Kip McGrath education centre in King's Lynn helps children keep up, catch up and get ahead during lockdown

An education centre in Lynn is seeing more families than ever turning to online tuition and also extending its services to students who live further away.

Lockdown learning has led to several busy months for the Kip McGrath centre in Norfolk Street, run by director Heather Rugg, helping students to catch up, keep up and get ahead in English and maths.

Heather said: "From the day schools closed, many of our students received face-to-face online tuition from their usual teachers using our well established online system. Since schools reopened in June, we have gradually welcomed small numbers of students back into centre for distanced teaching.

"From what parents and students have told me, there has been a huge variation between the provision and support offered for home learning by different schools and individual teachers. Some families received more work than they could cope with, especially if there were children of different ages in the house or if parents were trying to work from home too.

"Others families say they had almost no contact from school at all. Of course, we must remember that many teachers will have been at home looking after their own children or caring for other family members, as well as doing the best they could for their classes. We should also remember that many teachers were still working in school with key worker children and the year groups that returned in June."

She said the centre was contacted by many parents finding it difficult teaching some of the topics being sent home. "If you haven't multiplied fractions for few years, it is tough to remember the strategy, or understanding some of the methods used. Others couldn't get their kids motivated. With Kip's help, these kids have continued to make progress through lockdown and into the summer holidays," she said.

"I think lockdown has given parents more confidence to choose online tuition as many of our families are now choosing to work online rather than coming into centre. We are also reaching children who live much further away, who wouldn't be able to travel to Norfolk Street every week.

"A lot of the families I speak to regularly are starting to struggle – the kids really need to be back at school. Thankfully, it looks like schools will reopen in September as usual. Lots of things will be done differently, but management teams and class teachers will have put in even more time and effort during the holidays than they usually do, to make sure that risks have been thoroughly assessed and new protocols are in place.

"Parents should be reassured that pupils emotional wellbeing and mental health are schools' top priority and many will be devoting the first couple of weeks to projects designed to promote these themes.

Kip McGrath supplements the work done in school by offering individualised learning programmes to help students fill gaps in their learning and take their own next steps.

The centre's autumn term starts on September 12 and new students are welcome. Free assessments are available every week and can be booked via www.kipmcgrath.co.uk/kings-lynn