The end of term is finally here and we wanted to share what the team at Jacari have been up to during the autumn term of 2021 before we head off for a well-earned festive break!
We’ve had a busy autumn term with a focus on recruiting volunteers to meet the high demand for extra tutoring for children who use English as an Additional Language (EAL). One of the highlights was being back at Freshers’ Fairs at universities in Bristol and Oxford and meeting students face-to-face.
It has been wonderful to have the support of our two new Assistant Coordinators, Aggie and Ben, who worked alongside Anna and Freya, our Senior Coordinators, running our programmes in Bristol and Oxford.
Our team have been working hard to do DBS checks for all our volunteers, arrange their induction training, liaise with our partner schools to identify children in need of tutoring and get them matched to a pupil.
This term our volunteers and families have been offered the choice between online or in-person teaching, or a mixture of both, and everyone is adapting well to this new way of working. In Bristol, 45% of Jacari pupils are being tutored in their school rather than at home or online. This is working really well, giving our volunteers a chance to support each other, interact with school staff and access resources. The rest of our tuition is being provided in children's homes or online using video calls.
In November, we organised two informative volunteer training sessions in collaboration with Teach First and the EAL Academy. These were well-attended by our volunteer tutors and gave them lots of useful tips and advice to help them tutor children with English as an Additional Language.
We've also held two face-to-face kids' events this term - trips to Oxford ice rink and to see the pantomime Robin Hood at the Oxford Playhouse. We're so pleased to be able to run face-to-face kids' events again. They are such an important part of our programme, giving the children we tutor the chance to do a fun, social activity and speak English in a relaxed environment.
The infographic below shows some of the key numbers for this term.
