Approved by the National Tutoring Programme, our tutor initiative is a partnership between Operam Education Tutoring, and the Fischer Family Trust (FFT).
FFT Tutoring with The Lightning Squad Literacy programme is a blended approach with in-person tutoring supported by an online tutoring platform in the form of half-hour daily sessions, working with pairs or small groups of pupils at a time, to improve reading skills, fluency, comprehension, spelling and phonics.
Since it is an established evidence-based programme, course content is provided along with set-up, assessment and tutor to facilitate. The tutors are recruited, vetted and trained by experts in their field and will have a pre-requisite of teaching/ teaching support experience.
The tutors provided will be Higher Level Teaching Assistants (HLTAs) or Qualified Teachers with experience of working with primary school pupils. We will find the right tutor for your school with our tutor recruitment process including full background and employment checks, interviews, references and DBS clearance. FFT’s tutor will work as part of your school’s staff team for six weeks. The tutor will work with around 40 pupils, delivering 10 tutoring sessions each day (pairs or small groups of pupils in each session and 30 minutes per session).
Once the six-week tutoring period has been completed with FFT’s tutor, you will have the option to continue using Tutoring with the Lightning Squad for another 10 weeks with your pupils, using your own teaching assistants as tutors (we will train your teaching assistants to continue with the tutoring).
If you’d like discuss how we can support you call 0330 335 8272 or email tutoring@operam-education.co.uk
Alongside a tutor, pupils work in two cooperative pairs, taking turns as ‘Reader’ and ‘Coach’. The tutoring is a blended approach with in-person tutoring supported by an online tutoring platform. Tutoring activities are designed to improve reading skills, fluency, comprehension, spelling and phonics. Pupils work through 65 specially written, engaging and illustrated stories.
Most pupils spend 12 weeks working on the tutoring programme to catch-up their reading skills, with daily 30-minute tutoring sessions in school (4 pupils working with a tutor). Research has demonstrated that pupils using Tutoring with the Lightning Squad make learning gains of between 3 and 5 months in reading attainment.
An online pupil reading assessment will enable tutors and classroom teachers to decide on suitable pairings and at what point in the programme they should start. Regular checks are carried out by the tutor, who decides when the pair are ready to move on to the next story in the tutoring programme.
The Fischer Family Trust provide online reports for tutors, teachers and school leaders which monitor pupils’ progress and reading attainment; it includes words learnt, reading age and reading fluency. A letter will be generated detailing the pupil’s progress which the tutor and school need to send home to parents. Provided reports will also help schools to monitor the impact of the tutoring on pupils’ reading skills and development.
The Fischer Family Trust was established in 2001 and is a non-profit organisation. They provide accurate and insightful information to schools to enable both pupil and schools to progress. FFT’s Aspire online system, used by 13, 600 clients in the UK, analyses data in order to set aspirational targets for pupils to reach and to offer insights to schools who can map required improvements to support learning targets.
info@operam-education.co.uk 
0151 9470 440