What we do
Since 1995, Quest for Learning has been helping to close the gap in literacy and numeracy between Oxfordshire’s most disadvantaged primary-age children and their better-off peers.
We believe that too many children are not fulfilling their academic potential through no fault of their own. The reasons for this are not easy to unpick: it may be because they arrived at school with only limited English, they don’t have much support at home, or they miss vital teaching through illness or disruption. Sometimes, they simply don’t have the confidence to engage in lessons.
Whatever the reasons, two things are clear. Firstly, if these children don’t catch up with their peers by the time they leave primary school, their chances of doing so at secondary school are almost non-existent. Secondly, Quest for Learning, through our carefully designed interventions and resources, can make a real and lasting difference.
“It is an honour to have the opportunity to lead the charity and work with its great people to enable thousands more children to benefit from that support in years to come.”
Chris Higgins, Director
How we do it
We use trained, paid, and experienced tutors to deliver programmes in Oxfordshire primary schools. Some schools approach us for help themselves, while others are identified by Quest for Learning and our funders as needing extra support for some pupils. We have many long-term relationships with schools across the county and are always very happy to hear from new schools who’d be interested in working with us. Last year, we worked in over 25 schools.
Our programmes
ReadingQuest is designed to help early readers, who don’t have the key skills and strategies needed for successful reading.
BookQuest is designed to help KS2 pupils who have basic reading accuracy but low levels of comprehension.
Exciting banks of resources for use with small groups of children to help them improve their mental maths and calculation skills
Training courses
In addition to our teaching programmes, we also run a comprehensive programme of affordable, up-to-date, and inspiring CPD refresher courses for primary teachers and TAs, including workshops on KS1 and KS2 moderation and assessment.
Beyond Oxfordshire
We are a member of the Fair Education Alliance, an organisation that believes that no child’s success should be determined by their socioeconomic background. With over 250 member organisations, the FEA allows us to amplify our voice beyond Oxfordshire, and to take part in a national debate about how to tackle education disadvantage for all children.
Annabelle Ballsdon
Position - Fundraising Coordinator
As Fundraising Coordinator, Annabelle is excited to help ensure that today’s young people have the same opportunities to maximise their own life chances as she did.
Claire Bishop
Position - Tutor
Claire has always enjoyed maths puzzles and playing games so being a NumSkills Tutor is her perfect job.
Ben Brice LLB LPC
Position - Trustee
Ben is a Legal Director at Blake Morgan solicitors, where he heads up the firm's charities team.
Sheenagh Broadbent PGCE NPQH
Position - Trustee
Sheenagh has spent her working life involved with education.
Reka Chrystal
Position - Tutor
Reka trained as a primary school teacher at Oxford Brookes University and has several years of experience teaching students in KS1 and KS2.
Roger Copleston ACMA CGMA MBA
Position - Chair of Trustees
Roger is a Senior Management Consultant with over 20 years experience working with global Fortune 500 organisations.
Emma Deasy
Position - Tutor
Emma graduated from Exeter University with a degree in Primary Education and started her career teaching in Key Stage Two.
Julia Edwards
Position - Teaching Coordinator
Julia is our Teaching Coordinator - a role which entails facilitating school/tutor introductions and liaison; providing schools with impact data for the pupils we have taught; and supporting users on our Information Management and online library systems.
Tamzin Einon
Position - Head of Teaching
Tamzin heads up our teaching team, managing the QfL tutors and liaising with our partner schools, as well as overseeing the educational content of our BookQuest, ReadingQuest and NumSkills programmes. Tamzin is also the QfL Designated Safeguarding Lead.
Liz Gamlin
Position - Tutor
Liz has taught in a range educational settings including special schools, pupil referral units and higher education.
Chris Higgins
Position - Executive Director
As Executive Director, Chris is responsible for overall strategy and management of the charity. Joining in March 2024, he is delighted to be able to join the QfL executive team, to steer the charity into its next chapter.
Tony Hobbs
Position - Financial Advisor
Tony is an accountant with experience in many sectors, having qualified in 1992.
Catherine Machin
Position - Tutor
Catherine completed a PGCE at Westminster College (now Oxford Brookes) and has taught across the primary age range in Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Outer London.
Samantha Mather
Position - Tutor
Samantha has been a class teacher in Oxfordshire since 1994, working mainly in KS2.
Katriona McGrath
Position - Tutor
In her 15 years as a primary school teacher, Katie has been privileged to work with pupils and teachers in a variety of EYFS, KS1 and ...
Saskia McQuitty
Position - Tutor
Saskia has worked in the field of education for more than 20 years and has gained wide experience in a number of countries.
Andrew Moore
Position - Tutor
Since completing his teacher training at Westminster College (now Oxford Brookes University) Andrew has been a class teacher in Oxfordshire from 1987 until 2010
Jen Pawsey
Position - Tutor
Jen trained at Homerton College, Cambridge and taught in Suffolk in the middle school system before returning to Oxfordshire. ...
Kimberley Rose MCIPD
Position - Acting Vice Chair of Trustees
Kimberley is an experienced HR professional with over 15 years’ experience across a range of roles, industries and countries.
Jeanette Sadler
Position - Administrator
Jeanette has worked in a number of administration roles across the education and child support sector.
Kevin Senior LLB FCA
Position - Trustee
Kevin was a partner in a major international accountancy firm from 1996 until his retirement in 2016.
Sarah Stewart
Position - Tutor
After 20 years teaching in Key Stage One and Reception, Sarah has a lot of experience in making learning engaging, practical and fun ...
Ally Walker
Position - Teaching Team Assistant
Ally joined Quest for Learning to assist the teaching team in coordinating their programmes within schools.
Ned Wells
Position - Trustee
Ned is a marketing consultant with over 20 years' experience working for businesses and charities across the UK and Europe.
Our vision
A future in which children from all backgrounds can succeed equally in education and in life.
Our mission
To work collaboratively to close the disadvantage gap in children’s literacy and numeracy skills.
Our values
We are:
Child-centred We recognise each child’s individual abilities and needs, keeping them at the heart of what we do
Empowering We support our beneficiaries to increase skills, improve their self-concept, and take ownership of their learning
Evidence-led We continually review our impact and adapt our processes in line with emerging evidence
Co-operative We value the expertise of schools and other charities, and actively seek opportunities for collaboration
Our goals
We intend to:
Address the disadvantage gap in educational attainment through our charitable activities
Be widely recognised as a trusted partner by schools
Be widely recognised as an expert voice by educational policy makers and other key stakeholders
Drive third-sector collaboration in the field of educational disadvantage
Support us
Our work in helping some of Oxfordshire’s most disadvantaged primary pupils is more vital than ever, but we are funded almost entirely by donations. All donations, no matter how big or small, will help us in our quest to improve the life chances of thousands of children.
At Quest for Learning we firmly believe that education expands our horizons, fires our imagination, and gives us pleasure and opportunity in life. But not all children flourish at school and unfortunately our programmes remain as relevant, in demand and impactful as they did 27 years ago when we were founded.
