Four years of one-to-one tutoring keeping the cusp group secure

Making sure the cusp group of children were secure

My son’s school had used Third Space, and it was the first year with the new national curriculum so it was an opportunity for really good catch up. I had just started at the school and the Headteacher was prepared to put as much as was needed into making sure the results for that year was fantastic. It was about making sure that the cusp group of children who may not have made it were secure. We have always used it for year 6 until the summer term SATs, and then it’s moved to year 5.

The biggest improvement is in pupil reasoning skills and confidence

One of the main benefits of the intervention is just that ability to talk, to develop their reasoning and problem solving skills. Quite often these children are more reluctant in class and it gives them the opportunity to dive a bit deeper and ask questions they would not usually have the confidence to ask in a classroom.

Looking at the reports we can see the progress they’re making, but I think the most important thing is the discussions. We value a growth mindset so it’s not about getting to the end, it’s the learning that is important. For me, it is more about confidence and the evidence of that is seeing their learning behaviour in the classroom. Their teachers and support staff talk to them and quite often they will say ‘we did that in Third Space Learning’ so, for me, that’s much more beneficial.

We have found that teacher engagement is crucial

We always do quite a lot of analysis to think about the impact of Third Space Learning, and I think one of the most important things is that the teacher is enthusiastic about it, like any resource. If you have a teacher who doesn’t mention it, barely looks at the reports, it just becomes another thing. The children then become a bit reluctant to do it too.

Running sessions from home whilst schools were closed was really successful for some of our pupils

I knew it would be quite easy for them to continue so we just sent an email to all Year 6 parents saying there are 8 slots available and the sessions were taken quite quickly. I set all the lessons, and in between sessions I drop the families an email to say well done. I think parents knowing I would get a report made a difference, I also sent a reminder so a couple of days before they were told ‘don’t forget’.

I’ve had really positive feedback from one of the Year 6 families, I think one of the things that’s helped them is just having that routine and it’s been really helpful for them when they haven’t had the teacher.

We also use the reports and the Maths Hub in class alongside the one to one intervention.

The other resources in the Third Space Maths Hub library are fantastic as well. I love the Daily Maths Challenge, the CPD videos are brilliant and the SATs papers are fantastic!