Aspire Tuition

The thought of extra work straight after school is difficult for many students so I always make sure tasks are suited to individuals.

Student 1 today doesn't like to spend too much time sitting so our first reading task involved pre-reading of some of the decodable words in the next book of the series he is reading here at Aspire. Not only did he read them whilst standing but he had to act them out giving some great movement as well as ensuring he understood the vocabulary.

He was then ready to tackle the book. As I do with several students, he threw a dice to show how many sentences he would read before I would take my turn. However this lad decided that the number thrown '1' would be the number of books he would read. He then proceeded to read the entire book, applying the knowledge of the words he had already seen. Wow, he was so confident!

After this followed some sentence creation activity - using a voice memo app to support his memory.

We also worked on the floor labelling fractions and creating our own sets and finished with a card game: spotting numbers that add up to 10 to help making mental calculation much easier.

Time flew by!

Post it left by a Year 7 student today. It's never been an easy subject for them but they obviously realise how important maths is.

Lots of discussion with a Year 7 working with fractions, decimals and percentages conversions today.

It's necessary to be able to fluently convert and having full understanding of the concept of less than 1 whole is absolutely vital.

As ever, there's been lots of hands on work and variety today. Many students need some easing back in to term after a week off.

Although they know it is valuable, some students don't really want to turn out for more learning so I always look for ways to make it fun. Using interesting resources aids memory and keeps up the motivation.

It doesn't hurt a 13 year old to spend a few minutes threading beads and discussing prime numbers.

We love a theme at Aspire. Whilst needing to focus on specific SATs content for some students, we still managed to have fun with some activities related to Valentine's Day including writing letters to a favourite person (or animal), finding the area of a heart (for the Lower Key Stage 3 students), Mystery Maths and dictionary skills with our synonym activity.

Getting back to it with '2026' maths and Place Value 'Blob' monsters.

This is a great game for developing mental arithmetic skills. I often end a session with a quick fun game as I find nearly all students need to build their number bond fluency.

The aim of the game is to not put down the card that brings the running total to 99. However we have a great new rule here - if you put down the card that makes you say '67' you win a sweet. IYKYK 🤣This makes the game a hit.

Changes to routines can be difficult for many students. I had a student coming on a different day today, due to being on a trip on Tuesday. It meant missing out on an after school activity too.

Finding out that he was a little out of sorts when he arrived, I was more flexible in my plans. However, using some multi-sensory methods (including eating sweets - I need shares in the manufacturer of Skittles) of learning made for a great, productive lesson practising times tables, spellings and learning about fractions of amounts.

👬📘 Double the Fun, Double the Focus! 🔢✏️

These brilliant twin brothers brought joy, energy, and determination to every single session — one arriving just as the other finished, always eager to hear how his sibling had done. From maths to English, they showed commitment, curiosity, and a healthy dose of friendly rivalry! 😄

What stood out most was their genuine support for one another. Whether celebrating a tricky maths breakthrough or a great piece of writing, they cheered each other on with pride and big smiles. Their enthusiasm was infectious, and their hard work never went unnoticed.

It’s been a real pleasure to teach such motivated and kind-hearted learners. Keep shining, boys — you’re a fantastic team!

A look back over the year at Aspire Tuition

📚✨ Learning Through Treats!

In this tuition session we made ratio work both meaningful and memorable using a fun (and tasty!) hands-on activity with Skittles. This student explored how to group, compare, and calculate ratios using different coloured sweets — turning a tricky topic into an engaging and interactive experience.

By sorting and grouping the sweets by colour, she could clearly see the mathematical relationships — and of course, the best part came at the end: she got to eat her learning tools! 🍭😄

Using practical resources like this doesn’t just help solidify abstract concepts — it also brings joy and curiosity into the classroom. A sweet way to learn!

Love having a job that makes me smile every day.
So many happy, motivated students at Aspire Tuition.