How Tutoring Works Alongside School: A Guide for Parents and Teachers

Making Tutoring and School Work Together

The best tutoring outcomes happen when tutor and school are pulling in the same direction. When they're not — different methods, conflicting advice, or the student playing one off against the other — the result is confusion rather than progress.

What Tutors Should Know About School

An effective tutor will want to know:

• Which exam board and specification the school uses
• What topics have been covered and what's coming next
• How your child performed in recent assessments
• Whether the school has flagged any specific areas of concern

You can help by sharing school reports, test results, and any communication from teachers about your child's progress. The more the tutor knows, the more targeted their sessions can be.

What to Send Before Session One

A practical checklist to forward to the tutor before the first lesson:

• The exam board and specification — "AQA GCSE Maths 8300, Higher tier" tells a tutor far more than "GCSE maths"
• The most recent school report, including teacher comments and effort grades, not just attainment
• One or two marked pieces of work — a recent test paper with the marker's annotations shows more than any summary
• The class's current topic, and the term's topic list or scheme of work if the school publishes one
• Any target grades the school has set, and the grade your child is currently working at

Should You Tell the School About the Tutor?

Yes. Most teachers appreciate knowing when a student has outside support. It helps them understand changes in performance and avoid mixed signals. You don't need formal permission — a brief mention to the class teacher or subject teacher is enough.

Methods: When School and Tutor Differ

This is the most common source of confusion. Schools teach long division one way; the tutor uses another. The student is left not knowing which method to use in the exam.

The solution: the tutor should follow the school's methods wherever possible. A good tutor will ask your child to show them how their teacher does it, and then work with that approach. If the tutor genuinely believes the school's method is creating confusion, they should discuss it with you — not just override it.

Method clashes go beyond long division. Exam boards differ too: AQA and Edexcel GCSE maths cover the same content, but question wording and the way method marks are awarded differ enough that practising past papers from the wrong board builds the wrong habits. In English, each board sets different texts entirely. Make sure the tutor is working from the school's exact specification, not just the subject.

This is also where recorded lessons earn their keep. With our matched online service, every lesson is recorded, so you can rewatch a session and see exactly which methods the tutor is using — and raise it with the class teacher if something doesn't line up.

Homework: Should the Tutor Help With It?

There are two schools of thought:

• "Yes, use homework as a starting point." This ensures sessions are directly relevant to what's happening at school. The risk is that sessions become homework help rather than skill-building.
• "No, use sessions for deeper work." This means the tutor focuses on underlying gaps while the student handles homework independently. The risk is that homework struggles continue.

The best approach is usually a mix: spend the first 10–15 minutes addressing any homework questions, then move into focused work on the tutor's plan for the session.

When to Reassess

Review the tutoring arrangement at natural checkpoints — end of term, after mock exams, or after a set of school assessments. Is your child improving? Are school and tutor aligned? Does the tutor still feel like the right fit? If not, have a conversation with the tutor about adjusting the approach. And if the fit itself is the problem, switching shouldn't be painful: our matched service runs pay as you go with no contracts, and you can meet a new tutor through a free meet-the-tutor session before committing to anything.

If you're just getting started, our online tutoring matches your child with a tutor for their exact board and level, usually within 24 hours, with lessons from £18 per hour and a free meet-the-tutor session first. Every lesson is recorded, so you can see for yourself how tutoring and school are working together.