Local primary schools complete 1st phase of Attain programme

The first phase of the Attain programme has now been completed and it was joyous watching the pupils’ faces light up as they received their diplomas at the end of term. 

 They’ve doneso brilliantly and their teachers couldn’t be prouder of them!  

A huge thank you to all the teachers at Latymer Upper and Prep Schools, St Paul’s Girls and St Pauls who volunteered to take part and enabled us to deliver sessions both online during the lockdown and in person once schools reopened.  

The Attain programme has been designed to support children who have fallen behind in their education as a result of Covid-19.  Children have received up to 15 hours of catch up support in Maths and English, as part of a small group of 3-4 children, tailored to the needs of the schools. 

Miss Gordon at St Charles Primary School, which was involved in this first phase of the programme said: “The pandemic has really had an impact on children and we’re seeing gaps widening due to the education they’ve missed. Attain has been fantastic for offering that tailored support to those children that need it. It’s been a great opportunity to have smaller groups and interventions that might not have been available in the wider school setting. It’s been a fantastic experience and I’ve really enjoyed working closely with our Attain tutor to make sure the sessions were tailored to my students’ needs. I’ve seen them really blossom and their confidence grow.”

“The pandemic has negatively impacted many areas of our society, but a major worry for us was the widening of the attainment gap. We wanted to help local schools by providing catch up support for those children who were falling furthest behind as a result of repeated lockdowns, and so we launched our Attain programme in January 2021,” said Amanda Scott, Executive Director of the Latymer Foundation, which has funded the programme. “Thanks to the generous support of several donors, we’ve been able to offer this tutoring provision free of charge to partner schools like St Charles who’ve been involved in this first phase,” continued Amanda. “The students involved in our Primary Attain programme had been assessed by their teachers as being between 1-2 years behind where they were expected to be. After taking part in the programme, 80% of the class teachers who responded to our feedback survey saw an increase in their students’ academic ability; 100% saw increased student confidence; and 100% also saw an increase in their students’ overall readiness to be back in school after lockdown.”

If you are interested in getting involved, click here. 

Author: Karen Dove