The government’s catch-up tutoring scheme, launched following the pandemic, “could do better” to support disadvantaged pupils, a founding partner of the scheme has warned.
The National Tutoring Programme (NTP), which was set up in 2020 to mitigate lost learning for the most disadvantaged pupils due to school closures, is reaching pupils in 76 per cent of schools in England.
Of those pupils accessing courses, 47.9 per cent are eligible for free school meals and 28 per cent are known to have special educational needs, latest Department for Education data shows.
Some 3,843,370 pupils started courses through the programme between November 2020 and May 2023, the data shows, despite delivery partner Randstad being stripped of its contract last year after meeting just 15 per cent of its target of reaching two million pupils in its first two years.
