Manning’s Partner Advisory Board Meeting

 

12th January 2023

 

WRITTEN BY JULIA SILVER, BA, QTS, NPQH

 

In a private dining room at the foot of the iconic Shard tower, twelve educators gathered to discuss tutoring over pork bao and diet cokes. The host, Johnny Manning, gathered  together school leaders, tutors and tutor trainers to discuss the integration of tutoring in schools. Thrilled to be amongst like-minded people and far removed from the school  gates, the participants quickly warmed to each other, sharing stories of tutoring successes  and challenges across prawn crackers and seafood skewers. 

Johnny invited us to introduce ourselves, and identify one key challenge that we face with  tutoring. 

 

TS: I have been working with Manning’s since  2010. We will always be loyal to Manning’s. Due  to the cost-of-living crisis, we decided to use  the NTP funding for our own staff this year. The  NTP has been very well received and we have  tried to extend beyond Pupil Premiums (PP).  I feel tuition and tutoring should be about kids  who can’t afford it, and those who feel no one  cares. At the moment, targeting Y13s and A  Level students is proving to be a challenge. I  initially had reservations with online tutoring,  but Manning’s have been doing it very well. The kids are buzzing about it!

 

JM: Yes, online is normalised – very few tutors  want to do in person tuition anymore.

 

JS: I was Deputy Head in a primary school  before I launched Qualified Tutor. I am also  a mother of five awesome people ranging in age from seven to seventeen. I got into supporting tutors’ well-being because I know  that the best way to improve outcomes for students is to develop the adults who work  with them. Tutoring brings a solution to many of the problems in education today, and so I bring all my energy to raising standards in this  space.

 

My big challenge is that I have been ahead of  the curve in supporting tutors for four years. Finally, training for tutors is becoming an  expectation rather than a ‘nice to have’. It is  very exciting to see tutoring stepping up. It  is wonderful to be a part of such a powerful  development in education.

 

WS: We have been with Manning’s for three  years. I went to a few different companies but  what stood out was the Manning’s team, they  were the most personable. For us online has  always worked.

We have a few different schemes with  Manning’s. Our NTP schemes with Manning’s  run for 45 minutes a lesson. We had to split down the 15-hour requirement into 20  sessions (instead of 15). Manning’s were very  accommodating.

At school, we’ve done some curriculum modifications. If our boys are not doing well in  one lesson (GCSE), we take them out of it and  fill that slot with tutoring.

We do have a demand problem. We have a  long list of A Level students and a long list of  Y11 students needing tuition. Originally tutoring  was tailored to disadvantaged boys. Now we  have far higher numbers needing tuition. This  is good news for Manning’s, but difficult for us. We have a face-to-face maths tutor who  works with KS3 (not a Manning’s tutor).

 

GS: I am a deputy head teacher at a SEND  school. I have been there since September.  This time last year, I was chasing A Level and  GCSE results because people were chasing  me for outcomes. What I do now…What I am able to do is care. This is revolutionary. I couldn’t before as everything was so fast paced.

One of the many schools I worked with was so  hard to manage. There were lots of students,  lots of gangs and violence. Maths was such a  challenge. Bringing something new and fresh  like tutoring – the kids responded so well to it.

Tutors helped so much. We had 7 or 8 tutors  and the kids started to do really well. Kids  would come in on a Saturday morning in their  school uniforms.

Then I went to a school on one of the islands.  When I said, “Now I’m going to give you a  tutor”, jaws would fall on the floor. Students  were shocked. There was nothing on the  island. No ambition. Tutoring changed that.  The tutors had a really positive influence on  students and their families

 

IS: I am the Tutoring Lead at my school. This is  a new role. Managing tutoring was previously  done by various members of staff. Now we  have 60% PP. Grants and NTP provided a  massive stream of funding and we needed  someone to organise this. Manning’s Tutors  are used for a few different things.

This year we trialled our Oxbridge group. We  are breaking the cycle of poverty even with  just 1-2 students applying to Oxbridge. We are  offering something so valuable to students  who would never even think of it. It makes  them feel so special.

We value the in-person tuition for those  students who are not doing so well. They get  extra help in core subjects.

A lot of the students doing tutoring are those  who struggle at school and generally have  behavioural problems. This dedicated 1-to-1  time makes them feel valued. Feels incredibly  successful.

We have a lot of refugees now too. Those  students getting extra help is nice. Someone  described to me post Covid that, in terms of  class, there is a K-like shape which appears  on a graph. The performance of middle-class  students has gone up because parents were  able to help them. Working class is going  down.

 

MS: I was previously with another school. I was  responsible for interventions and then I was responsible for funding. I used two tutoring companies in the first year: Manning’s and  another one. I continued with Manning’s. 200+ students went through the tutoring  programme. It was an all-girls catholic school,  a high achieving school with high parental  engagement.