Online GCSE Tutoring in West Hampstead
One-to-one lessons for Year 10, Year 11 and resit students, £30 per lesson
Online GCSE tutoring in West Hampstead across every subject we teach. Families whose child has an identified need, or a suspected one, are usually navigating two systems at once: the school’s support and the exam board’s arrangements. They are separate, they run on different evidence, and a tutor sits outside both.
This page sets out where each one sits, what a subject tutor genuinely adds, and the several things we are not qualified to do and will not pretend to be.
The first session is free and it is a real lesson, at whatever pace the student needs it to run.
What West Hampstead families ask
- The difference between SEN support and a plan.
- Whether a plan means extra time.
- Whether to seek an assessment at all.
- What one to one changes in practice.
- What a tutor is not qualified to do.
SEN support, an EHCP, and access arrangements
Three different things that families are often told about as though they were one, on three different timescales.
SEN support is what a school puts in place itself, without any legal process. It might be a different seat, adapted materials, a reading pen or small group work, and it is reviewed with the school’s special educational needs coordinator. Most students with additional needs are supported this way and never have a plan.
An education, health and care plan is a legal document. The council assesses, and if it issues a plan it names the provision the child must receive. The route to one is set out in the government guidance on children with special educational needs and in the SEND code of practice, and it is a formal process with statutory timescales rather than a favour a school grants.
Access arrangements are separate again, and this is the one families most often assume follows automatically. They are applied for by the school against the awarding bodies’ criteria, they need their own evidence, and they have to reflect the student’s normal way of working. A plan is strong evidence towards them. It is not a substitute for the application, and the deadlines are earlier than anyone expects.
The practical implication is that these need chasing separately. A family who has secured one may not have secured the others.
Who decides what
| Decided by | Timescale | |
|---|---|---|
| SEN support | The school | Immediate |
| EHCP | The council, after assessment | Months, statutory |
| Access arrangements | The school, to board criteria | Well before the exams |
| Special consideration | The board, after the event | Days |
What does one to one actually change?
Two things that a classroom cannot offer however good the teacher is: pace, and the absence of an audience.
A classroom moves at a pace set for a room. A student who needs an explanation four times cannot have it four times, because twenty-nine other people have moved on, and after a while they stop asking. That is not a teaching failure; it is arithmetic. One to one removes it entirely, and for some students that single change is most of the benefit.
The second is the audience. Asking a question in front of a class carries a social cost that rises sharply for a student who has already been the one who did not understand. In a one-to-one lesson there is nobody to perform for, and the question gets asked.
There is a third that matters more with additional needs than without: the tutor watches the working rather than receiving the outcome. Where attention drifts, where a step is skipped, where a method is being reconstructed from scratch every time rather than remembered, all of that is visible live and invisible on a finished piece of work.
What none of that amounts to is specialist provision. It is ordinary subject teaching in conditions that suit some students far better than a room of thirty.
What we do, and do not
| Ask us for | Ask elsewhere for |
|---|---|
| Subject teaching at the student’s pace | Assessment or diagnosis |
| Adapted explanation and repetition | Speech, language or occupational therapy |
| Exam technique and marked practice | Applying for access arrangements |
| Work matched to the school’s scheme | EHCP applications and appeals |
| An honest view on whether it is helping | Advocacy with the council |
What if nothing has ever been identified?
Then the assessment question is worth asking before the tutoring question, because the order matters more than families expect.
A student who has struggled in a specific and consistent way for years, despite decent teaching and reasonable effort, is a different case from one who has fallen behind in a subject. The first pattern is worth raising with the school’s special educational needs coordinator, and it is a conversation any parent can request.
The reason to do it first is practical rather than diagnostic. Tutoring layered on top of an unidentified difficulty tends to produce slow, expensive progress that everybody finds discouraging, and the student concludes that they are the problem. Identifying what is actually happening changes what the tutoring should look like.
It also matters for the exams. Access arrangements need evidence and a normal way of working established over time, so a need identified in Year 9 can be accommodated in a way that the same need identified in March of Year 11 cannot.
None of that means waiting to start. It means starting the school conversation in parallel rather than instead.
Worth raising with the school
- A difficulty that is specific rather than general.
- A pattern that has persisted for years.
- A gap between effort and outcome.
- Reading or writing markedly behind everything else.
- Ask for the special educational needs coordinator by name.
Which GCSE subjects can your child get help with?
