A TUTORING charity is calling for volunteers to help ensure deprived young people have access to same resources as their better off peers.

Volunteer Tutors Organisation (VTO) is rapidly expanding as requests for tutoring support grow across Glasgow.

From eight homework clubs in the city, VTO has added five more and needs the resources to keep them afloat.

Caroline Bain, administrator for the charity, said: "We work with children who have additional needs and also disadvantaged children whose families can't afford to provide them with a tutor.

"The majority of children we work with have learning difficulties and we have also recently expanded our service into working with children who are in kinship placements.

"The service has expanded quite quickly and so now we really need more volunteers to make sure we can provide assistance where it is needed."

VTO has been running in Glasgow for 40 years and was founded in 1977 by Douglas Johnston, who has recently returned to the charity to take on the role of chairman.

Although it has been going for four decades and helps hundreds of city children each year, Caroline says the organisation is not well known - which means it has to work harder to recruit volunteers.

And staff from the charity are running next month's Santa Dash in order to raise awareness of their work.

The charity works with children aged six to 16 plus in maths, English and specialist subjects and currently has 160 school pupils registered for support.

It has homework clubs across the city, from the East End to Drumchapel in the north and Govanhill on the South Side.

As well as supporting young people's learning, it gives volunteering opportunities to pupils with around 60 volunteer tutors from secondary schools in Glasgow who work one-to-one with younger pupils in the homework clubs.

Adult volunteer tutors also visit children's homes to help them progress with their schoolwork.

Staff compile a profile of the child’s background, education and other need before they are paired with a tutor.

Caroline said: "We are sometimes approached by parents of pupils who want to go from a B to an A in a subject - but that's not the sort of young person we are here to help.

"We are looking to support pupils who are really struggling and who don't always have help at home and give them the extra support that sometimes schools just can't afford to give."

Children are referred from schools or from other charities and the work is funded with help from the Trades House of Glasgow.

The charity is now looking for between 30 and 40 new tutors to support its one-to-one tutoring.

For information email Caroline at admin@ vtoscotland.org