Kip McGrath Saddleworth offers the best in private tuition in the core subjects of English and Maths to school children across Saddleworth and Tameside.
It’s run by Claire Dunkerley and James Moulding, who are both experienced primary school teachers who live in Saddleworth. They are supported in the centre by two further tutors, one of whom works with GCSE maths students, particularly those who are studying for the higher maths paper.
They provide tutoring to primary and secondary school pupils from five to 16 years old of all abilities, helping to ensure they have the essential skills which set them up for life.
“We get a lot of children whose parents send them because they are worried about SATs and equally when it comes to GCSEs too, so a lot of what we do is around exam preparation and building confidence,” said James, who is from Delph and also works part-time in a Tameside school.
“We’re also helping a lot of children who have fallen behind because of the impact from Covid to catch up.
“We offer tuition in small groups so it’s one-to-one within the group. We work with the children for a period of time within the hour they are with us for a lesson, and then give them some independent tasks to do.
“All of the tasks are fairly quick-paced, so they might spend 10-15 minutes on one area and then spend the same amount of time on another area – rather than in a classroom where you might spend every day for three weeks doing the same topic, for example. It’s quite effective in getting the children to cover a broad range of areas and make good progress.”
Claire, from Grotton, who taught for 20 years at St Chad’s C of E Primary School in Uppermill, added: “We like to take feedback, especially from the older pupils, about areas they might be struggling with as some are very aware of what they need to work on.
“We’ve also had some students who failed their English and Maths GCSEs last summer and they are doing resits, so we’ve done some booster classes for them to support them on a one-to-one basis.”
“We also offer both one to one and small group provision in English and maths for children who are home schooled and who may require a little bit of extra support to keep up with the curriculum. Classes are run during the day and very much tailored to the needs of the children. We find that many of the children like to come to us for some help with creative writing and they love to share their ideas and stories with the other children in the group.”
So, what is unique about the services that Kip McGrath provides?
“Everything is bespoke to the children,” stated Claire. “They come for a free assessment which can be booked on our website and we very much listen to the parents and the children. We give them a written assessment which gives us a baseline and then we plan activities based on their needs.
“It’s an ongoing programme but we do have regular assessments which we feed back to parents. It’s roughly around six months usually but it can be yearly depending on the situation.”
James continued: “Kip McGrath has been established for more than 45 years and has its own bespoke scheme which we use. Curriculum designers are constantly developing it with new materials – some are on paper and some are online.
“We are currently in the process of transitioning to a new and more innovative model of learning with Kip which will provide a wider range of more up to date resources changing the lives of even more children.
“It’s quite a unique prospect because a lot of the resources that other providers may have tend to be past papers, which we still use as they are publicly available resources, but this is all unique to Kip McGrath as a company. They have been designed specifically for the purpose of helping children to make accelerated progress and using technology is also important to develop their digital skills and for being independent.”
Both Claire and James have found that the majority of children who have come to Kip McGrath Saddleworth have made significant progress in their learning journey.
“Results wise, the children do tend to make that accelerated progress,” James explained.
“When we reassess after six months, some students can have moved on a year or more by then, so we can see they have made that time up which is really nice to see.”
Claire added: “We do have a rewards and incentive programme so they can collect what we call Kip points as they go along. They build up on the computer and then they can earn medals, badges and trophies as well as vouchers as rewards to spend.
“We’ve also recently introduced a Celebration Wall in one of the classrooms with photos of the children on there so, as they progress, their photograph moves along the wall and the kids love going to see who is where.”
Based at the corner of Station Road and Oldham Road, opposite the Co-op, in Grotton, Kip McGrath Saddleworth has a vibrant and welcoming centre including two modern and well-equipped classrooms where pupils can learn from.
But it also offers the flexibility of online learning if children prefer that method or to work around busy lives.
“There is online learning if children want that, where they can be on the computer and we can interact with them or we can set it so that it’s an activity they can access at home without us being there,” said Claire.
James continued: “If a child cannot attend a lesson because they are ill or have other plans, we offer flexi lessons where the child will get the same sort of resources than they do in the lesson set through the computer and they can access the lesson from home and they can do it in their own time.
“We also offer hybrid lessons where, if they can’t make it to the centre, they can log in remotely when the lesson is taking place and still feel like they are part of the class and we can still interact with them. It’s similar to using something like Zoom but it’s built into our system.”
In recognition of their impressive work, Kip McGrath Saddleworth was chosen out of hundreds of Kip McGrath centres across the UK as Franchisee of the Month in September.
As well as helping children to succeed at English and Maths, the centre is also active in supporting the local community it is proud to be a part of.
“We sponsored Dobcross Youth Band on Whit Friday and we had some boards made up which they displayed at the Brass Band Contests,” Claire said.
“The band also went on a trip to Truro so we gave them some money towards that and they displayed our boards there too.
“We also sponsored the Saddleworth Olympics which is a big sporting event locally and we invited children to make a Guy Fawkes for the Grotton Bonfire.
“We have also donated a lot of raffle prizes to community groups, PTAs at schools and sports clubs. We are really keen to support the local community as much as we can and it helps to get our name out there too.”
If you live in Saddleworth or Tameside and your child needs help to improve or extend their learning, you can find more information on the Kip McGrath Saddleworth website at https://www.kipmcgrath.co.uk/saddleworth or on their Facebook page.
You will also find details of price bundles and packages, their termly newsletter and the different regular competitions they run.
To get in touch with any questions or to make a booking, call James or Claire on 01457 879030 or email saddleworth@kipmcgrath.co.uk
