Areas We Cover
Online GCSE Tutoring in Putney
One-to-one lessons for Year 10, Year 11 and resit students, £30 per lesson
Online GCSE tutoring in Putney across every subject we teach. A good share of SW15 enquiries arrive in the spring of Year 9, when option forms come home and a family suddenly has to decide what a fourteen year old will be doing for two years.
Lessons run one-to-one over video at times that fit around school and clubs. Nobody travels, which is the difference between a weekly slot surviving February and quietly lapsing.
The first session is free and it is a genuine lesson. If the tutor does not think weekly lessons are warranted yet, they will tell you that instead.
What Putney families ask about
- Whether an option choice closes anything later.
- Triple Science against Combined at options time.
- A subject chosen in Year 9 and regretted in Year 10.
- Maths and English before the Year 11 mocks.
- Whether Year 9 is too early to start.
Which GCSE choices actually close doors?
Fewer than the options evening suggests. Two subjects genuinely gate what comes next and most of the rest are recoverable.
The two that matter are the two nobody chooses. Maths and English Language at grade 4 or above are entry requirements for most sixth forms, most apprenticeships, nursing, teaching, the police and a large share of degrees. Everything on the option form is secondary to getting those two right.
After that, the honest hierarchy is narrower than it feels. A-level entry usually asks for a grade in that same subject at GCSE, so a student who wants A-level Chemistry needs Chemistry content, whether through Triple or Combined Science. That is the real constraint, and it is checkable: sixth form entry requirements are published.
Languages sit in a middle band. A few universities still ask for a GCSE language, and the EBacc measure schools are judged against includes one, which is why schools push them. Neither is a reason to take a language a student will genuinely fail.
What almost never matters is the specific humanity or creative subject. History against Geography, Art against Music: sixth forms and employers do not weigh these against each other. Choose the one the student will work at, because a grade 7 in the subject they liked beats a grade 4 in the one that sounded better.
A sensible order of priorities
| Decision | How much it matters |
|---|---|
| Getting grade 4+ in Maths and English | Decides almost everything after 16 |
| Science route, Triple or Combined | Matters for A-level science, check the sixth form |
| Taking a language | Matters for some universities and the EBacc |
| Which humanity | Rarely matters. Pick the one they will work at |
| Creative or technical subject | Matters if they want to continue it, otherwise not |
Sixth form entry requirements are published. Read the ones you are actually applying to.
What if the choice turns out to be wrong?
It happens often and it is rarely fatal. What matters is how quickly somebody notices and how honestly the options get discussed.
A switch is usually possible in the first half term of Year 10, occasionally later in that year, and effectively never in Year 11. So the window is short and it closes quietly. If a student is miserable in a subject by October, that is the moment to ask the school, not February.
Where a switch is not possible, the goal changes. The aim stops being enjoyment and becomes a workable grade for the least misery: learn the mark scheme, learn the question types, do the minimum viable content properly and stop trying to love it.
That is not a defeatist position. A student carrying nine subjects they like and one they tolerate is in a normal position. A student carrying three they resent is in a different one, and worth a conversation with the school about the whole timetable.
Worth asking the school in Year 10
- Is a subject change still possible, and by when?
- Which exam board and tier is my child on?
- What is the target grade based on?
- Is Triple Science still switchable to Combined?
- Has any non-exam assessment already been submitted?
That last one closes the door on a switch faster than anything else.
Which GCSE subjects can your child get help with?
All of them from this one page, whichever way the option form went.
Maths
Foundation and Higher tier, and the Year 9 fundamentals that quietly cap a grade. See GCSE Maths tutoring.
English Language and Literature
Reading questions, structured writing and the set texts, taught as argument. See GCSE English tutoring.
Combined and Triple Science
Three strands with three specialists, whichever route was chosen. See GCSE Science tutoring.
Computer Science
Programming, algorithms and the written paper. See GCSE Computer Science tutoring.
Business Studies
Case studies, calculations and evaluation answers. See GCSE Business Studies tutoring.
Humanities
History, Geography and Religious Studies, where a specialist has capacity.
And if Maths or English falls short at the end?
The subject follows the student into sixth form or college. That is the funding rule, and it is why those two sit at the top of the priority list above.
