Primary School Student Finds Her Groove
Meet Cecilia, who prefers to go by CC. CC’s start to school was a difficult one after going through a serious illness in her first years of primary school. She missed a lot of school time while in and out of hospital. While CC missed those fundamental years of primary school, where her cohort learned core reading, writing, and numeracy skills, CC’s school challenges weren’t simply about missed time. Our approach to both high school and primary school tutoring is to look beyond the ‘surface problems’ and get to the core of the struggles a child is facing. When a child, no matter how old, falls behind in school, their loss of confidence can be more of a barrier than simply missed lessons.
“Cecilia is bright, but it wasn’t reflected in her marks. It was affecting her confidence and how she felt about herself. This was my biggest concern” says mum Lizzy.
Cecilia Meets Primary School English Tutor Michaela
Now in grade five, and tackling the burgeoning workload of upper primary school, CC’s lack of confidence began to have a serious impact on her grades – and her self esteem. Mum Lizzy called in Academic Personal Trainer, Michaela to help CC get through her homework, assignments, and exams. Michaela could tell that CC lacked the confidence she needed to fully embrace study. She had the “I can’t” attitude and that, more than anything was holding her back. CC is a bright girl. She’s creative, and funny and a passionate young artist. In the classroom, however, she was reticent and uneasy.
Michaela began by working on CC’s confidence, helping her to adjust the way she thought about her school work and how she related to the curriculum. Michaela introduced “learning through play” to reinforce the reading and writing fundamentals that started CC’s journey towards poor academic achievement. Where most tutors would push CC to rote learn spelling and grammar, Michaela helped CC to develop an interest in words and language, and the learning simply followed. Primary school English tutoring is about helping a child discover their own talents – if you force lessons upon them they’ll end up disliking the subject more. We believe in educating a child to follow their curiousity, to embrace their ideas and to pursue the curriculum via their own passions and interests.
“Michaela has been amazing for Cecilia. She has gone to so much trouble to find out what is important to CC and how to connect with her. Cecilia has really opened up to Michaela and I can see that in her confidence. She really looks forward to her weekly tutoring sessions”, says mum Lizzy.
CC’s Achievements are More Than Just Grades
“At my last parent-teacher meeting, Cecilia’s teacher said that her confidence and participation had notably improved. She said some other teachers had also noticed” says Lizzy. During her time at primary school, CC has never achieved above a D grade in English. She’s always struggled with English especially and it’s been an uphill battle for mum and dad – not just to get her to fully engage at school but also to balance encouraging CC to keep trying while watching her performance destroy her confidence.
In the two semesters, CC has worked with Michaela, she’s gone from a D to a C and now, a C to a B. She’s on course to becoming an A student in a subject she’d never once passed just six months ago.
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While mum and dad are very proud of CC’s grades, for them, primary school English tutoring was never about what comes home on a report card, it’s 100% about how Cecilia now sees herself, and her self-worth. And that’s the most powerful result any parent could ask for.
“Cecelia has never passed English before, so we’re really celebrating. But more than that, her teacher, teacher’s aide, reading group leader – they’ve all said she’s far more confident, she’s putting her opinion out there, and she’s finally feeling confident to read out loud. This has been a big celebration in our house.”