Every child deserves a world-class education and as MP for Norwich North I am committed to ensuring all children have the access to the support they need.
I am pleased that the government shares this mission and is making significant progress in achieving it, with new figures published yesterday showing that two million courses have been started through our National Tutoring Programme.
With almost 600,000 course starts in the last two months alone, the boost in tutoring means the programme has now reached just under 2.1 million courses in total, transforming the way young people receive targeted support in school.
The government set a target of two million courses for this academic year. Final data will be published by the end of the year, with numbers expected to continue growing over the summer.
The 1.8 million courses, started between 1 September 2021 and 26 June 2022, demonstrate the huge value of the programme and the resilience of schools, teachers and young people, in the context of disruption to pupil and staff attendance over the winter, amidst the Omicron wave.
Developed as part of the Government’s ambitious Covid recovery plan, the National Tutoring Programme is supporting pupils across England to get back on track following the disruption caused by the pandemic. It forms part of the Schools White Paper pledge to offer high-quality support to any child that falls behind in English and maths.
This week’s figures also reveal that an estimated 80% of schools are now participating in the programme, highlighting a 14% increase in take-up since May 2022. The data also highlight the continued success of school-led tutoring, which now accounts for over three quarters of all courses started.
The Department for Education has also announced the appointment of three new delivery partners: Tribal Group, Education Development Trust, and Cognition Education, reflecting the programme’s new operating model for next year which will see funding go directly to schools, making it easier than ever before for pupils to access tutoring sessions. This will replace the previous model, in which Randstad acted as the sole contractor of the programme.
As MP for Norwich North, ensuring that our young people get the best possible start in life is one of my priorities. To find out more about what action I am taking both in Norwich and Westminster for this work, please visit: https://www.chloesmith.org.uk/myplan/children.
If constituents need to contact me on this matter, or any other issue, please do email me at chloe@chloesmith.org.uk or ring my constituency office on 01603 414756.
Chloe Smith