Today: Pupil Premium announcement paves the way for universal online tutoring

LONDON, ENGLAND, December 15, 2010

Paying a premium for every child who gets free school meals would do more for social mobility than keeping student tuition fees down, insisted deputy prime minister Nick Clegg. The Pupil Premium will help children from disadvantaged backgrounds improve their Maths attainment levels by making money available to provide the right kind of solution.
The Pupil Premium is not ring-fenced, which means schools and head teachers are able to decide themselves what to spend money on. This is great news for innovative learning and teaching opportunities - such proven online learning solutions. Nick Clegg expands on the case for effective infant and primary tutoring:
" All the evidence shows that the best way to help bright kids from poor families get to university is to target additional resources at them when they are younger.".
Online Tutoring such as the one Maths-Whizz offers for 5-13 year olds is a solution that works. It is also extremely cost effective when compared with traditional tutoring methods. By using the Pupil Premium to create a shared learning environment that raises standards and creates authoritative statistics and best practice we will see significant leaps in core subjects such as numeracy. This is because schools are able to decide themselves how they wish to raise standards in Maths!

The Statistics - 250,000 collective world-wide monthly usage, reported by two leading online providers *
(Maths-Whizz, Education City, siterport.org)

o Online Education recognises and fosters the importance of integrating positive educational experiences at an early age.
o Top online tutor Maths-Whizz has created a system that supports learning within the home and school environment making a maximum difference to achievement
o Maths-Whizz has nearly 3000 home users and schools 16k + across UK schools
o Children are self-motivated, however as they get older their confidence dips, which can lead to very negative attitudes towards Maths at the upper age range.
o Maths-Whizz research has discovered that the turning point for this is age 9.
o Online tutoring can therefore complement the lack of specialist teaching at Primary School level - increasing confidence and motivation.
o Maths Whizz can provide tailored tutoring for every pupil regardless of ability. Eliminating the need for expensive one to one tuition and allowing the teacher to make better use of classroom time.
o Children who receive 1 hour of out of class individualised learning per week through Maths-Whizz improve their "Maths Age", on average, by 1.6 years in the space of a year.
o Maths-Whizz engages parents in the learning process, allowing them to monitor the progress of their children in the classroom in a simple and intuitive way. Research has shown that improving parental involvement in a child's learning has a hugely positive effect on academic achievement.

For further statistics and information or an interview please get in touch.

Madeleine White
madeleine.white@whizzeducation.com

Whizz Education
Telephone: +44 (0)207 262 6952

Whizz Education delivers happiness in numbers globally for 5 to 13 year olds through its online tutoring service Maths-Whizz by building confidence and linking homes and schools. Our whole class tool, Teachers' Resource, is award-winning and using Maths-Whizz Tutoring Plus for 60 minutes per week, students improve their Maths Age on average by 1.6 years in their first year. Maths-Whizz enables students to master concepts and skills in maths and achieve measurable progress, greater confidence and superior results.

*Maths Age is the student's level of achievement continuously measured by Maths-Whizz Tutoring Plus. It is our standard based on the national curriculum and other curricula which is provided in our reports to teachers and parents to facilitate their understanding of the student's level and progress in maths .