It’s time for a change and we have an announcement to make!
But first let’s wind back the clock…
In 2016 The Access Project identified a need to expand our work into the East Midlands, but we couldn’t recruit enough tutors in a social mobility coldspot.
That’s when we took a bold step.
In 2017 we launched an online pilot funded by Nesta. With support from schools and committed volunteers, our students in Derbyshire & Nottinghamshire were able to receive regular tutoring on a platform designed for learning.
It worked!
Independent analysis shows that East Midlands students make the same level of progress as TAP students elsewhere who meet with their tutors in person.
Fast forward four years…
It meant we were able to adapt in the face of COVID.
Thanks to our expert knowledge of online delivery, safeguarding and volunteer management we were ahead of the curve, we identified a suitable platform and offered online tutorials
With the support of schools & volunteers during lockdown we’ve provided more than 5,600 hours of tuition and mentoring.
We’ve shared best practice with other organisations looking to make the move online along the way, including the Tutor Trust & Action Tutoring and thanks to the fundraising efforts of valued partners and the hard work of supporters we’ve provided laptops to students who need them.
Oscar was the first from his school to secure a place at Oxford University to study Chemistry on A-level results day.
After the results rollercoaster we’ve seen our students go on to achieve great things in their exams.
It’s our best ever year for Oxbridge placements.
But that’s not the end of the story…
We know that the future is unpredictable, that’s why, in order to provide the best possible experience for students and tutors we made the decision to move all our tutoring online for this academic year.
We believe that this will guarantee reliable delivery in challenging times.
We set about a tendering process for a new online provider, mapping out our needs and feeding in all those years of tutor and student feedback.
Today we’re delighted to announce that our new provider is Infiniti Platforms, a high quality, custom built platform on which students and tutors can hold their tutorials, with a dedicated support team on hand should they require any assistance.
What has this shown us?
Innovation, knowledge and the confidence to take tough decisions drive progress at TAP, but we couldn’t have done it without the wider TAP community, so a huge thank you for your continued support.
The Access Project student Ben celebrates his GCSE success.
The results say it all…
After working online with The Access Project throughout his GCSEs Ben has achieved the best results in his year at Shirebrook Academy in the East Midlands. He says it wouldn’t have been possible without the personalised support he received from TAP. His Mum is pretty pleased too!
You can watch her saying thank you to our tutor Michaela by clicking here.