On Tuesday 14th March, we invited tutors and school leaders to join us for an audience with Sir John Jones.  This was in celebration of two 5 year anniversaries for The Tutor Trust; September marking the month we were registered as a charity, and this February marking the date of our first ever tuition session, which took place at a secondary school in Whalley Range in 2012.

This year we had even more reasons to celebrate as we became a double award-winning charity; winning the Charity Times Award for Best New Charity and the Spirit of Manchester Award for Best Partnership/Collaboration for our work with local schools, universities and councils. 

When discussing a possible speaker at this event, there was such excitement and enthusiasm at the prospect of Sir John Jones that the answer was simple – a great advocate of educational inequality, his talks fit in well with The Tutor Trust’s ethos and charitable mission.  Who better to celebrate our anniversary with?

Sir John Jones was a Headteacher of 3 Secondary schools and is best known for his book 'The Magic Weaving Business'.  Perhaps one of his most striking analogies is of how to weave magic in the classroom - you require both the “warp” and “weft”, the warp being the formal curriculum and the weft being how we make pupils feel - the encouragement, support and enthusiasm that teachers and educators offer them daily.

 

The Tutor Trust shares the exact same ideology.  We aim to support the fantastic work that teachers do in class, by providing one to one or small group tuition that both improves the students’ academic outcomes as well as motivating, engaging and inspiring them. 

The audience of tutors past and present, as well as our partners in schools across Greater Manchester, were captivated by Sir John Jones' talk.  Many felt on a personal level, either as educator or as a student, that Sir John Jones’ words really resonated with them.  We would like to thank Sir John for his time, and for his touching words.