A Newton Aycliffe school is introducing a radical new tutoring programme which involves peer mentoring as a tool for success.
Greenfield Community College is launching the new initiative, which is called Vertical Tutoring, which started earlier this term.
It means the school will scrap the current tutoring system, which groups young people together from year 7 and continues right throughout their school life, and replace it with smaller ‘family’ groups of four or five young people from each year.
It’s a move away from what’s considered the “norm”, but school leaders believe it will encourage mentoring among pupils and improve relationships between all young people and tutors, while improving integration throughout the school.
Greenfield’s head teacher David Priestley said: “Creating tutor groups from a mix of students from across the year groups may appear unusual, but having done our homework and carried out extensive research, we are convinced Vertical Tutoring is a positive and engaging way of increasing opportunities for intervention and collaborative learning therefore improving results and outcomes across the board.
“It will also improve the quality of relationships between all pupils, tutors and parents and carers and prepare all our students for the next stages of their lives.”
New tutor groups will draw from a cross-section of the school population and typically be made up of four pupils in each year group.