Ten things you’ll find as a new Next Steps Education student or family member
Do you know what to expect from home tuition? Whether you’re a parent or student, starting alternative provision tuition can be a leap into the unknown. Let us put your mind at rest with ten things to expect from home tuition as a new Next Steps Education student or family member.
1. A warm welcome
Your journey starts with Next Steps Education with a phone call to introduce ourselves. We’ll find out more about each other. We’ll explain what we’ve been asked to fulfil (and by whom), what we know about your situation already and a little about what to expect from us. This is a great time to tell us about your child and ask any questions you have about us, alternative provision or our tutors. We know that for some of you home tuition is a new and unexpected challenge. No detail or question is too big, too small or too silly. Please let us know your concerns.
We’ll want to ask about a venue (most students have tuition at home). We also need to make sure an adult will be present with our tutors and know what times work for your family. We’ll then get working behind the scenes to put the right tuition in place for your child.
2. An email with a weekly timetable
We’ll send you a weekly timetable so you know exactly what to expect from us. Our timetables are usually the same each week but if anything needs to be changed then either Liz, Sarah or your tutors will discuss a suitable plan with you first. We’ll always do our best to fit changes into your child’s schedule.
3. Access to our portal, TutorCruncher
We’ll add you to our portal, Tutorcruncher. First you’ll get an email invitation. Click the link you’ll then be able to set your own password and access your child’s records with us at any time. The portal gives you access to your child’s calendar and reports on their learning journey with us.
4. New friendly faces
We like to give our primary students as much consistency as we can, so it’s likely students under 11 will only have one or two new faces to meet. Our secondary students will be taught by subject specialists. If your child is having Maths, English, Science and Mentoring with us they could be meeting up to four new tutors. Please let us know if this could be overwhelming for your child as we can stagger new tutors if need be.
5. Our unending support
Nobody who starts with us has had an easy journey to where they are now. We understand that and we’ll do our best to understand your position and how to best support your child – and you! We’ve been tasked with supporting and engaging your child in learning and that always works better when we work together as a team.
6. Surprising yourself!
Mainstream education may not be working for you or your child at the moment but that doesn’t mean they won’t find a sudden passion or connection with a particular subject or topic. So many of our students find things start to click in a different way to classroom learning. Their confidence builds, their focus builds and suddenly they’re flying, happy and engaged.
7. Flexibility
Our whole service is built around flexibility so if you feel your child needs a different pace, extra tuition, a break from sessions, new times or venues please let us know. We will do our best to accommodate changes for you. Our home tuition isn’t about sticking to one way of doing things or a rigid routine, it’s about getting education to really work for your child.
8. Lesson Reminders
Knowing what to expect can help your child prepare for their day ahead. That’s why we email you 24 hours in advance of each lesson so you’ll always know what lessons and who to plan for. When you first get our portal invitation be sure to mark it as friendly in your inbox and you’ll always be on top of things. Our emails will arrive marked from Next Steps Education Ltd.
9. Lesson Reports
Every tutor and mentor completes their sessions with a lesson report. These can help you build up a picture of your child’s progress and some parents have used them to support new school placements, appeals and SEND support requests. We love reading back through reports after children have been with us a while – it always puts a smile on our faces to see how much they’ve progress.
10. Review meetings
Review meetings to keep track of your child’s progress usually happen each term and are set up by the local authority or schools (whoever has commissioned our work with you). Liz or I will always try to be present and will gather tutor views, reports and any other information we think is relevant for the meeting. If you need our support between meetings don’t forget we are just a phone call or an email away.
You can find out more about our alternative provision and who we work with here.