Tutoring review: Salterhebble Infant and Junior School
Posted 16th June 2022
When a Yorkshire primary school wanted to bolster its daily teaching provision with additional focused learning, the super-keen tutoring team at White Rose Maths was happy to help!
Based in Salterhebble, south Halifax, the combined infant and junior school welcome hundreds of children through its gates daily to master maths and much more from the primary school curriculum.
In September 2021, the SLT at Salterhebble approached us to request tutoring support for several of its year groups. Specifically, the school had recognised a significant learning gap in the then Year 2 cohort, who were commencing their first full academic year learning in school (with their Reception and Year 1 periods interrupted by the pandemic-led and school closures). They also wanted to support year groups approaching their SATs in KS1 and KS2, again placing Year 2 in line for support alongside Year 6. Should the budget allow it, they had earmarked Years 5 and 4 as next in line to receive additional catch-up opportunities ahead of their final years and SATs.
Salterhebble had heard about the National Tutoring Programme and knew that White Rose Maths were an approved provider based locally. They were already using many of our resources and wanted to use a service they felt confident aligned with their daily teaching methods and content. Our schemes of learning, in particular, were newly adopted within the school at that time, and it was critical to them to provide consistency for the highest pupil engagement.
Danielle, an experienced White Rose Maths tutor, was matched to the school and delivered her first face-to-face tutoring session in September, working initially with Year 2 and 6 at the school’s request before supporting Year 4 in the spring term and Year 5 in the summer term. So far, the school has reported a significant increase in the confidence and results of all year groups receiving her support and expressed high praise for the service as a whole.
When asked about content, the school felt this was one of our strong points, with delivery structured to work effectively regardless of where the class had reached in the curriculum. For example, the initial year groups tutored back in Autumn followed the same content delivered in class, which perfectly aligned. Yet even when the Year 4 group started their programme during spring term – beginning with place value, which they had covered in class back in the Autumn term – this provided a detailed recap to help further embed the concept, which became apparent later when testing their knowledge. Using the same methods used in class, such as C-P-A, was also seen as highly valuable to the children in understanding each concept in depth.
As for the impact on the children, the school could not speak highly enough about the value of Danielle’s focused support. Thanks to the tutoring, the children now approach maths problems with increased confidence and resilience. They break tasks into bite-sized chunks, thinking differently and coming to them with a deeper maths understanding.
Overall, the school gave White Rose Maths top marks across the board – from content and structure to delivery and service level – saying the experience has been incredible for the children and teachers:
“I cannot recommend this service enough for primary schools looking to bridge the learning gap. White Rose Maths resources are really high quality, with the content structured and delivered in a way that the children can grasp. The quality of the tutor is exceptional, with Danielle bonding extremely well with every student and getting the most out of each session. She was completely flexible to our needs, professional and engaging. I would also like to commend the team in the back office as the communications between them and us is to an exceptionally high standard.”
Olly Hanson
Deputy Head, Salterhebble Infant and Junior School
Please continue to follow our social media feeds and web news articles for more information.
You can also sign up for our emails to stay updated on all White Rose Maths developments.