The 16 to 19 maths and English condition of funding, updated in July 2026, requires any student aged 16 to 19 on a study programme without grade 4 or above in maths and English to keep studying that subject. A grade 3 commits them to a GCSE. At grade 2 or lower, Functional Skills level 2 becomes a permitted route instead.
It is worth saying plainly to a Year 9 weighing options: no choice on that form will follow them the way a missing grade 4 in maths will.
| Series | Subjects | What it suits |
|---|---|---|
| November | Maths and English Language only | A near miss in August, roughly ten weeks later. |
| Following summer | Every GCSE subject | The main series, and the right call when real ground needs covering. |
Our GCSE resit tutoring page covers both, with dates on the exam dates page.
How do lessons fit around the school year?
Around your child’s actual school, which in Wandsworth is frequently not the council calendar.
Wandsworth publishes term dates for its maintained schools, with the 2026/27 spring term running from Monday 4 January to Thursday 25 March 2027, and states that dates for academies, foundation schools, free schools and voluntary aided schools are set by their own governing bodies or trusts.
Most secondaries around Putney fall into one of those categories. The government term dates finder lists schools individually, which is the reliable way to check before booking anything weekly.
Tell us the year group
Year 9 choosing options and Year 11 in February need different things.
Free one-to-one session
A real lesson, no card details, then a straight report.
Match and schedule
A tutor confirmed and a weekly slot agreed around the school calendar.
Weekly lessons
One target topic, practice afterwards, past papers from early on.
Feedback with specifics
Which question types moved, and which have not.
What does a GCSE tutor in Putney cost?
£30 per lesson, one to one, with no registration fee and nothing to buy up front.
Rates across SW15 climb quickly once an agency is taking a margin from both sides. We publish one number and apply it everywhere, which makes a comparison quick.
Ask us to confirm lesson length when you enquire so an hourly rate elsewhere can be judged fairly. Our guide to GCSE tutoring costs covers the wider market.
What £30 covers
- A full one-to-one lesson with a subject specialist.
- Planning against your child’s exam board and tier.
- Past paper work marked against the real mark scheme.
- Feedback to the parent, not only the student.
- A tutor change if the match is wrong.
Tell us where your child is in the process
Year 9 options and Year 11 mocks are different jobs. We reply during the day.
- Year group and subject.
- School, and exam board if you know it.
- Which options were chosen, if that is the question.
- Current grade and target grade.
- Days and times that work at home.
Prefer to talk? WhatsApp us, or use the contact page.
Send an enquiry
Frequently asked questions
Do GCSE option choices actually matter for university?
Two of them do and the rest matter far less than Year 9 parents fear. Maths and English at grade 4 or above are entry requirements almost everywhere. Beyond that, most degrees care about A-levels, and A-level entry usually asks for a grade in that specific subject at GCSE.
Does dropping a language close doors?
A few, and it is worth checking rather than guessing. Some universities still ask for a GCSE language, and the EBacc measure schools are judged on includes one. Neither is a reason to take a subject a student will fail.
Triple or Combined Science at options time?
Triple suits a student who likes science and has the hours spare for roughly a third more content. Combined is worth two GCSEs and is accepted for A-level science at most sixth forms, subject to grade. Check the entry requirements where you are actually applying.
My child chose a subject and now hates it. Can they change?
Sometimes in the first half term of Year 10, rarely after that, and almost never in Year 11. Ask the school early. If a switch is not possible, the realistic plan is to make the subject survivable rather than enjoyable.
Which GCSE subjects do you cover?
Maths, English Language, English Literature, Science in either form, Biology, Chemistry and Physics separately, Computer Science and Business Studies. Humanities subject to availability.
Do you have a tuition centre in Putney?
No. All lessons are online and the business is registered in Feltham. Local schools are named as context only.
What does it cost?
£30 for a one-to-one lesson, with no registration fee and no block to buy in advance.
Is Year 9 too early for tutoring?
Usually, with one exception. If maths fundamentals are shaky, fractions, negatives and rearranging, Year 9 is a sensible time to repair them, because every GCSE maths topic is built on those.
Book a free GCSE session for your child in Putney
One free one-to-one session, no card details and no obligation. Useful whether you are weighing option choices or repairing a subject already chosen.