All of these, at the pace the student needs rather than a fixed one.
Maths
Where a single missing step can block everything above it. See GCSE Maths tutoring.
English Language and Literature
Reading load and extended writing, taken separately. See GCSE English tutoring.
Combined and Triple Science
Three strands with a specialist in each. See GCSE Science tutoring.
Computer Science
Programming and the written papers. See GCSE Computer Science tutoring.
Business Studies
Case studies and evaluation marks. See GCSE Business Studies tutoring.
Humanities
History, Geography and Religious Studies, when a specialist has room.
What happens after Year 11?
Support does not stop at 16, but it does change hands, and the new provider has to be told.
A plan continues into further education and can run to 25 where the young person remains in education or training. What does not carry over automatically is everything informal: a college does not know what a school knew unless somebody transfers it, and the first term can be spent rediscovering things that were established years ago.
Access arrangements are the sharpest example. They have to be applied for again by the new centre, on its own evidence, and a student who had extra time throughout school can arrive at a resit without it because nobody started the process.
The 16 to 19 maths and English condition of funding, updated in July 2026, keeps maths and English going where grade 4 was missed. Grade 3 points to a GCSE, and at grade 2 or below Functional Skills level 2 becomes available, which for some students is the more suitable route rather than the lesser one.
To do in the first fortnight
- Tell the college what arrangements were in place.
- Ask who their special educational needs lead is.
- Ask when access arrangements are applied for.
- Check whether a plan has transferred.
- Do it in September, not in March.
See GCSE resit tutoring and our Clapham page.
How does an online lesson run?
A video call, a shared whiteboard, and as much time on one idea as it takes.
Tell us what is already in place
Plan, SEN support, arrangements, or none.
Free one-to-one session
A real lesson, no card details taken.
Pace set by the student
Including going over something four times.
Work matched to the school’s scheme
Not a parallel syllabus.
Reviewed at six weeks
Against marked work.
The full process is on how it works. Camden publishes its term dates, and academies set their own.
What does a GCSE tutor in West Hampstead cost?
£30 for a one-to-one lesson, at one rate for every student.
There is no different rate for a student who needs more repetition or a slower pace, and no assessment fee.
Ask about session length first, then compare the hourly figures. Our guide to GCSE tutoring costs sets out the market.
What £30 covers
- A full one-to-one lesson with a subject specialist.
- A pace set by the student rather than a scheme.
- Explanation repeated as often as needed.
- An honest view on what tutoring can reach.
- A tutor change if the match is wrong.
Tell us what is already in place
Or that nothing is. Both are common starting points. We reply during the day.
- Year group and subject.
- Any plan or SEN support already in place.
- Any access arrangements for exams.
- What specifically is difficult, if you can name it.
- Days and times that work at home.
Prefer to talk it through? WhatsApp us, or use the contact page.
Send an enquiry
Frequently asked questions
Do you tutor students with special educational needs?
Yes, where the need is one that one-to-one teaching can address. What we do not do is assessment, diagnosis, therapy, or anything that belongs to a specialist practitioner rather than a subject teacher.
What is the difference between SEN support and an EHCP?
SEN support is help the school arranges itself. An education, health and care plan is a legal document issued by the council after a formal assessment, and it commits named provision. Most students with additional needs are on SEN support rather than a plan.
Does an EHCP mean extra time in exams?
Not automatically. Access arrangements are a separate process with their own criteria and evidence, applied for by the school. A plan is strong supporting evidence, not a substitute for the application.
My child has never been assessed. Should they be?
If a specific difficulty has persisted for years despite good teaching, it is worth asking the school’s special educational needs coordinator. Tutoring on top of an unidentified difficulty is slower and more expensive than identifying it first.
What does one to one change for a student with additional needs?
Pace and interruption, mostly. Nobody is waiting, an explanation can be given four times without embarrassment, and the tutor can see exactly where attention goes rather than inferring it from a finished piece of work.
Which GCSE subjects do you cover?
Maths, both Englishes, Combined or Triple Science, Computer Science and Business Studies, plus humanities when someone is available.
What does it cost?
£30 a lesson, one to one, with no different rate for a student who needs longer.
Do you have a tuition centre in West Hampstead?
No building anywhere. Lessons are online, from a company registered in Feltham.
Book a free GCSE session for your child in West Hampstead
One free one-to-one session, no card details and no obligation. If what your child needs is something we are not qualified to provide, the tutor will say so and point you at who is.