On the afternoon of Saturday 2nd July, we celebrated our 2021-22 Tutors United Graduation at the Rio Cinema in Dalston; the first time we’ve been able to do so in person since the pandemic. Graduation is the highlight of our year, when we can bring together all of our incredible pupils, families, tutors, staff and partners to celebrate all of our achievements across the academic year, and we want to share why graduation is so important to us here at TU.

Pupils

It is highly rewarding to see the progress of our pupils throughout their year, which is why celebrating their success at graduation is satisfying for everyone to see. The hard work and dedication these youngsters show us in their weekly tutorials deserves to be recognised, and their accomplishments rewarded. So much of the work we do at TU isn’t just to raise the academic attainment of our pupils, but it’s also to boost their confidence and resilience in learning, traits that we know will support them over their lifetime. Therefore, we use our graduations as a way of leaving no doubt that we see their growth and that we are proud of them.

Tutors

As the name suggests, tutors are the bedrock of Tutors United. They work every week, in community centres, hubs, and classrooms, across London and the wider UK, to build children’s confidence in Maths and English and guide them step-by-step through our curriculum. As our tutor Lily describes, “It is so rewarding to see the children progress and gain confidence and their bubbly personalities always make every lesson fun.” We always invite our tutors to Graduation so that they can be part of their pupils’ final step, some of whom will be leaving TU as they transition into secondary school, and receive the thanks and appreciation from those pupils in their valedictorian speeches and from their families in person.

Parents

Without the families of Tutors United, we wouldn’t be complete! As much as we are here to provide tuition for primary school pupils, we are equally here to support the whole family’s learning journey through primary school. The devotion and consistency of these families to sign up and bring their children to Tutors United lessons each week, as well as many travelling from across London to attend our graduation, demands our acknowledgement. We thank you not only for your engagement, support and feedback in your child’s education, but also for making Tutors United the family learning programme that it is today.

Staff

As the Tutors United team, graduation provides us with the clearest view of all the work that’s been done across the year. With the pandemic having made working from home the norm, it is also now one of the few times we get to all come together in the same room and celebrate each other’s successes. We especially want to highlight the efforts of Olivia and Hannah, as well as our Graduation Micro Placements, Anisah and Samira, for their unbelievable work in making the Tutors United Graduation happen and being such an outstanding day for everyone. They exemplify the teamwork and dedication that is pushing TU toward a record-breaking 2022-23 academic year.

Housing Association Partners

Our innovative housing association partners make all of our work possible. Full stop. We are ending our 6th partnership year with A2Dominion and entering our 10th partnership year with Metropolitan Thames Valley. It is their vision and engagement that is enabling us to have a long-term impact with the families they house. It was only right that we celebrate all the achievements of our pupils, families, tutors and staff with these game-changing housing associations, as well as thank our colleagues at these organisations for all of their hard work and support in running our programmes in their communities. We can’t wait to look back in another 10 years at everything we’ve achieved together.

Thank You

We believe that a community of people all striving to make academic support more accessible to families and to improve the educational outcomes of young people deserves recognition for their efforts and celebration of their achievements. Graduation is the best way we know how to make everyone see and feel that they are valued for their contribution to this mission, and it couldn’t be done without every single one of you.