The Nobel School - a co-educational secondary school and sixth form located in Stevenage - identified an attainment gap between their pupils.
We worked with them to use targeted tutoring for their Year 10 pupils.
The challenge
Historically, at The Nobel School (and at a national level) there has been a gap between Pupil Premium pupils and those from more well-off backgrounds.
They wanted to use targeted tutoring for their Year 10 pupils to help close the gap.
The programme
The school chose their participants carefully, looking at their data to make sure the pupils selected would benefit the most from the programme.
"From our most recent data drop, we knew that Science was the slightly weaker subject of the core three," says Paul Willsher, Head of Year 10.
"So together with MyTutor, we targeted our programme around Science - and specifically the Year 10 pupil premium students who had the largest gap between their target and predicted grade."
The hope was to engage these pupils more by having them in school for an additional period and to provide extra support to narrow the grade gap.
The impact
The impact of the programme has been significant, but there are the key areas:
Renewed confidence
Through the MyTutor programme, confidence and enthusiasm for learning have been reinvigorated: "I asked whether they'd be keen to continue working with MyTutor through to Year 11, and they unanimously said 'yes.'" says Paul.
"Lots of them have gone back with renewed confidence into their Science lessons, feeling that they understood the topics more."
A narrowing gap
Following a pupil survey: "Every single one of the pupils said they found their tutoring sessions 'really useful' - thanks to that dedicated 1:1 hour with their tutor." Pupils' wellbeing and feelings towards school have improved hugely, too.
This helps to close the attainment gap between pupils as they feel better about and more engaged in learning.
The experience
The teachers at The Nobel School were very happy with the programme set-up, finding it easy and straightforward.
"The MyTutor support team was fantastic - every time I phoned or emailed, there was an immediate, clear response. And, The Teacher Portal is easy to navigate around and use," says Paul.
A top tip or word of advice from the school
“The attainment gap is an area that we've focused on a lot over the past two or three years The gap is closing, but it's still bigger than we want it to be and we have more work with MyTutor to do".
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