The Growing Need for Individualised Pupil Support

All children and young people, regardless of their background or geographical region, should be able to access and engage with education. We know that the attainment gap in education outcomes is widening between children from disadvantaged backgrounds and their more affluent peers.  

A recent Sutton Trust report revealed that this inequality is compounded for young people with SEND, who face challenges accessing the support they need – especially if they are from a lower socio-economic background.  

While demand for SEND support continues to grow, and schools face a persistent attendance crisis, it’s a poignant time to reflect on the value of interventions and holistic support to ensure pupils are best enabled to access learning and re-engage with education.  

The need for individualised interventions  

As an education charity supporting children and young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, we developed a more individually tailored programme in response to the need for a holistic approach to pupil support. This programme, called Tutoring Plus, primarily supports pupils who are cared for in alternative provision, have SEND or EAL, are at risk of exclusion, persistent or severely absent from school, or have social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) needs.  

While this 1-to-1 support is more resource-intensive to deliver than our usual (small group tuition) programmes, we have seen just how vital it is to provide individualised support and adapt to the needs of young people.  

It is a particularly impactful programme in Merseyside, one of the key areas we work in, where we’ve seen a notable increase in referrals. One of our tutors in Merseyside, Charlie, shared the impact she’s seen through this programme:  

“I worked with a lovely young man a few years ago who wasn’t accessing school for a number of reasons, but we worked really hard together on his maths and English and on his confidence, and by the end of the year, he was able to find a place in a mainstream school again.”  

– Charlie Dean, Tutor Trust Merseyside Tutor of the Year 2024/25  

Another experienced tutor in the Merseyside region, Imogen, also emphasised the importance of our 1-to-1 work: 

“To see a pupil who may be struggling with a subject through no fault of their own and being able to give them the individual attention they deserve to help unlock their potential is incredible.”  

   – Imogen Kendrick, Tutor Trust Outreach Team  

Increasing demand for tailored support  

This programme has grown significantly over the past few years. In 2024/25, we supported 543 pupils through Tutoring Plus across the North of England (where we specifically focus our work). And over the past two years, the number of pupils we’ve reached through this programme has increased by over 185%, indicating the increasing demand for tailored and proactive strategies to ensure pupils’ learning needs are met. 

A significant area of impact for us has been attendance. Many of the young people we support are persistently absent (missing 10% or more of possible sessions) or severely absent (missing 50% or more of possible sessions), as defined by the Department for Education.  

In 2024/25, pupils’ average tuition attendance was 75%, an increase from 59% school attendance. By engaging students through individual sessions with tutors acting as mentors as well as providing academic support, often combined with other provisions (like the King’s Trust Achieve programme), it can create a positive learning environment and help increase attendance.   

The growth of this programme suggests that there is high demand for individualised interventions which are not one-size-fits-all, but understand and adapt to each pupil’s own context. If you’d like to hear more about our work or impact, our friendly team at strategicpartnerships@thetutortrust.org would always love to hear from you!  

The author

Chrissie Thwaites

Dr Chrissie Thwaites is Partnerships Coordinator at education charity The Tutor Trust, where she builds collaborations with schools, universities, and organisations to close the attainment gap and reduce educational disadvantage in the North of England. She completed her PhD at the University of Leeds and has previously worked in higher education outreach and student engagement, supporting students to access and thrive at university. She also co-presents The Tutor Trust’s podcast, which explores how we can create a fairer education system.