Primary Maths Catch-Up

What primary maths catch-up actually is

Some children reach Year 4 still counting on their fingers to work out 7 + 5. Others add without trouble but freeze when the same numbers turn up inside a sentence about apples and boxes. Neither means a child is bad at maths. It usually means one step was missed quietly in Year 2 and everything since has been stacked on top of the gap.

Primary maths catch-up is one-to-one teaching aimed at that gap. A class of thirty moves on at the pace of the middle. A tutor does not have to. We find the last point where your child was genuinely secure, rebuild from there, and only then move forward. Number bonds to 20. Place value across hundreds and thousands. Times tables that arrive instantly rather than after a visible pause. Partitioning. Fractions understood as pieces of something real.

Lessons run at home or online, one pupil to one tutor. Every tutor is qualified and DBS-checked, and every learning plan is reviewed by our lead tutor before the first lesson is taught. Parents get progress reports written in plain English, not a page of ticked boxes.

Foundations before speed

Parents often ask for times tables drilling first. Sometimes that is exactly right. Often it is not, because a child who does not understand that 6 × 4 is six groups of four will memorise the chant and still not know what to do when a question arrives sideways.

We use concrete materials before symbols: counters, number lines, part-whole models. Then pictures. Then the abstract sum. It is a slow-looking sequence that saves months later. Word problems get unpacked with bar modelling, so a child can draw what the question is doing before reaching for a calculation. We teach the method, we do one together, then they do one alone while we watch quietly. Errors are useful information, never a telling-off.

Short retrieval practice opens most lessons: four or five quick questions on something covered a fortnight ago. It keeps old ground warm. We also track fluency, meaning how quickly and accurately a child recalls facts, because a pupil who spends working memory on 8 + 7 has little left for the actual problem.

Who it suits, and who it does not

It tends to suit

• Pupils in Years 2 to 6 who have slipped behind and know it, even if they will not say so.
• Children who can do a page of sums at home but fall apart in a test, or the reverse.
• Pupils whose confidence took a knock after a comment in class and who now say "I'm rubbish at maths" before they have read the question.
• Year 6 pupils heading to secondary who still need a secure grip on fractions, decimals and place value.

It is not the right fit for

• Families seeking a formal diagnostic assessment for a specific learning difficulty. We are qualified teachers, not educational psychologists, and we will say so plainly if we think a referral is worth pursuing.
• Anyone wanting a fortnight of cramming before an exam. Catch-up is steady work.
• Pupils who learn best in a group. One-to-one is the whole model here, and it is not for every child.

How it works, step by step

Here is the actual sequence, from the first phone call onwards.

1. A conversation. We ask what you are seeing at home, what the school report said, and what your child says about maths lessons. Ten minutes is usually enough to know whether we are the right people.
2. An initial assessment. One session, sometimes two, working through number, place value, calculation and problem solving. It is relaxed and it is not a test to revise for.
3. A personal learning plan. You receive it before lessons begin, with the gaps we found, the order we will tackle them in, and what progress looks like at each stage. You can query it. Parents frequently do, and that is useful.
4. Weekly lessons. Usually 45 minutes or an hour, at home or online, at a time that fits around school and clubs.
5. Progress reports. Written updates for parents, plus a short note after lessons where something has clicked or something needs watching.
6. A review point. We revisit the plan and decide together whether to keep going, change the focus, or stop. No rolling contract.

The first lesson is normally a getting-to-know-you session with real maths in it, not an interview. A child who arrives nervous often leaves having done something they thought they could not.

What to have ready, and what we bring

You do not need to buy workbooks. If the school has sent home a maths book or a recent report, have it to hand, because it tells us more than any questionnaire. For home lessons, a kitchen table and reasonable light are enough; a sibling doing homework alongside usually works better than a silent room. For online lessons, a laptop or tablet, a stable connection and a pencil and paper beside it.

We bring the assessment materials, the manipulatives, the printed resources and the plan. Tell us in advance if your child is anxious, has had a difficult experience with maths, or needs movement breaks. It changes how we pace the first few weeks. One parent in Dennistoun told us her son did his first lesson under the table and we worked with that rather than against it.

What affects how long it takes, and what it costs

No honest tutor will quote a number of weeks before meeting the child. What we can say is what changes the timeline: how large the gaps are, how many are stacked on top of each other, whether homework gets done between lessons, and how much of the difficulty is confidence rather than knowledge. A child missing one step moves faster than a child who has been quietly lost for two years.

Fees are on request. They depend on whether lessons are at home or online, how far the tutor travels, the length of the session and how many are booked at once. We set them out clearly before anything is agreed, with nothing added later. Availability is confirmed when you book, and we will tell you honestly if the times you want are not there.

Call +44 141 3770911 or email [email protected] and we will talk it through. If your child needs something we do not offer, we will point you towards it rather than sign you up.

Questions parents ask

How soon will we see a difference?

Usually in attitude before attainment. A child who stops saying "I can't do maths" is often the first sign, and it tends to come before test scores move. We do not promise a set number of levels in a set number of terms, and we would be wary of anyone who did.

Do you follow what the school is teaching?

We work from the national curriculum for the year group, and we ask what topic the class is on so lessons connect to it. Where the foundations are missing, we go back first and rejoin the class topic once the ground is solid.

Can lessons be online only?

Yes. Online one-to-one lessons use a shared whiteboard and the same materials as home visits. Some pupils concentrate better on screen; others need a person in the room. We will tell you which we think suits your child after the assessment.

My child is anxious about maths. Will this make it worse?

We start below the point of struggle on purpose, so the first few lessons are full of things your child can already do. Confidence is built by succeeding at something slightly harder each week, not by being told to relax.

What if we want to stop?

Tell us. We will finish the block of lessons agreed and send a final progress report with the remaining gaps listed, so the next tutor or the school can pick up from there.