Action Tutoring CEO, Susannah Hardyman discusses the variety of her week as a charity chief executive.

Monday

It’s mid-January and already 2024 is in full swing. One of the things I love most about my role is the variety and this week has that in abundance.

We’ve been gearing up to launch our 2022-23 Impact Report. It’s our charity’s key publication which highlights our achievements and demonstrates the impact we are having on young lives. I’ll be eagerly sharing it with key funders, policy contacts and our board, so spend some time prepping all the comms for that.

Increasingly, advocacy work has been a key part of my role at Action Tutoring. We’ve been part of the Government’s flagship post-Covid education recovery programme, the National Tutoring Programme (NTP), since 2020. Its objective is to help young people, particularly those facing disadvantage, to improve their educational outcomes through small group tutoring. It is set to come to an end this summer, despite the attainment gap between those from disadvantaged backgrounds and their peers being at its widest since 2012.

We’re part of an exciting collaboration with Get Further and the Tutor Trust, working with public affairs agency Public First, to convene our advocacy efforts. Public First have been carrying out some fascinating analysis on the economic impact of tutoring and that launches this week too. It’s an exciting chance to share the impact we have on schools and individual pupils, as well as wider society and the economy.

Advocacy work continues in the afternoon with a meeting with a Conservative MP. We have a partner school in his constituency and he’s been keen to support our efforts in calling for an extension to the NTP. Before that though, I squeezed in lunch with the CEO at Impetus, one of our largest and longest term funders, and an important one year review meeting with a funder who’s committed to five years of support.

Tuesday

I’m working from home in the morning and have my first catch up of the year with our Head of Philanthropy. The impact report launch is a great chance to reach out to all our funders and with an ever-growing fundraising target, we’re keen to maximise our engagement with them this week.

One of our strategic goals is increasing our reach, expanding our delivery to new areas. It’s exciting therefore to have an online meeting lined up with a council in the South West to discuss partnering with some of their schools in rural and coastal areas. These kinds of strategic partnerships are gold dust for growing both our reach and growth. They take time and investment but can have a significant impact in an area.

It’s not entirely a home-based day though. In the afternoon I head into Westminster for a meeting with the chair of the Education Select Committee, together with The Tutor Trust and Get Further, to continue the advocacy efforts.

Wednesday

I’m usually in the office on Wednesdays and today it’s great to have our senior leadership team together in person for our monthly meeting. It’s an important chance to catch up on our ‘highlights, headaches and horizons’ and get into the detail of key pieces of work coming up, including planning a senior team away day. We also review our monthly management accounts, report on any key incidents and changes to our organisational risks, which then feeds into our quarterly board meetings.

This term is really critical for finalising our goals and plans for 2024-25. This afternoon I meet with our brilliant consultant who will help run our board strategy day in February. We’ll work on the agenda and think about how we can get the best from it.

Thursday

A focus on governance continues today with an online meeting of our HR sub-committee. I’ve been especially grateful for their wisdom over the years as we’ve navigated the challenges of increased costs, increased needs and the impact of the cost of living on staff.

In the morning I have the chance to meet with others in the charity sector at the Third Sector forum, convened by our partner and funder, Impetus, followed by a 30 minute virtual meeting with another MP. I’ve learnt over the years that the more direct and specific you can be with MPs, the better!

In the summer, Action Tutoring will be 12 years old (which makes me feel really old!) and a generous funder has given us a beautiful space to host an event for free to celebrate this. A small working group has been convened to lead this and I join them for the kick-off meeting and enjoy watching the creative juices flow.

I don’t work on Fridays, so I try to leave space at the end of the day to wrap up. Reflecting on the four pillars of our strategy - impact, reach, growth and advocacy - I feel satisfied that the week has contained a balanced focus on all four, whilst giving time to important board and internal staffing matters.

Friday

One advantage of being a CEO is that the working practices and culture are largely set and modelled by you. I’ve tried hard to build a culture of flexibility and trust at Action Tutoring and since having children I have spent Fridays with them. I often take my daughter to a lovely stay and play session, catch up on family admin and pick up my son from school.

In many ways, since having my own children I’ve felt more motivated towards Action Tutoring’s cause. I’m acutely aware of the privilege my own children have and my desire to do what I can to help other children has only grown. I’m also very aware these days when my children are young (and want to spend time with me!) will pass all too quickly, so my Friday ‘Mummy days’ are extremely precious.

Next week, I’m heading out of London and looking forward to spending a couple of days with our teams in Liverpool and Sheffield, including some school visits - as long as the trains cooperate with this plan of course!

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