"Everybody did their absolute best and we really need to applaud how students applied themselves with the continual changes, especially term three, and now we are ecstatic to be back," said principal Tegan Bell.

And their equally excited that their tutor Christine McShane is also back and will continue in her role next year after the state government's Tutors in Schools program was extended.

While larger schools will receive the same funding for the tutoring program next year as they received this year, small schools like Mount Egerton will see their allocation increase from $15,000 to $25.000 meaning more hours to help struggling students or provide extension work to others.

"Our tutor is at school three days a week, from 9am to 12.30pm, and in that time she works with four or five different groups of students either one on one or in small groups that focus on reading, writing and maths," Ms Bell said.

"We are not sure if we are going to have more hours across the week, or run it longer throughout the year (with the increasing funding) but it will definitely give us many more hours for tutors to be involved in support and extension."

Buninyong MP Michaela Settle visited the school on Friday to see the tutor program in action. The 25 primary and secondary government schools across Buninyong will share $2.4 million in 2022 to retain the tutors they had supporting students this year.

During term four, schools will analyse student learning data to identify students in need of tutoring support in 2022. This will ensure that students, who may have fallen behind or become disengaged, continue to receive the help they deserve next year.

"We are now eager to gather our assessment data in the coming weeks and see the impact of the tutor learning initiative on our school community," Ms Bell said.

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Ms Bell said remote learning had its challenges but as a small school they had been able to have a small video conference group each day for students, the tutoring program had continued during remote learning and school support staff also spent time online with students so every child was able to read and do spelling with an adult each day in addition to class work.

The tutor program called on pre-service teachers, teachers on leave, retired teachers and casual relief teachers to get back in the classroom - with at least one tutor in each government school to ensure every Victorian child came out of the pandemic with the confidence that their learning is on track.

"Our tutors have done incredible work throughout this year helping students succeed, and Victoria's nation-leading NAPLAN results are a testament to their dedication and hard work in schools across the state," Ms Settle said.

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