A TEACHER who provided 100 hours of free tuition to children is now working to reduce the amount of time children spend in front of screens.

Stockton based teacher Sarah Gordon has spent over a decade teaching English in secondary schools around the North East.

In 2016 she left the profession after becoming 'disillusioned at the increasing focus on administration, rather than education'. Since then she has set up a boutique tuition company, Signature Tuition, and has championed increasing safeguarding requirements in the private tuition industry as Director on the Board of The Tutors Association.

Now, after listening to the concerns of parents worldwide, Sarah aims to tackle the increase in screentime for young people with Box-Ed, an educational resource delivered monthly to parents around the country. Parents signing up to Box-Ed can expect a monthly gift-box delivered to their home, with a guarantee of at least four hours of non-screen based activities for kids of all ages.

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The contents of the boxes are designed and hand-curated by fully-qualified teachers in the UK, their contents cover 'STEAM' subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering / English, the Arts, and Maths) and are closely aligned with the UK's National Curriculum. Each month the boxes follow a different theme and are packed with activities relevant to a child's age and interests.

Sarah said: "Whilst the world continues to deal with the implications of Covid-19, it's important to remember that a separate, very damaging pandemic of children using screens in virtually all parts of their day. Various studies have shown the potential damage that this is causing, including sleep problems, affected relationships, lower grades, and less time spent in the company of family and friends.

"Box-Ed is a wonderful solution that offers fun, inclusive activities for the whole family that are designed by teachers and offer children an alternative to being glued to TV, phone, tablet or computer screens all day.

"It makes me very proud that parents and children from across the Tees Valley, Yorkshire, and the North East have played a huge part in bringing this to life by giving us valuable feedback along the way."

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