Bexley teacher’s online classes prove a hit

By Lachlan Leeming, Local Democracy Reporter

When Dave Tingle started online classes for free on Zoom and Facebook he didn’t quite expect 240,000 views in a week.

However, the South-east London teacher has seen exactly those numbers roll in as he brought his small tuition Learning Cabin to the online realm after coronavirus forced the closure of their three physical centres.

Mr Tingle, a former secondary maths teacher and one-time Labour parliamentary candidate for Old Bexley and Sidcup, owns Learning Centre, a tuition-based education business offering tutoring in maths, English and science for pupils aged between six and 16.

Coronavirus lockdown has seen Mr Tingle take lessons fully online, in a bid to make sure his nine members of staff do not have to be furloughed and will have a job to return to when precautions are finally rolled back.

The move has snowballed far beyond educating his current students.

He said: “What started as just a small gathering for current students turned first into a larger gathering of siblings and extended family into something that went far bigger than that.”

The successful move is a bright story among the coronavirus crisis, as schools and other educational institutions make moves to adapt to the unprecedented measures aimed at limiting the spread of the virus.

Bexley Libraries earlier this month reported that downloads of e-books and audio books had almost doubled since the pandemic took hold.

The number of weekly downloads has increased from just over 500 a month ago to more than 900 last week.

Library staff have been busy buying more digital stock, to provide customers with even more choice, Bexley council said.