Ever since I was seven-years-old, I wanted to be a teacher.  It was the only option as far as I was concerned (much to the chagrin of my Secondary School careers advisors).  It is fair to say that I have dedicated my whole life to education, including more than ten years at various state schools serving as Year 6 teacher, Computing Lead, Head of English, Phase Leader and later in the private sector as an educational consultant to tech firms looking to produce educational gaming apps.  

What I have learned along the way is that a 'one size fits all' approach to teaching and learning has never worked.  Children are individuals and while it's true that small-group work can be very rewarding and successful, thirty or more children is not a small group.  Unfortunately, most state schools tend to group children in classes of thirty.  I'm not criticising anyone - I had to do this myself for more than a decade, but I know that it is not the optimal learning environment for many children.   

Let's break it down.  Your child is getting 1/30 of the teacher's attention.  They have maths and English lessons once a day, five days a week (ideally - this is not always the case).  The lessons are one hour long, but you can take off around 15 minutes at the beginning and the end for housekeeping things like coming in from playtime or simply getting things ready. That leaves us with 45 minutes.  Out of those 45 minutes, a good teacher will spend around 10 in total on delivery (some teachers spend a lot longer).  There will also be around five minutes towards the end of the lesson to check where people are (this is called a 'plenary').  That's 30 minutes left.  It's a social situation, so let's remove a reasonable two minutes for chatting and fidgeting.  Twenty-eight minutes.  But there's thirty children in the room and they all deserve attention.  So, 28 ÷ 30 = less than one minute per child.  In a normal teaching week, your child will be getting around nine minutes of academic attention for English and maths COMBINED.  It's nobody's fault, it's just the way the education system works.

That's why Ignite Education was founded - To give children the attention they deserve; to cater for the children who learn best on their own, or in small groups.  All too often I hear reports that a child's school has labelled them as 'lazy' or 'not putting in enough effort' when it is more accurate to say the child 'needs a little more time' or even that a different approach to the material might be needed.  Children want to learn.  They just do.  But learning as one of thirty can be tricky, especially if your confidence has been shattered by asking 'too many questions' or by being told that, despite really trying, you simply 'weren't listening well enough.'

At Ignite Education, the child's needs truly come first and their tuition is genuinely bespoke.  There are no schemes of work, no pre-made worksheets to get through before a big test.  We take where the child is and we go from there.  We plan sessions very carefully but if something comes up during the week then we'll adapt to suit that need.  We do this because the key to education is confidence, confidence that comes with being able to say 'stop and go back'; confidence that comes from a feeling of agency in your learning; confidence in feeling safe enough to say 'I still don't get it'... until you do.