Norton Hill School
This year, we worked with Norton Hill School - a Multi-Academy Trust school in Bath - on a GCSE tutoring programme for Maths, English and Science.
The programme focussed on children with a range of different needs and saw 15 pupils receiving 250 1:1 lessons.
The challenge
Norton Hill School wanted to support their pupils with core subjects. The challenge was to help SEN and looked-after children with a skills and confidence booster in Maths, English and Science.
They also wanted to support Year 10 and 11 pupils who were struggling to access school because of their mental health. There are pupils with high anxiety levels and poor self-esteem, who struggle with the standard 6-hour day in school.
The programme
With the help of MyTutor, Norton Hill school provided 1:1 tuition in English, Maths and Science to those pupils who needed it most.
"For pupils with anxiety working from home, we used the 9am morning slot to provide some structure and get them engaged with learning," says Assistant Headteacher Tanya Gibbs.
"Then, after their MyTutor session, they were ready to come to school. It broke up their day, reduced their hours, and meant they were still covering core content."
In this way, their MyTutor programme was able to be flexible to the needs of pupils struggling with their mental health.
The impact
The impact on Norton Hill School pupils is really two-fold:
Improved self-esteem and motivation
The tutoring helped to improve pupils' self-esteem and engagement at school.
"Two of my pupils who have struggled with motivation in the past, made excellent progress with their Science tutor, Solomon, because they were so engaged by him," says Tanya.
"Thats been a particular success story for us, and is a testament to the quality of the tutors that MyTutor has on board."
Improved grades
MyTutor had the biggest impact on Norton Hill School's looked-after pupils' grades, particularly in Science.
"We had some brilliant Science tutors that the pupils adored and loved working with. Those pupils have gone up from Level 2 and 3, to 4 and 5 - which is exactly the outcome we hoped for."
The experience
Overall the experience with MyTutor has been positive, from set up to tracking impact.
"The programme set up process was straightforward, and I was impressed by the level of support provided by MyTutor during lockdown," says Tanya.
"Within three days of us closing the school in March, a team member got in touch to ask whether we wanted to transfer the programme from Year 11 to some of our lower school pupils - and that was sorted within a week."
On top of this, the school found the experience of working with MyTutor more cost-effective than other interventions, like 1:1 TAs.
Next steps
Next year, Norton Hill School is planning to increase tutoring for their mental health bubble - those with poor confidence and self-esteem.
"We plan to use afternoon and morning sessions to reduce the level of stress on those pupils, and to keep them engaged in learning, rather than them simply going home," says Tanya.
We're delighted to see the school expanding their provision for pupils who need additional support.
A top tip or word of advice from the school
“For pupils with Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs), we found that MyTutor was much cheaper than hiring a 1:1 TA - and it was better, too, because it meant that pupils received subject-specialist delivery of lessons.”
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