Testimonial from Virtual School, Newcastle

Regular communication between carers and staff ensures that they can locate a student if they are absent from the provision. In the primary setting in particular they also know how a young person is presenting before they begin their session so can adapt activities and expectations accordingly in order for the session to be successful.

Any concerns or difficulties are fed back to carers at the end of a session, and also documented in the young person’s weekly report. The provision also encourages visits from members of the care team and referring partners in order to get to know the team around the child and to gain as much necessary background information as possible to make safeguarding procedures effective.

The emotional progress made by our students so far is excellent. Both students had experienced multiple failed placements in mainstream schools before attending Total Tuition. Our primary student has almost 100% attendance and has been able to stay in the provision for the entirety of his session, which he was previously unable to do. Provision staff have persevered and have been able to form a positive relationship with our secondary student. She is now engaging in online lessons and competing work at home, whereas she was completely disengaged from education in the past.

Academically, our students are making steady progress. Staff are very aware of each student’s abilities, and have a good understanding of gaps in their knowledge. They have tailored teaching activities to address missing basic skills. Our primary student is now working on some of the objectives from his chronological year group, whereas previously he was only able to access learning from younger year groups. Our secondary student is being equipped with learning to enable her to sit skills tests in future, having previously shown no inclination to obtain formal qualifications.

We receive weekly written feedback in the form of a report for each of our students. The reports are clear and positive. They detail what a young person has been working on in each subject, and what their next steps are. They also describe how a young person has engaged with the setting and the learning that week.

The reports are also honest, and will say if a young person has refused to engage or has displayed difficult behaviour, and will often describe how staff have attempted to overcome these difficulties. They do not try to hide unsuccessful attempts at engagement, and are clear that each day session is a fresh start. I look forward to reading the reports for our students each week to see what positive feedback staff have given.