Get the most from the National Tutoring Programme (NTP)
Updated: 24th May 2023
Budgeting in schools has been a hot topic for many years and more so now with the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Given the blend of political and ethical elements to the discussion, it makes for an interesting debate and acts as a huge challenge for schools each year.
The Education Endowment Foundation researched the impact COVID-19 had on learning and found that it had negatively impacted the attainment of all students, but unsurprisingly the less privileged students were impacted the most. In other words, the attainment gap strikes again. So, what can your school do about it?
Author:
Jess Shepherd
Jess is Yipiyap’s Operations Director, and has worked alongside schools as both a tutor and a team leader for over 7 years
The National Tutoring Programme explained:
What is the National Tutoring Programme?
In November 2020, the DfE National Tutoring Programme (NTP), a government scheme, was introduced to enable students to receieve tutoring, heling them progress after missing around 14 weeks of in-person learning, which would later increase by another 8 weeks in the winter of 2021.
The scheme was developed as a way to help schools fund the delivery of high-quality tuition in order to improve attainment across the school and leaders were encouraged to prioritise those students who have faced disadvantage. The NTP is available to all local authorities in England, allowing schools and colleges to embed tutoring into their catchup plan.
This guide covers all the basics of using your NTP funding, but if you'd like to speak to us about how to make the most of your allocation or the practicalities of offering tutoring to your students, please enquire at info@yipiyap.co.uk or get in touch using the button below.
What's the most impactful way to use NTP funding?
Ensure tutoring content aligns with classroom teaching
Contact between tutors and teachers is everything. Teachers will always have the best idea of the areas their learners need support with. We always advise that teachers meet with tutors to let them know for which topics support is most needed. Ideally, staff should have an overarching plan for how tutoring will support curriculum learning, rather than taking each session as an isolated block.
Making time for tutors to feed back on their sessions with learners is essential too. Yipiyap peer tutors integrate into the school team, offering ample opportunities after class or in the staff room to share insights on learners' progress.
Finally, plan ahead for when your tutoring ends. Small-group tuition is proven to give progress some serious rocket fuel - so just make sure that momentum keeps up once it's over!
Timing is everything
A clear timetable for tutoring ahead of time will help ensure tutoring is delivered consistently - and nothing goes to waste! If a sesion falls through because students aren't available, you can at least put tutors to work supporting in-class.
Yipiyap tutoring is delivered on a full-day basis. Our experience is that working during standard school hours and matching lesson slots makes for an optimal experience. Thirty to sixty minutes makes for an ideal tutoring session - although with younger pupils, consider shorter, more regular sessions.
Target groups of learners who'll see the biggest impact
Tutoring can empower lower-achieving learners to catch up, or ensure higher-achieving learners are stretched. Your school or college's staff will be able to make a professional judgement on which tutoring groups will benefit the most - and benefit the class as a whole. For example, would targeted extraction for lower attaining pupils give them the chance to tackle key misconceptions? Or would tutoring for the highest achieving learners give class teachers a chance to support the rest of the class with fundamentals?
If in doubt, identify the low attaining learners for tuition using prior attainment data, as these are most likely to show additional progress through tutoring.
Typically, small groups of three students works best, but consider one-to-one or one-to-two tutoring for learners who need more dedicated support, such as learners with SEND or learners in Alternative Provision.
Build strong relationships between tutors, teachers, students, and parents
Parents will have the most sway out of anyone, so make sure to keep them in the looop with what's happening and why. Get tutors involved too - bring them into class to introduce themselves and put a face to the name.
Get feedback - and use it
Consider how assessments (especially ones early in the year) can help make the most of your tutoring funding. If you can identify a list of problem topics for each learner, that's perfect setup for a tutor to come in with targeted support.
Conduct your own assessments or work with the school or college's data lead to get clear metrics on how learners being tutored are progressing compared to the rest of the cohort. This can be useful mid-year for making sure tutoring is having the impact it needs to, and at the end of the academic year when you're planning ahead for future support.
