AET is deploying TLC’s online tutoring service, TLC Live! in a number of schools in its academy network, to support children eligible for the £1.25bn 2012-2013 Pupil Premium allowance. After trialling the platform, the AET believes the personalised learning programmes provided by fully qualified UK-based teachers will raise the pupils’ academic attainment.

AET CEO David Triggs, says TLC Live! is a very good solution for an increasing requirement for extra-curricular tuition and attainment support: “The Pupil Premium is a resource which must be carefully invested according to the needs of each student in order to improve attainment. TLC Live! was the natural choice from those explored; its assessment tool allows us to easily focus on the areas in which children need extra help, and the solution enables our academies to raise academic attainment by providing each student with tailored support and individual attention from  fully qualified, UK-based teachers.”

TLC founder Simon Barnes notes that TLC Live! is a popular solution for schools looking to deliver on their Pupil Premium spend: “More schools are looking for tutoring programmes with fully qualified CRB-checked teachers as they’re naturally reluctant to put their children in contact with unregulated tutors. The TLC Live! experience is finely tuned and based on the current national curriculum. Our programme, which first identifies areas of focus then creates a tutoring plan for each student, is a proven method of raising attainment.”

Recent changes to the Pupil Premium include broader eligibility requirements and a rise in allowance to £600 per child. Children registered for Free School Meals (FSM) at any time in the past six years are now eligible for the allowance, which includes looked after children and children of British citizens currently serving in the Armed Forces. From September, schools will be required to publish how they have spent the Pupil Premium, a measure intended to deter wasted spending and drive performance.

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About TLC Education Group

TLC Education Group was founded in July 2010 by managing director Simon Barnes and specialises in maths, English and science tuition, GCSE and common entrance exam preparation, for children aged between 6 and 16. TLC Education Group is the only tutoring organisation to have centres in schools all year around, and offers afterschool, tailored, individual learning programmes to pupils in local communities, as well as online lessons through TLC Live!. TLC Education Group currently has an independent tutoring centre in Cambridge and five further centres housed within the following schools: Samuel Ward Academy, Wymondham High School, Coleridge Community College, Parkside Community College and the Open Academy.

For more information on TLC Education Group, please visit: www.tlceducationgroup.com

There are 40,560 children eligible for the Looked After Child Pupil Premium in England; £19,791,000 has been allocated to them out of the £625 million pupil premium 2011/12 fund. TLC Education Group asked 30 local authorities how many teachers were specifically employed to fulfil statutory duties under section 52 of the Children Act 2004 which states: “The duty of a local authority under subsection (3)(a) to safeguard and promote the welfare of a child looked after by them includes in particular a duty to promote the child’s educational achievement.”

Simon Barnes, Director of TLC Education Group, comments: “Looked after children often can’t make it to school or have missed large chunks of education because of a tumultuous personal life – this upheaval is tragically reflected by the fact that under half of looked after teenagers get five GCSEs. It is essential local authorities have the resource to provide these children with the individual learning programmes they need and these FoI results suggest it’s not readily available.

“One council informed us that it had only one fully qualified teacher for the 613 looked after children in its local area. It’s not physically possible for this teacher to address the educational needs of these children.”

A number of local authorities provided details of ‘virtual schools’ that the children benefit from. These are online portals designed to support the children and their guardians with resources and schedules that are completed in order to monitor the attendance and punctuality on the school register, until the end of year 11.

Barnes continues: “We feel Michael Gove’s recent comments on ICT adoption should be seriously considered by local authorities looking to provide looked after children with additional education. Unfortunately the virtual schools mentioned don’t offer individual tuition and are instead designed as a repository for educational resources. Online tutoring however works well for the children and their carers as it’s highly flexible and can be tailored to meet specific academic requirements. In addition to this, the council benefits from the pupil premium being allocated to an activity that directly positively effects children’s attainment.”

All local authorities questioned have one teacher per school dedicated to looked after children that attend, in addition to the teachers employed directly by the council. The local authorities questioned were the ones with the highest numbers of looked after children eligible for the pupil premium fund; out of the 30 surveyed, 28 responded.

 TLC Education Group, the specialist maths and English tutoring provider, today announces five partnerships with schools across East Anglia. The Samuel Ward Academy and Wymondham High School in Suffolk, Coleridge Community College and Parkside Community College in Cambridge, and the Open Academy in Norwich, have invited TLC to set up Learning Centres onsite and offer individual maths and English tuition alongside GCSE preparation, to pupils aged 6-16 from the respective schools, and children in this age range from the surrounding areas.

Qualified CRB-checked teachers provide bespoke tuition based on needs and skills gaps identified in a comprehensive initial assessment. Learning Centres are located onsite at each school, with tutoring sessions taking place in study periods or after school.  

 Pupils work independently on TLC Education’s unique learning software, which provides modules based on the national curriculum. A qualified teacher monitors progress, answers questions and helps them get through difficult material. Each teacher works with an average of four pupils at any given time (with no more than five in a lesson), enabling one-to-one tuition at affordable rates.

Simon Barnes, Director of TLC Education Group, explains: “We are operating in some of the finest and fastest improving schools in East Anglia. Our partnerships mean that we can help improve examination grades and build confidence in students of all ages and abilities. Within these partnerships, we also welcome students from the wider community, from schools other than those in which we are located.”  

Howard Lay, Headmaster at Samuel Ward Academy comments: “I can highly recommend TLC Education’s Learning Centres. They have been assisting us with our GCSE students and have had a significant impact on raising our students’ achievements. We are also working with them on other year groups with equal success. I look forward to our continued partnership.”

Barnes concludes: “We are planning to open Learning Centres throughout the UK and we are in discussions with many schools about starting partnerships.”

TLC Education Group also has an independent Learning Centre based in Bishop’s Stortford offering maths and English tuition, GCSE and common entrance exam preparation. The tuition specialists assess children for free in order to identify the academic challenges they are facing.                                                              

About TLC Education Group

TLC Education Group was founded in July 2010 by managing director Simon Barnes and specialises in maths and English tuition, GCSE and common entrance exam preparation, for children aged between 6 and 16. TLC Education Group is the only tutoring organisation to have Learning Centres in schools all year around, and offers tailored learning programmes in small classroom environments with a maximum teacher to pupil ratio of five to one. TLC Education Group currently has an independent Learning Centre in Bishop’s Stortford and five further Centres housed within the following schools: Samuel Ward Academy, Wymondham High School, Coleridge Community College, Parkside Community College and the Open Academy.

For more information on TLC Education Group, please visit: www.tlceducationgroup.com