Free tuition for school children

School children in Bristol who are lagging behind in English and maths may benefit from a new scheme offering free one-to-one tuition.

Costing £900,000, all primary, junior and secondary schools in Bristol are involved in the national scheme.

Fully qualified teachers will work with children aged from 7 to 16 who are behind the set level for their age.

Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, Cllr Clare Campion-Smith, said: “Individual tuition should not be the preserve of the well-off.  This scheme means that all children can benefit from extra support, whatever their family’s income.”

Children will receive an additional ten hours of individual tuition to be taken either during the school day, after school’s finished, or in the holidays.

The programme was previously trialled in 26 Bristol primary schools last year.

Parson Street Primary School in Bedminster was one of these.  Headteacher, Mark Lacey, said: “The one to one tuition programme has provided our children with an unprecedented opportunity to receive focussed support on their individual needs in a way that is so difficult to achieve in a normal classroom setting.

“Qualified teachers have been able to work alongside these children to address specific gaps in their learning that have served to strengthen their knowledge, skills and understanding in a range of mathematical contexts.  The progress that these children have made over a ten week period of one hour sessions has been phenomenal and we are very pleased to be able to continue this programme over the coming academic year – the opportunity to extend it into English as well is something that we are very excited about.”

Parent at Parson Street Primary School, Bedminster, Tracey Skidmore’s daughter, Katie, benefited from the extra tuition in maths last year.

Tracey  said:  “My daughter Katie was struggling with maths in the run-up to her key stage 2 tests.  The extra tuition took away the pressure and anxiety by boosting her skills and confidence.  It is thirty years since I was studying maths at school – the tutor was able to help my daughter and fill in the gaps where I couldn’t.”