Online learning providers Tute are expanding their offering for children and young people throughout Wales and England with a £250,000 investment by the Development Bank of Wales.
Based at Wrexham Technology Park, Tute’s qualified, experienced teachers deliver live online lessons to fill gaps in the education of children and young people across key stages 1-5. This includes delivering alternative provision, tuition, revision, functional skills courses, and full GCSEs and A levels to support local authorities, schools and non-mainstream settings to fulfil their statutory duties.
With over 120,000 lessons delivered to date across more than 30 subject areas, Tute has taught some 18,000 students in more than 800 education settings in the ten years since the business was first set up in 2012. The £250,000 from the Development Bank of Wales will now be used to invest in further resources and enhancements to the Tute technology platform.
Managing Director Vanessa Leach said: “With exponential growth in the last four years, we’re on a mission to create a world where online learning enables any child, anywhere to fulfil their potential. We want all students to engage and achieve in a high quality, rich and inclusive curriculum.
“The last ten years have included lots of ups and downs but we are now confident that we have the right team and infrastructure to take the business forward and achieve further growth. This investment by the Development Bank gives us the working capital to continue to invest in our technology and our resources with the recruitment of more teaching and operational staff as we strive to be the first-choice online teaching partner for schools, local authorities, and non-mainstream settings throughout Wales and England.”
Chris Hayward is an Investment Executive with the Development Bank of Wales. He said: “Vanessa and the team at Tute make teaching available to all, irrespective of location or background. They are renowned for the quality of their delivery and their commitment to the student as evidenced in the excellent outcomes the students achieve.
“The education landscape has changed with schools now managing more challenging behaviours; increased numbers of children and young people experiencing barriers to learning; and a large cohort of students who have fallen behind age-related expectations. The demand for online provision is therefore greater than ever which means the time is right for Tute to scale up and deliver more much-needed online learning.”
The loan for Tute came from the £500 million Wales Flexible Investment Fund which is financed by the Welsh Government. Loans, mezzanine finance and equity investments from £25,000 to £10 million are available for Welsh businesses with terms of up to 15 years.
