Good Practice Case Study

St Mary’s Junior School, Ware

School No: 306

One to One Tuition

St Mary’s is an average sized C of E Junior School in Ware. Most pupils are of White British background and their first language is English. A lower than average number have learning difficulties or disabilities. The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals is below average.

Pupils Targeted

Pupils Involved: 15 Year 6 pupils

Subject: Mathematics and Literacy

Selection Criteria: Pupils who had attained a level 2c at the end of Key Stage 1 for whom school tracking indicated they may not attain 2 levels of progress.

Tutor Recruitment

Who?One current full-time teacher, one regular part-time teacher, one regular supply teacher and six supply teachers from an agency.

How? Approached by the headteacher and direct contact with the supply agency.

Why? Teachers already employed by the school provide tuition for pupils during term time, whilst supply agency staff provide intensive tuition during holiday periods. This was a necessary step in order to complete the tuition within a given timescale.

Challenges

The initial challenge was finding tutors in a limited period of time. Once this was overcome,
there were very few problems encountered by the school and the experience of the pilot has
been very positive. Monitoring and quality assurance are areas for development, as is tutorteacher liaison.

The Sessions

The tuition programme is overseen by the headteacher. All of the identified pupils have taken up the tuition and reports from tutors, class teachers and pupils indicate that this has been a real success. All tuition sessions take place outside of school hours, either after school or during the school holidays. The school has arranged for tutoring to take place during the February half term and Easter break. This has allowed intensive tutoring to take place.

The early involvement of parents has resulted in them all being on board with the pilot from the start. The initial contact was made through the headteacher speaking to each parent individually. This was followed up with a series of three letters. The first outlined the available
time slots for tuition so that parents could select the most appropriate time. The second letter detailed arrangements for the sessions and finally a reminder was sent to parents immediately prior to the tuition commencing. As some of the tutors were sourced externally there was
an initial meet and greet session between tutors, parents and pupils. This allowed parents and pupils to talk to the tutor in order to establish a strong working relationship.

Regular contact has been maintained through letters home and the pupil passports. Individual Tuition Plans have also been used to ensure contact between the class teacher and the tutor. Pupil passports allow parents to be kept informed of their progress.