As part of the government’s strategy to improve progress in schools during Key Stage 2 and 3, they are set to roll out a one-to-one tuition plan during the spring and summer terms of 2009. Pupils will be selected for one-to-one tuition if they enter the key stage behind the national expected level, or if their teacher assessment shows their progress in English or Maths has stalled and they are therefore at risk of not adding two levels of progress in one or the other subject.

Only pupils selected by the school as being eligible for one-to-one tuition can receive tuition through the school and the government will not fund tuition outside of this. The eligibility criteria for tuition has been based on those used in the Making Good Progress pilot.

Eligibility for the programme applies to: 

• Children behind the national expected level when entering the key stage, or not on course to meeting the national expectation or making two levels of progress.
• Children under the care of local authorities who would particularly benefit from this kind of additional support.
  
• Children with special educational needs who meet the eligible criteria and who the school feels would benefit from this type of support.

The tuition will consist of ten hours of one-to-one sessions delivered in a suggested minimum of one-hour blocks, delivered by a qualified tutor based on targets agreed by the class teacher, tutor and pupil. It is intended that the one-to-one sessions are to be an additional intervention strategy and not a replacement of existing ones.

The tuition session will be delivered in a pace that is both appropriate for the child and which provides a balance between challenge and support to help pupils feel secure in their learning. Much of the tuition time will be spent discussing high-value strategies which can be reapplied in other contexts.