One-to-one GCSE tuition: when it's worth it

Small groups are efficient and sociable, and most children thrive in them. But there are moments in Years 10 and 11 when one-to-one is the better tool.

When individual tuition makes sense

• A specific gap has opened up — often algebra or fractions — and everything else depends on it.
• Your child is aiming for the top grades and needs stretch beyond the group.
• Anxiety or low confidence means they will not ask a question in front of others.
• Time is short: a term, not a year.

What good one-to-one looks like

A plan for the block, not a series of disconnected lessons. Homework that is marked. A tutor who knows the exam board and can talk about grade boundaries specifically.

What it should not be

A weekly hour of re-doing school worksheets. If a tutor cannot tell you what your child will be able to do in six weeks that they cannot do now, ask why.