24th November 2009 9:00
By Blue Tutors
Tutors efforts are best spent on brightest pupils, one of the country’s leading school heads said this week. Liz Allen, head of Newstead Wood Girls’ School, told a conference that there was a huge reluctance in the state sector to focus attention and resources on the most able pupils. She criticised head teachers for spending too much time trying to convert D grades into C grades, rather than helping the brightest pupils achieve top grades.
In particular, Mrs Allen criticised the Government’s plans to guarantee one-to-one tutoring for pupils struggling to keep up in class, a scheme which is to form a key part of new education legislation. According to the Independent Newspaper, she told a School Association conference that whilst tutors would not make a significant difference to the grades of struggling pupils, there was “a huge value in investing one to one time in our successful young learners”.
Mrs Allen, head of a single sex selective school, went on to point out that crude league tables and grade boundaries were detracting attention from nurturing bright children, who might underachieve if they are not given more attention. She warned that girls’ ambition to succeed could be crushed in mixed schools, and offers her students one-on-one tutoring through the school during term time.