoachBright, West London Zone, Equal Education, Future Frontiers, Get Further and Literacy Pirates.
Eleisha Maton, Assistant Headteacher at Sacred Heart High School in Hammersmith and one of Team Up’s longstanding school partners, “now sees Team-Up as part of our recovery curriculum. Team-Up was always there to help targeted students recover through closing the gap; in a post school lock-down context, [Team Up’s] contribution to recovery has taken on a new urgency."
We are keen to hear from schools, Multi-Academy Trusts and Local Authorities who are interested in working with us in London (particularly outer London boroughs), South East and Eastern Regions and the North East - where we are piloting online in partnership.
Team Up has a strong track record of delivering small group tuition to disadvantaged pupils, who make double expected progress, in partnership with schools. We use trained volunteers supported by Team Up Programme Managers, all of whom are themselves qualified and experienced teachers.
We traditionally deliver face-to-face in the school setting and worked with over 30 schools in London and the South East in Autumn and Spring terms.
We are already delivering online to pupils from a number of schools at home, and we're developing our remote programme model to deliver to pupils in school while tutors remain online.
We are currently recruiting tutors for the Autumn term. Please see our volunteer page to apply
To find out more about how Team Up can support your school, please click here or contact our Head of Programmes Freya Rowland on freya.rowland@teamup.org.uk.