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Scholar Spotlight: “It really helped me with my grades, to become more organised and be more proactive”

by GT Scholars Scholar spotlight What's new? Young people

As part of our scholar spotlight series, we interviewed one of the scholars on the Bright Ambitions programme. Please watch the video above for the full interview. You can also find the transcript below.

My name is Tatiana and I am 13 years old and I am a scholar on the GT Scholars programme.

Why did you apply to join GT Scholars?
Well at first my grades weren’t that good so we were looking for a tutor and my mum was telling me that she saw something, so I was like, is that something you think I would like to try?. We saw a leaflet and that made me want to do it even more. So we ended up doing it and getting a mentor with it too.

How has your tutor supported you?
My tutors were very helpful, they helped me develop and get better at math and they helped to get my grades up and give me a little boost with my grades. We’ve done homework together. We’ve studied for exams and tests together, like anything I needed to do and if I didn’t have anything to do in my classes at school, then we would just go on things that they proposed.

How has the online tutoring been for you?
I really enjoyed the online tutoring because it’s easy to get or go somewhere in your house and video chat them and just start working. Also, you are in the comfort of your own home so you don’t have to travel out to go see them and I just find it overall easier and you have everything you need in your house so you don’t have to worry about taking things or forgetting things, everything is already here.

What were the mentoring sessions like?
Mentoring, it’s more of the mindset. I feel like that’s where I have become more confident and I have just become a better person with my mentor and that just really helped me with my lifestyle in general. I’d tell them about what I need and what is happening and when I tell them that this what’s going on and I need help with this, they’ll come back with an answer and tell me well this is what you should try and aim for and if I am missing something, they will ask me questions and I will be like well I need this too and they would just help me in any way.

How have the enrichment days helped you?
The first enrichment day was ages ago and I remember I was really scared for it and I just didn’t know what to expect from it. So when I walked in and we just sat down and just started talking and people came in and I just got gradually more comfortable and through the enrichment days I became more comfortable with everyone. With the mentor, I became more confident in myself so I got to talk to more people that didn’t make me that scared anymore and I just found them very helpful. There were lots of different kinds. Sometimes there was just a panel of people that came in, or sometimes you get involved and actually stand up and do things and get into groups with people, so they really vary but I liked all of them.

So my favourite enrichment day was the Dragon’s Den one, where we got to get into teams to create our idea or product and pitch it in front of judges. It was exactly like the real show, we just did everything the same, but obviously, it wasn’t the real show. I really liked it because I got to meet people, and I really liked the pitching and I obviously became more confident in myself so I wasn’t really afraid of presenting in front of a number people, so I was really happy with that because I noticed that lots of things have really helped me in this programme.

What have you enjoyed most about the programme?
So I’ve really enjoyed the enrichment days, well I loved really everything about it. Being able to go to the enrichment days and learn more things, and then having my mentor tell me things I did not know before and my tutor just explaining things and helping me understand and everything just helped me grow.

How has the programme helped you academically?
So before joining the programme, I was quite a laid back person and I wasn’t very confident in myself. But after I joined GT Scholars and got a tutor, I kind of gained self-confidence and became less laid back. With that in mind, I entered a math competition which I came third globally, which I am very happy about and I am proud of myself.

What goals did the programme help you to achieve?
Well, I wanted to achieve better grades and become more confident and not procrastinate and focus more. I feel like, over a period of time, I gained those skills and gotten better grades and I’ve become more confident, so I am happy.

What have you learned about yourself during the programme?
So before joining the programme I just wasn’t very confident. I didn’t really understand many things and still trying to understand how things worked and I just wasn’t very confident in myself. So once I joined the programme I just found my confidence and I could talk finally, and I did understand things and I knew I could do things and I knew I could do better than before.

What would you say to young people who want to join the programme?
So I would definitely recommend GT Scholars to other young people because it really helped me with my grades, to become more organised and be more proactive, have time management and have a growth mindset.

GT Scholars is a not-for-profit social enterprise and registered charity. We run after-school and weekend programmes that help young people achieve their academic and career aspirations. Our programmes include tutoring, mentoring and enrichment sessions for young people aged 11-18. Contact us if you would like to know more about any of our programmes and courses.

The True Cost of Private Tutoring, Mentoring, and Enrichment: How we are able to reduce this cost

The True Cost of Private Tutoring, Mentoring, and Enrichment: How we are able to reduce this cost

by GT Scholars Educational inequality Exams & Revision Improving academic attainment Parents What's new?

Why does tutoring, mentoring and enrichment matter? 
Research from the Education Endowment Foundation shows that private tutoring can accelerate learning by up to 5 months within a year. Mentoring and enrichment add further value as it is able to provide young people with the right strategies and tools to reach their career aspirations and personal development goals.

What are the barriers? 
However, many young people from low-income homes are not able to access these valuable services due to financial constraints. The reality is that high-quality private tutoring, mentoring, and enrichment programmes are simply not affordable. This means that young people from low-income homes are not able to achieve the same as their peers from higher-income homes. The Education Policy Institute reported that just 1 in 10 pupils from low-income homes in England were able to achieve top grades in GCSE Maths in 2018, with similar results for English.

How much does this cost?
In London, the average costs of these programmes per term are:

  • Tutoring for 12 hours x £40/hour = £480
  • Mentoring for 6 hours x £60/hour = £360
  • Enrichment for 3 days x £120/day = £360
  • Residential enrichment for 5 days x £200/day = £1,000
  • Coding workshops for 1 day = £190

This means that if you want to access a full programme of academic and mentoring support which includes private tutoring, mentoring and enrichment, it will cost you £1,200 per term! This, of course, is far too expensive for most parents.

How are we tackling this? 
GT Scholars is a not-for-profit social enterprise, so our goal is to provide high-quality private tutoring, mentoring and enrichment programmes that ensure that ambitious young people have the support they need to achieve their full potential in life, regardless of their background.

We do this by working with DBS checked volunteer tutors and mentors who are dedicated to helping young people to achieve their aspirations.

Our goal is to ensure that ambitious young people from all backgrounds can access our high-quality learning and development programmes and this we charge means-tested fees which range from £9-£26 per hour.

Our means-tested fee model
By using a means-tested fee model, parents from low-income homes can enrol their child in one of our programmes at a substantially reduced cost. And for parents from relatively middle-income homes, paying full fees, the cost of the programme is still considerably less than what they would pay elsewhere.

Making a difference
We’re passionate about social mobility and we know that even at a reduced cost, some parents will simply not be able to afford this due to huge financial constraints. This is why we provide a limited number of free places for young people on Free School Meals. This is all done through our existing funding from previous terms but also thanks to funding from a range of organisations who are also passionate about improving social mobility for young people from low-income homes.

The GT Scholars Programme is a not-for-profit social enterprise that tackles educational inequality and improves social mobility by helping young people aged 11-18 gain access to selective universities and competitive careers. Our tutoring, mentoring and enrichment programmes are designed to give young people the support, skills and strategies they need to achieve their ambitions. Contact us to find out more.