Frequently Asked Questions

Pick a class for your child's year group and book a free trial lesson. We save your card when you book, but nothing is taken until the day before your second lesson, so you can see how we teach before you pay anything.

Your child's first session is a free taster lesson. They spend about 30 minutes learning in a real class, alongside the other students, and then sit a 20-minute diagnostic assessment.

The diagnostic shows us what your child is confident with and where the gaps are, so their tutor knows how to support them from the start. We share the results with you and use them to put a learning plan together.

A laptop, desktop or tablet (an iPad works well) with a camera, microphone and speakers, and a reliable internet connection. A phone won't do, because the screen is too small to follow the work.

Your child writes their working on screen rather than on paper, so their tutor and the Tugo Teaching Assistant can see every step and spot a mistake as it happens. A stylus makes that easier, so it's ideal, but it isn't essential.

All our sessions are online via video call. This gives you flexibility, no commute time, and access to our best tutors regardless of your location. Students can learn from the comfort of their own home with all materials shared on screen.

Every Tugo tutor is a PGCE-qualified teacher with an enhanced DBS check, trained by our founders in the Tugo Method. Every session also runs with the Tugo Teaching Assistant, our software that checks your child's work as they go and flags errors to the teacher in real time.

Yes. Every tutor who teaches a Tugo class holds a current Enhanced DBS certificate, the highest level of criminal record check, and completes safeguarding training.

Tutors only speak to students through our lesson platforms, never through personal social media or personal phone numbers, and we never record the audio or video from a lesson. Our Designated Safeguarding Lead, co-founder Hugo Cheyne, oversees safeguarding, and our safeguarding policy explains how concerns are handled and how to contact him directly.

Most tutoring platforms can't promise who will teach your child: many mix qualified teachers with students and recent graduates. Every Tugo tutor is a qualified teacher, trained in the Tugo Method, which is built on the cognitive science of how students learn and remember. We've compared 13 UK tutoring platforms on price, who teaches and what you sign.

Tell us, and we'll talk it through with you. If another class and tutor would suit your child better, we'll move them where there's a seat, at no charge. And because the first lesson is free, you can stop before you've paid anything if it isn't right.

We teach maths to students aged 11–⁠18, from Year 7 to A-Level, and we're familiar with all major exam boards (AQA, Edexcel, OCR, etc.).

Less than you might think. Since the reformed GCSEs were first sat in 2017, every GCSE maths board (AQA, Edexcel, OCR and Eduqas) has had to cover the same content, set by the Department for Education, and assess it to the same rules, set by Ofqual, the exams regulator. The same is true of A-Level maths, where the reformed course was first taught in 2017 and first examined in 2019.

What differs is the exam papers: how many there are, how long they last, where the non-calculator paper falls and how questions are worded. At A-Level, each board also uses its own large data set, which students need to know well. Our tutors have years of teaching experience across several exam boards, so they know where each one does things differently.

We place each student by year group and ability, and the diagnostic from their first lesson confirms it's the right class. The aim is for every child to be working at the level where they'll make the most progress.

If the pace turns out to be too fast or too slow, we'll move them. That could be another class in their year group, or the year above or below if that's where they'll progress fastest. Some students with bigger gaps to close take two classes: their own year group and the one below.

We always talk it through with you first, using the diagnostic and their tutor's notes, and we only move your child if you're happy with it.

Everything from the lesson stays in our online classroom, so your child can open it afterwards, go through what was covered and work through the questions in their own time.

A group class runs whether or not everyone can make it, so we can't refund or reschedule a missed lesson. If your child will be away for a while, talk to us and we'll do what we sensibly can.

There's no compulsory homework, because not every family wants it. If your child would like more practice, they can go back to any lesson in our online classroom at any time, look over their own working and what their tutor wrote, and try more questions on their own.

After the first lesson, we go through the diagnostic results with you. From then on, you get a written progress report every half term.

Behind that, the Tugo Teaching Assistant writes a report for your child's tutor after every lesson, so they can adapt their teaching to your child. Your half-term report is drafted from the same work, and a member of our team reads it before it reaches you. If you'd like to talk about how your child is getting on, get in touch at any time.

If you start with a free trial lesson, we save your card but take nothing that day. The first payment is the day before your second lesson, and after that it's monthly, on the same date each month. Stop before that first payment and you pay nothing at all.

If you buy the monthly plan directly, the first payment is taken when you buy, and then on the same date each month. We never take a monthly payment in July or August, so a full school year is ten payments, and if you join over the summer, the first payment is on 1 September. Termly and annual plans are one payment up front, for the lessons left in the term or school year.

You can stop a monthly plan at any time in your hub. If you stop during your free trial, before the first payment, you pay nothing at all. Otherwise your child keeps their place until the end of the month you've paid for, and we won't take another payment. If you're on our older weekly plan, the same goes for the week you've paid for.

Termly and annual plans are paid up front, and after the first 14 days we don't refund part of one. Whichever plan you choose, you have 14 days from buying to change your mind, and our terms set out the details.