Aims

The main aims of School Tutor Partners are:

To develop a direct relationship with a partnered school when assisting with one-to-one specialist SEND provision

A direct relationship between the school and tutor improves communication, allowing problem solving, timely reports and simple reallocation of resources. An ongoing partnership develops this further. Past success has seen the tutor, SENCo and exams officer working together to achieve a range of qualifications for students, which they would not have achieved without the tutor's support.

To offer consistently high quality teaching with effective use of ICT to help engage students

By working with one tutor, the school can be certain they are getting the same high quality teaching delivered to each of their students. Additionally, the tutor can take ownership of the students progress by working towards agreed targets delegated by the schools SENCo.

To cut down on unnecessary costs so that funds can be put to best use in supporting students

By working directly with a tutor for one-to-one provision, there is less need for arbitrary costs associated with administration. The tutor works directly with the school, billing for the time they have been booked. There are no third party groups. In most cases, this results in a saving which can be fed back into the education of young people.

About the Founder

John Shields has worked as a teacher for over a decade and a half, with more than half of this time focusing on students with SEND. During his career, he has worked in mainstream schools and specialist provisions for ASC, BESD, and other alternative provisions. Over the last three years, he has worked as a tutor, providing support on a one-to-one basis, working with schools, parents, SENAR and other organisations to support students with SEND.

His aim in setting up School Tutor Partners is to provide a focused service offered directly to schools.

Many schools face challenges in providing ongoing support to students who can no longer participate successfully in school. For some students, this has been a pattern throughout their school life, thus creating gaps in their knowledge and exacerbating the students' anxiety even more.

One-to-one teaching can often provide a short to a medium-term solution, but schools frequently need to rely on unknown agency staff to fulfil this role. This can often be an expensive process. Communication between the tutor and school is usually indirect, relying on a third party to pass on vital information about a student's progress. Parents may also interpret this as even further distancing from the school community when they need the support the most.

School Tutor Partners aim to work as an extension of the student's educational setting. Through direct contact, communication improves, and staff members become familiar with the tutor who can report on students' progress, take on accountability and have direct communication with the safeguarding team, SENCo and other key staff members.

This direct relationship is key for the student and parents who will make a better connection between tutor and school. The tutor often takes on the ambassador role because of the extra support and direct links forged. School Tutor Partnership demonstrates a clear commitment to the welfare and education of any student. An extension of the normal support given to a full-time attending student.

When needed, the tutor becomes an extension of the team, on hand, to provide support to other students when requested. Furthermore, accountability for progress and monitoring is central to the tutor's role, with regular reports, exam preparation and even invigilation when needed (see case study).

The role of non-teaching, admin, booking staff etc. are minimised as the central focus becomes those that are working to achieve the best outcomes for young people in education.

The tutor from the School Tutor Partnership works directly with schools. A lead tutor is placed with each school to develop ongoing relationships with staff members and parents to create the best outcomes for students. By having direct contact with key staff members, the school's tutor can work with the school to develop a curriculum, feedback on key information, help with re-integration, provide exam support or help with an alternative curriculum for individual students.

Success stories have seen close working with the SENCO and exam officer to help struggling students access a range of qualifications, including GCSE, and attain grades which would have been unobtainable for the students without the support from the tutor. The cooperation of a lead educator builds success stories working in close contact with the exams officer and SENCO (See case study).

Key Advantages:

A fully managed service

An experienced SEND teacher will manage the relationship with key partners of the school. Previous success has seen SENCos and exam officer working directly with the tutor to ensure a bespoke package of qualifications were prepared for and achieved. In addition to this, School Tutor Partners have a number of links with vocational courses beyond the typical qualifications offered in a mainstream school including bike repair, fishing coaching and mechanics.

A dedicated and experienced lead tutor to work as an extension of the school team.

The aim of School Tutor Partners is very much in the name. We thrive in working as partners with schools to provide packages which work for the school, the parents and most importantly the student. An existing curriculum can be adapted or our lead tutor can build a bespoke package at no extra cost. Not only this, because tutors work on a one-to-one basis, we can incorporate state of the art technology to help engage students in a way not normally possible in a class environment.

No extended contract

Many of the young people who require specialist provision, may be waiting for another school or developing the skills to reintegrate. On occasions, the student may not work well on a one-to-one basis. For these reasons, we don't ask for an extended contract. The tutor books one week in advance to secure their time. Other than this, future tutor sessions can be easily cancelled to fit in with the priorities of the school.

Direct communication with the tutor to help develop best outcomes for students

A key aim is to develop excellent ongoing communication to help achieve positive outcomes for students, parents and schools.

Highly experienced staff without unnecessary administration charges

Get an experienced tutor, with many years experience as a teacher without paying the high cost an agency.

A full curriculum package using advanced ICT or other training partners

The same curriculum is clearly not right for every student. The tutor builds a bespoke curriculum, but can also make bookings for other providers. In the past students have worked with the Angling Trust to complete coaching qualifications and bike repair through a local charity. Some of these courses require an additional charge in additional to the tutor's rate.

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