National Tutoring Programme Tuition Partners

A summary of the funding and what it means for your school

What are NTP Tuition Partners?

In order to mitigate lost learning from the pandemic, the Department for Education introduced the National Tutoring Programme (NTP) in 2020. The NTP is a large-scale programme that is made up of several different initiatives, and has been extended for the 2021-22 academic year.

One of these initiatives is their £433m Tuition Partners scheme. Through this scheme, the NTP provides subsidies to Approved Tuition Partners so that schools can purchase tuition to fill planned interventions at a heavily discounted rate.

How does it work?

The funding enables Approved Tuition Partners to provide tutors at a 70% discount. Schools can pay for this with pupil premium, recovery funding and general budget.

Tutoring must be purchased in 15-hour blocks as per NTP guidelines. In most instances, this will be for 1:3 group sessions, but 1:2 and 1:1 tutoring sessions are available for pupils with unique needs. This is because DfE research indicates that a 15-hour block of 1:3 tuition can accelerate a child’s learning by 3-6 months.

Schools can access tutoring through the NTP’s Approved Tuition Partners. Zen Educate is one such partner, and guarantees in-person tutors with Qualified Teaching Status (QTS) or extensive Teaching Assistant experience at a rate of just £3.50 per hour per pupil.

How can I use it?

As schools pay just 30% with the rest being subsidised, booking with Zen Educate will only cost you £157.50 for a 15-hour block of 1:3 in-person tutoring; that's just £52.50 per pupil. That’s a huge saving compared to other providers, as shown here.