Finally, feedback isn't just about learners. Tutors and teachers should have an honest and open dialogue about how their work is going. Are tutors taking the right approach for your learners? And do your teachers need to give tutors more support to see the most impact? Catch up regularly to make sure everything is going swimmingly - ideally, schedule it in so it doesn't slip away during the busy school day.
How does the National Tutoring Programme work?
In its current iteration, the NTP has three main strands:
- Academic mentors
- Tuition Partners
- School-led tutoring
The NTP is a Department for Education (DfE) scheme, but its individual strands have been delivered by various partners over its lifespan.
What are NTP academic mentors?
Academic mentors are specifically recruited by Cognition Education for the delivering of the NTP and they are trained to provide 1:1 and small group support. They are directly employed by the school and there are specific rules in place, such as the minimum salary of an academic mentor being £19,000 per year.
What’s the difference between tutors and academic mentors?
There isn’t a big difference between NTP tutors and NTP academic mentors - academic mentors are simply specific to the route managed by Cognition Education. So all academic mentors are NTP tutors, but not all NTP tutors are academic mentors.
What are NTP Tuition Partners?
The Tuition Partners (TPs) are expert tutoring organisations, quality assured and vetted by Tribal Group. Yipiyap were approved as an NTP tuition partner for 2022-23 and 2023-24. This route is designed to help school settings develop relationships with tuition companies in order to build a strong tuition programme, based on best practice and evidence of impact. The group of TPs can offer tuition to support with a variety of subjects and tuition can be delivered in-person or online.
What is NTP school-led tutoring?
School-led tutoring is where funding is spent on engaging current members of staff in the programme, for example paying a teacher for additional hours of tutoring after school. This route also includes employing staff specifically for the purpose of tutoring; however, you cannot use external organisation to help with this recruitment as that falls under other routes of the NTP.
How is NTP funding allocated?
NTP funding is based on the number of Pupil Premium eligible students in the school and schools do not have to apply for the funding as it is paid directly each term.
Mainstream schools will receive a minimum of £162 per PP-eligible student and non-mainstream schools receive a minimum of £423 per PP-eligible student.
What percentage of costs will the NTP subsidise?
How much is the NTP subsidy in 2022-23?
During the academic year from September 2022 - July 2023, the NTP subsidised a maximum of 60% of the total cost of tuition. This is based on an hourly rate of £18 or less, or £47 for non-mainstream schools, so schools must keep a record of how many tutoring hours are delivered.
How much is the NTP subsidy in 2023-24?
It was confirmed on 23rd May 2023 that the National Tutoring Programme would subsidise 50% of the total cost of tuition would be subsidised in the academic year from September 2023 - July 2024.
This was a departure from the previously announced figure for the National Tutoring Programme funding of a 25% subsidy for 2023-24. As in 2022-23, this is based on an hourly rate of £18 or less, or £47 for non-mainstream schools, so schools must keep a record of how many tutoring hours are delivered.
How much is the NTP subsidy in 2024-25?
2023-24 is set to be the final year of the National Tutoring Programme. The DfE has signalled its intentions to continue to support tutoring into the long term, so we’ll have to wait and see what funding that support might involve. If it follows the pattern of the NTP, we would expect to hear more in late Spring 2024.
Example of funding:
High School A is a mainstream school. It works with a National Tutoring Programme Tuition Partner to deliver 2,850 pupil hours between September 2022 and July 2023. They have set up weekly group sessions with 3 students attending and attendance has been monitored closely.
The total cost of this tuition is £32,775 meaning the hourly rate per pupil is £11.50. The NTP would therefore cover a maximum of £19,665 (60%) and High School A would need to fund the remaining balance of £13,110.
The total funding allocation at High School A is £25,000 so they must either spend the remaining £11,890 on more tuition or it will be recovered by the Education Skills Funding Agency.
How does the NTP funding return work?
The Department of Education will recover any NTP funding that is unspent at the end of the academic year, following the end of year funding statement each school completes. Funding cannot be carried forward into the next academic year so it is vital schools make use of the funding allocated by utilising the three routes available to them.
If you are a school leader and would like to speak to us about how to utilise your funding allocation, please enquire at info@yipiyap.co.uk or enquire using the button below.
Does the NTP require a year end statement?
