The team at The Access Project is delighted that our plans to help disadvantaged students through the National Tutoring Programme have been approved. This national effort to support students who have been most affected by the pandemic through high-quality tuition is the culmination of months of campaigning. TAP is proud to have played an active role as a member of the Fair Education Alliance and as one of four charities who took part in a successful online tuition pilot which was a blueprint for the NTP.
Approval by the NTP comes after a rigorous assessment process. It’s a testament to the programme we run at TAP, which is fine tuned and proven to make a significant difference to student grades. Our GCSE students make five months more progress than similar peers, according to independent analysis by the research institute FFT Datalab. We know from their research that our personalised tuition helps students to improve overall performance.
Halima, a Year 11 student working with TAP at Holte School in Birmingham, said:
“TAP tuition has helped me believe I am just as capable as students from well-off backgrounds. It has improved my grades overall. Being tutored in Maths motivates me to spend time on my studies in other subjects too.”
With the very real prospect of ongoing disruption to education this academic year, the NTP provides a lifeline to students to help them with their studies. The Access Project’s unique dual programme of personalised tuition and mentoring is perfectly designed to do just that and also to challenge students to reach their full potential. Our trained volunteer tutors focus on boosting attainment, while our mentors work on revision skills and self-belief. The NTP will fund the tuition branch of our programme, with mentoring also available as a discrete offer for new schools that we may look to partner with.
Andrew Burns, Executive Principal of Ormiston Academies Trust in the West Midlands, said:
“The results and the value for money speak for themselves, which is why we have extended our contract with TAP twice.There is nowhere else our students could get this level of academic support and mentoring.”
Should there be further school closures, TAP is prepared. We rolled out online tuition to our students from Spring 2020 using the knowledge we gained developing a successful online tuition model in the East Midlands back in 2017. What we’ve learnt running the programme online this year has fed into the creation of a new, bespoke platform for AY 2020/21 which offers students and tutors a virtual learning space that can be tailored to each young person. We’ve also provided advice and support along the way to peer charities moving online.
Nathan Sansom, CEO of The Access Project, said:
“We believe that every young person should be able to reach their full potential, regardless of background. That’s why we’re proud to be joining this national effort to improve the chances for disadvantaged students through high-quality tuition. Becoming an approved NTP partner is an active step in supporting a generation of students with their learning. It’s also why we’re calling for the government to extend NTP beyond this academic year and to reach A-level students too. The impact of the pandemic will be felt for years to come, this is our chance to make a real difference.”
The Access Project covers London, the West Midlands, East Midlands and Bradford. We cannot currently offer provision to schools outside these areas. We partner with non-selective state schools with high numbers of students on Free School Meals, receiving Pupil Premium funding or with low levels of progression to top universities.
You can find out more about becoming a school partner via the National Tutoring Programme page on our website.