Saint Edmund Arrowsmith Catholic High School, Knowsley - 25 February 2021

Saint Edmund Arrowsmith Catholic High School is situated in Whiston, in the Liverpool Borough of Knowsley. It is a member of the Archdiocese of Liverpool’s family of schools.

Headteacher Helen Pinnington has been in post since 2018 and is passionate about delivering the best outcomes and provision for the school’s nearly 750 pupils.  Of these, nearly half are disadvantaged.

Helen and her team have worked in partnership with Tutor Trust since 2019, initially deploying us as part of their strategy to support a cohort of 30 Year 11 disadvantaged pupils with GCSE Maths and English tuition.  This model saw four of our tutors, two per subject, tutoring their students on a 1:3 ratio over full days at the school. 

The school then expanded their strategic improvement plan and engaged Tutor Trust to work with around 30 Year 7 pupils who were still moving towards being ‘secondary ready’ in English and Maths. 

The lockdown in 2020 allowed us to invite the school to take part in a highly successful pilot of our online tuition provision during the summer term.  Our tutors provided tuition in English and Maths for 12 Year 7 pupils. 

Assistant Headteacher Helen Charnley describes the success of the sessions in glowing terms:

The pupils have been overwhelmingly positive in their response to the sessions. One pupil has decided that he wants to do the same job as Jodie when he leaves school, he is so inspired by her!"

At the start of the 2020-21 academic year, we planned a programme of tuition together to support more than 100 pupils in English and Maths across every year group from 7 to 11. This programme is currently underway, with Year 11 starting on a face-to-face basis in school before moving online in response to the third lockdown in January.

The real key to this successful partnership between Tutor Trust and the school, has been the school’s commitment to using our tuition as an essential part of its school improvement strategy.  Communication between the partners is outstanding, and our tutors feel like valued members of the school’s wider team.

Headteacher Helen Pinnington (pictured right) considers the partnership a success:

Saint Edmund Arrowsmith has enjoyed a fantastic relationship with the Tutor Trust for the last two years.  Their highly professional tutors have delivered high-quality English and Maths tuition across Years 7 to 11.  This has been both face-face as part of our scheduled timetable and also online, during both the school day and also after school.  We very much consider Tutor Trust part of our school improvement and curriculum strategy and they have had a really positive impact on our students’ progress and engagement."

Tutor Jodie Jones adds: "Pupils from St Edmund Arrowsmith have participated really well in their English tuition throughout the assignment. All pupils are eager to engage and challenge themselves and there is a clear improvement in their writing confidence, as reflected by their pupil voice forms and recent mock exams. The staff have been exceptionally helpful in facilitating these sessions and the pupils benefit from an ongoing dialogue between myself and their teachers.

"Pupils have worked on persuasive writing and have developed skills in adapting their writing to suit different audiences, writing letters, and writing speeches. All work is of a high standard and pupils are confident in discussing and presenting their work.”