The Secrets to Successful Summer Catch-Up Tuition

This month, the DfE announced an extension to the period in which schools can use their School-Led Tutoring Grant. This funding is now available for arranging catch-up activities until 31 August. This means that, for the second year running, schools will be given the financial support to organise their own summer tuition programmes to help pupils regain ground lost during the pandemic.

If your school is likely to opt into this scheme, then you may well be teaching a cohort of incoming Year 7s who you have identified as most in need of extra tuition.

How you go about this is a question that only you can answer. Schools have the autonomy to structure the programmes as they see fit, and you will no doubt have your own vision for your course. 

In our articles from last year ahead of the government's 2021 summer school scheme, we discussed how you might decide on which pupils you plan to target, and how you could go about staffing your programme. This time round, we’ve put together a non-exhaustive list of some things schools might hope to see at the end of a summer catch up tuition programme.  

Above all, summer tuition should give its attendees the confidence to start the new academic year without fear of being at a disadvantage. This is particularly critical for programmes aimed at children who need to prepare for exams after two years of cancellations. 

If your summer tuition programme has instilled better self-esteem and a new, visible confidence in previously underperforming pupils, then you can congratulate yourself on a job well done.

Parental buy-in is crucial for the success of any summer tuition programme. You need to convince parents and guardians that your scheme will be a worthwhile use of their child’s holiday time. This requires a proactive approach to communication from the word go.

How you do this is up to you. You could send a formal invitation letter, plus SMS messages before and during the programme to alert them to important updates. Whatever your communication strategy, you need to maintain parents’ trust in the programme from organisation to execution to follow-up.

When your summer catch-up programme concludes, you should feel confident that every moment of it has been spent wisely. This may take some careful balancing. Unutilised ‘dead-time’ will undermine concentration, while overworked, burnt-out pupils will only come away with a sense of resentment towards the whole programme. How much you focus on pupil enrichment versus more straightforwardly academic tutoring is up to you.

In 2019, the Harris Academy in South Norwood ran a successful programme for vulnerable incoming Year 7s that mixed lessons on academic subjects with fun team challenges and sport sessions. You can read more about its success here for a bit of inspiration.

It is likely that the pupils on your tuition programme may have particular disadvantages that you will need to take into account. This is almost certain to be the case if the programme is targeted at kids on free school meals.

This means, of course, that your programme must be as accessible as possible for the children it is designed to help. In this light, your school could consider assisting with the cost of food and travel, or even providing it outright with free catering and school buses.

A successful programme of catch-up tuition over the summer will overcome pupils’ disadvantages through a balanced set of activities.

To hit all these notes, you need to call upon a team of excellent educators who will be present over the programme’s duration. Your permanent staff members may not all be available on your chosen dates, so it’s important to have a good set of options to smooth over any bumps in the road.

Teaching Personnel will have thousands of trained, vetted teaching staff available every week of the summer. Our educators have wealth of experience dealing with disadvantaged kids. We can provide core subject teachers, mentors, SEND staff, sports coaches and more to help you run a truly holistic summer tuition programme that successfully primes pupils for the Autumn Term.

To find out more about Teaching Personnel’s summer provisions, get in touch with us today. Click the button below for everything you need to know on making the most of your School-Led Tutoring Grant funding before it's recouped at the end of the academic year.