Acting Assistant Principal
Kingswood Primary School
Sharon Lomas
Acting Assistant Principal
Tutor Learning Initiative
This information is for Kingswood parents, caregivers and guardians about the Tutor Learning Initiative, which supports students in their learning throughout 2021.
The 2020 school year was an extraordinary and challenging one for every school community.
Many Victorian students spent much of Terms 2 and 3 in 2020 and currently for short periods of time in 2021, in remote learning. Our Kingswood Primary School year level communities have made exceptional efforts to provide continuity of teaching and learning for our students during this time, via the Kingswood Learning Hub and live WebEx lessons.
Since Term 4 2020, schools across Victoria have been focused on supporting students’ mental health and wellbeing, in addition to continuing assisting students to readjust between remote and on-site learning. Teachers have also been focusing on assessing student learning, addressing individual learning gaps and identifying those students who need extra support for their learning, including extending higher achieving students, using classroom-based observation and assessments.
We know that remote learning experiences are different for every student. While some students thrived, some students may not engage as fully with remote learning. For most of our students, regular high-quality teaching in 2021 will be enough to help them progress to the expected level of learning. Some students will benefit from additional intensive learning support at different times during the year.
As you may be aware, in response to this, the Victorian Government has invested $250 million in the Tutor Learning Initiative to enable schools across Victoria to engage around 4,100 teachers as tutors in 2021 to support students who need extra assistance with their learning.
The Kingswood tutoring initiative focuses on improving student growth in reading, writing and Maths (Number and Algebra). The school has employed 4 highly motivated and experienced teachers as our tutors. They work with small groups from Prep to Grade 6. The Tutors provide catch up and extension support on a 6-week cycle to ensure that all students are making growth.
By engaging the tutors, Kingswood Primary School is supporting students with intensive learning. Therefore, the classroom teachers will have a greater capacity to ensure that all other students’ achievement, engagement and wellbeing needs are met so that all students receive the support they need to continually make progress in their learning in 2021.
School achievement data and children’s feedback has shown the tutors are making a positive impact on student's academic growth and engagement. The tutors communicate with class teachers to ensure the students are taught at their point of need and thrive in a small group environment.
The tutors and teachers are always tracking student’s data to ensure all students are learning. Under the guidance of the teacher, the year level tutor will send an email to parents or carers when a child has been selected to work in a small group with them. This support could be to catch up with children that have fallen behind or to extend higher-achieving children that have made lower than expected progress, potentially because of the effect of changing between onsite and remote learning.
If you are concerned about your child’s engagement in their learning, while learning at home or following their return to school please contact your child's classroom teacher.