Yes - so keep track of exactly how you’re using your National Tutoring grant! You’ll need to submit a year end statement via the DfE Sign-in portal. The guidance on the Department for Education’s website still refers to the academic year 2022-23, but there hasn’t been any indication that the process has changed at all. More information may be issued on the National Tutoring Programme year end statement as we approach the end of the summer term.
Frequently Asked Questions about the NTP:
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What are the conditions of the NTP grant?
NTP funding can only be spent on tuition, not on any costs associated with delivering the tuition. Records must be kept of all spending to be returned to the DfE at the end of the year. The DfE's website gives more detail on eligibility criteria and conditions of the grant.
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Which providers are approved for NTP funding?
To deploy NTP funding via Tuition Partners, only providers approved by the NTP's delivery partner Tribal (such as Yipiyap) may be used. A full list of these can be found on the DfE's website.
Academic mentors can only be engaged via another delivery partner, Cognition Education.
Schools are able to appoint their own staff under the school-led tutoring path. Engaging a tutor via an external organisation such as Yipiyap would count as the Tuition Partners route, so for this purpose, only Tribal-approved NTP Tuition Partners could be used.
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How do I become an NTP tutor?
For tuition delivered via the Tuition Partners route, tutors are not employed directly by school or the NTP, but rather by the approved tuition provider. If you're interested in tutoring with Yipiyap, you can learn more here.
Under the school-led tutoring route, tutors are employed directly by the school they're working at. Academic mentors are employed by the NTP's delivery partner Cognition Education and deployed to schools.
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What training is required for NTP tutors?
Tutors appointed directly by schools are required to sit training delivered by the Education Development Trust on the behalf of the DfE. This training takes approximately 14 hours to complete for those without QTS. If a tutor completed this training in a previous academic year, they are not required to resit it.
For Tuition Partners or Academic Mentors, the school won't need to do anything, as appropriate training will already have been delivered.
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Can I use NTP funding in Scotland?
No - the National Tutoring Programme is only running in England. Schools in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland fall outside the scope of the scheme, although there may be other equivalent funding pots available to cover tuition.
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Do schools pay VAT on NTP tutoring?
No - just like any other VAT invoice, schools are able to reclaim VAT on invoices for National Tutoring Programme tuition.
So, for budgeting purposes, the ex-VAT cost on the tuition provider’s invoice is the figure to consider - up to 50% of this can be paid for out of the NTP subsidy (depending on the size of the grant allocated and on the assumption that the per pupil charge is £18 or less per hour) whilst the remaining 50% must be paid for out of other school budgets.
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Will there be clawback on NTP funding at the end of the year?
Yes. The Department of Education will recover any National Tutoring Programme funding that is unspent at the end of the academic year, following the end of year funding statement each school completes. Funding cannot be carried forward into the next academic year so it is vital schools make use of the funding allocated by utilising the three routes available to them.
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What is the deadline for the NTP end of year statement?
The DfE have announced that schools should submit their end of year statement via the ESFA by 16th September 2023 or risk having their National Tutoring Programme funding reclaimed. If you've already planned that funding into your budget, that could leave you in a big hole, so make sure not to miss this deadline!
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What should be on the NTP end of year statement?
The end of year statement for National Tutoring Programme funding should include the total spent by the school on NTP tutoring, hours of NTP tutoring delivered, and how many pupils were reached.
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Can primary schools use NTP funding?
Yes. Both primary and secondary schools are eligible for funding under the National Tutoring Programme.
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Who are Tribal?
Tribal Group is the National Tutoring Programme's delivery partner in charge of quality-assuring tuition providers in 2023-24. This is relevant for the Tuition Partners route.
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Who are the Education Development Trust?
The EDT are the National Tutoring Programme's delivery partner in charge of training new school-based tutors. This is relevant for all routes of the NTP, wherever the staff member delivering tuition does not have QTS.
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Who are Cognition Education?
Although schools are able to appoimt tutors themselves under the school-led tuition route, or engage a third-party to deliver support via approved Tuition Partners such as Yipiyap, only Cognition Education are eligible to provide academic mentors as the NTP's approved provider.