“I didn’t know what to revise. I’d go into exams and guess what to do”
Okoke and Michelle’s MyEdSpace story
Michelle Onuwaje was not struggling at school because she wasn’t trying. She was struggling because she didn’t fully understand what was being asked of her.
“Everyone else seemed to know what was going on, but I didn’t,” she admits. “I didn’t really revise, because I didn’t know what to revise. I’d go into exams and just guess what to do.”
With her SATs behind her and GCSEs started to loom on the horizon, mum Okoke started to look for extra support for both Michelle and her brother - who was a couple of years older and already studying for his GCSEs.
“I only really started looking because of my son” Okoke explains. “He’s got his GCSEs coming up. He’s doing Biology, Chemistry and Physics, and I felt he needed more support. At the same time, I wasn’t happy with Michelle’s Year 8 English performance. She didn’t seem to know what they wanted from her.”
Studying GCSEs online
Michelle discovered MyEdSpace on Facebook and intrigued by the quality of the Chemistry content which kept popping up in her feed, she joined an online session for parents in order to find out more.
“My concern was engagement,” she says. “It’s online, so how do you keep students interested? How do you give feedback? That feedback piece was really important to me.”
As she sat and learned more about how MyEdSpace works, the quality and experience of the teachers, plus heard other families detail their - reassuringly familiar - struggles, she realised that she’d found exactly what her children needed.
“There were so many parents on the call. I remember thinking, ‘wow, how did I not find this earlier?’ That was the point where I thought, okay, let’s do this.”
A few months on, for both mum and daughter, there are no regrets - except maybe not signing up sooner.
Stepping up from Key Stage 3
“She understands now what’s being asked of her in English,” Okoke says. “She knows what information they want and how to give it. And her grades have improved in just a few months.”
Smiling, Michelle interjects, “I did an English exam earlier today. I felt really confident. I actually knew what I was doing.”
“She said to me, ‘Mum, I know I’ve done well.’ That confidence was new,” adds Okoke.
Seeking to explain her new-found confidence, Michelle describes how the way in which her MyEdSpace teachers cover each topic in detail without rushing on to the next thing, has allowed her to grasp areas she found difficult before.
“They actually explain things until you get it,” she begins. “In school, sometimes they answer your question, but if you still don’t understand, they just move on, but everyone learns at different paces. For example, I didn’t know how to do poem analysis before. At MyEdSpace, they showed us the structure and how to get good marks.”
“Now I know how to start, I know how to structure a paragraph and go through the question. Before, I’d waste time just thinking about what to do and I used to be in the 40s. Now I’m getting between 70% and 80%,” she beams.
Online tutoring that did more than improve grades
Alongside their improvements in grades and confidence, Okoke has also noticed an increase in her children’s desire to learn.
“I don’t have to remind them about lessons. They’re on there when they need to be. They’re balancing school homework and MyEdSpace homework. It’s given me peace, knowing that the work that needs to be done is consistently being done.”
“There hasn’t been one big moment where I thought I made the right decision,” she explains. “It’s been a consistent reassurance. I’m now thinking of bringing her twin on board as well. He’s not struggling right now, but as GCSEs get closer, I want them both prepared. It’s worth it.”