RYDE ACADEMY USES 1-TO-1 TUITION T HELP STUDENTS CATCH UP

As schools open their doors for the new academic year, Ryde Academy has praised the impact of online tutoring in keeping their students engaged.

Ryde Academy has worked with MyTutor, the online tutoring service, to provide additional learning for students who would otherwise struggle to reach the expected standard.

Despite the outstanding work by teachers across the Isle of Wight, and nationwide, to keep students on track with their studies during lockdown, there are fears that students are behind on their learning compared to previous years. The National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) recently released data indicating that the learning gap between disadvantaged students and their better-off peers has widened by 46% since schools were forced to close.

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For Ryde Academy, the support provided from MyTutor will prove vital to ensuring students are able to catch-up on any missed learning and quickly get back on track.

The school’s tuition programme was targeted towards students who would otherwise struggle to reach a Grade 4 or 5 in English and Maths. Once they had made enough progress that this was no longer a concern, they left the programme and a new student was given the opportunity.

Despite the cancellation of exams this summer, school leaders at Ryde Academy believe they were on track for their best ever results. Aside from the academic impact, students also saw their confidence rise after doing the programme, and they developed their ability to learn outside the classroom.

Will Doyle, Assistant Headteacher at Ryde Academy, said:

“A lot of these students lack self-confidence, and what’s amazing is the transformation they undergo once they’ve done the programme and they feel really proud of themselves. Typically, before they do their first ever sessions, they’re incredibly nervous because they don’t know what to expect. But their self-confidence afterwards, that’s something you can’t quantify. You don’t have numerical data on it, but you physically see it with your eyes. And you see their self-confidence grow.”

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James Grant, Co-Founder of MyTutor, said:

“We know how effective tutoring can be to supplement the great work being done by our schools. Following the lockdown, this became even more important as schools have had to adapt to online models of learning, with services like MyTutor providing a vital source of extra academic support to schools like Ryde Academy.

“Data from our annual Impact Report show that students who work with MyTutor see twice as much progress in their results as those who haven’t been tutored; equivalent to roughly 1 whole grade of progress after 10 sessions. As students return to school, we know many will need additional support to catch up on missed learning, and we look forward to working with our network of schools to ensure Isle of Wight children aren’t left behind.”