ONE-TO-ONE TUITION
Lighting fires
“Obstacles are those
frightful things you see when
you take your eyes off your
Up to the challenge
goal.”
Henry Ford
“Don’t say you don’t have
enough time. You have
exactly the same number
one-to-one tutors, with the programme now going
of hours per day that were
nationwide, and I would encourage other principals
and headteachers to look into how the initiative could
given to Helen Keller, Pasteur,
help their school.
We have also seen fantastic results from the extended
Michelangelo, Mother
services provision that we have introduced in recent
years. As a centre of excellence in the arts, we are very
Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci,
proud of the plethora of activities we have on offer for
Thomas Jefferson, and Albert
both students and parents – students can chose from a
wide range of lunchtime and after-school drama, music,
Einstein.”
arts, and sports clubs, while parents and other members
of the community have access to our facilities. We are
H Jackson Brown
also involved in local networks that meet regularly to
discuss community issues and how the school can help
“You must have long-range
to address these.
We have recently introduced a free breakfast club
goals to keep you from being
to ensure all children have the best possible start to the
day. It is a great informal way for the teachers to interact frustrated by short-range
with the students and build trust, as well as ensuring
they have access to a nutritious breakfast. We are keen
failures.”
to build on this success – one idea we have in the Charles C Noble
pipeline is to set up IT clubs held at school for parents
or grandparents and students.
Today, the future for Sir Charles Lucas looks bright.
“You don’t drown by falling
We have addressed a number of challenges in my time
at the school and continue to strive to improve the
in the water. You drown by
school and outcomes for all its students.
staying in there.”
It is hard work teaching in this kind of school,
every day is a challenge, but the rewards are fantastic.
Edwin Louis Cole
It is so satisfying to know that we have an opportunity
to make a huge difference to these children’s lives
– indeed, for some of our students, we are their only
“Learning is the only thing
chance to make a difference and build a better future
the mind never exhausts,
for themselves.
That is perhaps our biggest and most important never fears, and never
challenge, and one to which we are giving our all. SecEd
regrets.”
• Jude Hanner is principal of Sir Charles Lucas Arts
Leonardo Da Vinci
College in Colchester.
Headteacher's
PA of the Year
Awards 2009
An opportunity to recognise and celebrate the people
who are at the heart of a successful school
One of the most vital jobs performed in
any secondary school is that of the PA to
the headteacher. The PA is invariably the
confidante of the head and a key link with the
staffroom, the governors, parents and pupils. Good PAs are
which we introduced to help provide a high quality of particular whether students would buy in to the idea.
an invaluable asset and few schools can operate efficiently or
education – I firmly believe that schools like ours only However, my team leader for maths at the time was
effectively without them.
succeed because of the quality of the people who work passionate about the scheme and worked hard to recruit
in them. a network of tutors who ran a programme of one-to-
In acknowledgement of this essential and important role,
We run an ongoing programme of staff training on one tuition for those children we identified as needing
Monday evenings, all of which is directly related to the it most.
SecEd is proud to organise for the fourth year running, in
classroom. We have a rolling timetable that covers a It is not an overstatement to say that the results
association with the DCSF International School Award,
range of different types of training. One week, we will have been nothing less than astonishing. We have
which is managed by the British Council, the SecEd
focus on sharing good practice within faculties, while seen a significant improvement in the maths skills of
Headteacher's PA of the Year Awards 2009, which will
the following week, we will adopt a year focus where, those students who received one-to-one tuition. More
celebrate the achievements and success of the modern
for example, we will consider any issues associated surprisingly, we have also seen a dramatic improvement headteacher's PA.
with different year groups. The third week we focus in terms of these students’ attitudes towards learning.
on developing classroom practice and techniques – for These students were some of the most switched off,
Only personal assistants to the headteacher of a
example, how to make the start of every lesson as hard-to-reach individuals in the school, and yet they
secondary school, state or independent, may be
engaging as possible, successful behaviour management were actively excited about attending tuition sessions
entered. Nominations will only be accepted by the
strategies, or techniques for working with groups to and really put a lot of effort into them. This enthusiasm
head or deputy head. To enter, a statement
ensure all students are included. has subsequently extended to other aspects of their
of not more than 700 words must be
We ensure that the whole school workforce is school career and has led to many of these students
included in our CPD programme. We include all our really turning their prospects around.
written, explaining why the
learning support advisors and cover supervisors in our For many of these children, one-to-one tuition has
nominated PA deserves
Monday night training sessions, and also run regular been the first time ever that any adult has sat down with
the award.
training days for all staff, including those that are not them and given them personalised help and support.
classroom-based. These are the students whose parents do not help them
Nominations should be
It is important for us to be proactive as a school – we with their homework at home, who are not receiving
sent to Pete Henshaw by no
do not want to simply deal with problems as and when support and attention – as such, one-to-one tuition not
later than October 15, 2009.
they arise, but rather plan for any issues in advance and only helps these children to reach academic standards,
For information and guidance for
nip emerging problems in the bud where we can, and but it also gives them the confidence and self-esteem
nominators is also available.
our CPD strategy enables us to achieve this. they need to succeed.
Email pete.h@markallengroup.com,
In terms of being proactive, the school was recently We are delighted in the success of our one-to-
write to SecEd, MA Education, St. Jude's
involved in the Making Good Progress pilot, a key part one tuition pilot and rolling this out across all of our
of which was the One-to-One Tuition programme. key stage 3 and 4 students that would benefit is one
Church, Dulwich Road, London, SE24 0PB
At the outset, we were somewhat cynical about of our key priorities going forward. It is great that
or visit www.sec-ed.co.uk
the idea and were not sure whether it would work, in other schools will get the opportunity to benefit from
pa 2009.indd 1 27/8/09 15:50:59
SecEd • September 17 2009 9
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20