There are currently over 9 million children in UK schools, each with their own personal needs and learning abilities. With so many children going through the education system, it’s not surprising that some students may struggle with attending mainstream school.

Keep reading to learn more about how we developed a suitable tutoring solution to support Kings Oak School!

The Exclusion Conundrum For Kings Oak School

Kings Oak School was experiencing a problem with some of its students and needed our help. The ten students in question had been excluded for various reasons and the school was keen for these students to stay on track with the curriculum.

While these children were unable to attend mainstream lessons for a variety of reasons, the school believed that one-to-one tutoring could be the answer. Matching students to the right tutoring solution and tutor is a challenge we relish here at Tutor Doctor and we gladly accepted.

Why We Recommended Tutoring as a Solution

We understood the importance of matching the right tutoring style to each student and ensuring the tutors selected had the right expertise and level of experience.

Some students in the group had special educational needs and would need lessons with a fully trained and experienced SEND tutor. We recommended one-to-one tutoring for the excluded students as it not only kept them motivated and on track with their education but also ensured their lessons were focused on their individual needs.

One-to-one tutoring sessions were offered in the home as well as within the school. This allowed each student to learn in an environment where they could feel comfortable, and where they would not be distracted by others or create a distraction themselves.

While tutoring was recommended in the first instance, the ultimate aim was always to help the student transition to mainstream education again.

How Our Tutoring Services Worked For One Year 10 Student

One pupil from the group, a Year 10 student with high-functioning autism, was finding mainstream school life very challenging. He had been excluded from lessons for disruptive behaviour and initially needed support in English and Maths. Science and Computer Science lessons were also added to the student’s home tutoring schedule. The student is currently receiving over three hours of tuition every day with a SEND tutor.

How We Matched the Right Tutors

We always take the student’s immediate needs into account and will review these needs throughout the tutoring journey.

To help this Year 10 student make meaningful progress in their studies and to get the right support for their special educational needs, we carefully matched them with subject specialist tutors with SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) experience.

Tutor Doctor Greenwich worked with Kings Oak School and the student’s foster carer to:

• Match tutors carefully in the first instance and regularly review to ensure the plan was having an impact. For example, the first science tutor we placed wasn’t gelling with him so we made a change to a new tutor who had more SEND experience.

• Share experiences across the student’s tutoring and administration team.

• Deliver tailored and engaging tutoring sessions, each with a strong purpose.

• Provide regular feedback and produce progress reports for each session.

How Were Lessons Planned and Delivered?

Each lesson was planned ahead of time and in line with each student’s unique needs. Here’s an example of one of the Maths lessons our tutor delivered.

Please note: the name of the student has been removed for privacy reasons.

Maths

The Session: ***** started the session by watching a video on the topic from Corbettmaths to help recap our last online session.

Shortly after, ***** attempted questions focused on multiplying double-digit numbers by single-digit numbers and made great progress on this. To challenge ***** further, we worked on multiplying triple-digit numbers by double-digit numbers, this was challenging for him and he needed more modelling and practise.

***** started to get the hang of the strategy after attempting a few questions together and he was able to improve his accuracy on these questions, well done. Make sure that you are careful with where you place the numbers as any slight misjudgment can change your answer. Well done and keep up the excellent work!

Targets: The tutor is working to fill any gaps within statistics, probability and proportion. He will also support *****’s computer studies and work with him on any additional maths topics specifically needed within the coding.

Our SEND tutor also delivered lessons in science, computer science and English. Here are examples of those session reports.

Science

The Session: Began the session with a recap of the circulatory system and I asked **** to let me know how he got on with his homework. He had not completed all of it and upon going through it was apparent he had Googled the answers rather than watching the video and using the website I suggested.

However, we watched the video together and then I asked the questions again in a different format. ***** was able to answer them and also describe the process of the circulatory system along with identifying sections of the heart and correctly labelling.

Going back over this took up the first half of the session but I feel that **** is more confident in this subject now. We will have a quick recap at the beginning of next week.

Computer Science

The Session: Number systems in computer systems.

Reasoning about addressing schemes, the relevance to Boolean expressions and the relationship between passing data by value, and passing data by reference.

I have been very impressed with *****’s attitude to learning in recent sessions, he is consistently doing all homework set.

Targets: Richard will try to stretch **** a little each session to keep him inspired and growing. He feels with the right support, particularly in maths, **** is capable of GCSE Computer Science, and then potentially A-level.

English

The Session: In this lesson, we worked through another writing task inspired by a picture (***** chose one of a car factory) including a range of literary devices and all five senses, as well as thinking about how to describe thoughts and emotions.

We then worked through questions 1 and 2 of the reading paper; ***** did well and picked up the idea of question 1 easily. We will work on further examples of Q 1 and 2 until he is able to tackle them independently, before moving on to Q 3 and 4.

Lois, his English tutor, has asked me to share how impressed she has been with his learning over this half term. He has made great improvement in his willingness to write set pieces of work. Well done *****.

Targets: To build *****’s confidence in writing.

These are just 4 examples of session reports that detail the progress and areas of improvement for students. These reports are provided after each tutoring session takes place.

Discover the Flexibility and Results That Tutoring Can Bring to Your School

If you are a school that needs help with one-to-one tutoring, Tutor Doctor offers a wide selection of tutoring services. We carefully match each tutor to ensure the best possible results and a positive learning experience. At Tutor Doctor, we offer school tuition support that can address a broad spectrum of educational needs and challenges. Get in touch with your local office today to get started.