What Liverpool maths tutoring actually looks like
A common engagement: a Year 11 in Mossley Hill (L18) at Calderstones School, sitting Edexcel GCSE Maths Higher, predicted a 5 but needs a 6 for college maths. The tutor is a Liverpool Uni Maths postgrad in L7 (Knowledge Quarter), £30 an hour, weekly 60-minute sessions on a Wednesday after school, working through past papers from the last three years. Six months at £30 weekly is £720 across the academic year — typical for a serious GCSE engagement.
A-level engagements are higher-rate and often more intensive. A Year 13 at Carmel College sitting AQA A-level Maths might book 12 sessions at £42 across spring term, total £504, focused on Paper 3 (statistics and mechanics) where most students lose marks. Sessions are usually 90 minutes for A-level because the syllabus depth needs the time and the example-based working takes longer to step through.
11+ maths in Crosby (L23) for the Bluecoat is the most specialised slice of the Liverpool market. Tutors are usually retired primary teachers or experienced parent-tutors, charge £30-£40, and run 60-minute sessions weekly from January through October of Year 6. Demand outstrips supply most years; the good 11+ tutors in L23 know each other and book up early.
Where the tutors live and what they charge
A rough geography:
- L7-L8: Liverpool Uni postgrads, all levels, £25-£45
- L17-L18 (Mossley Hill, Aigburth): mixed postgrads and teachers, £28-£42
- L23 (Crosby): 11+ specialists, £30-£40, supply tight
- L25 (Woolton): parent-tutors and former teachers, broader subject mix
- East Liverpool (L4-L14): online dominant
- CH (Wirral): separate market, filter accordingly
A converting profile: ‘Liverpool Uni Maths PhD in L17, four years tutoring Edexcel and AQA GCSE Maths, last cohort: average grade improvement 1.5 grades over 8 months. Available weekday evenings online, Sunday afternoons in-person within 2 miles of Aigburth.‘
A real example — A-level Maths, St Edward’s College
A Year 13 at St Edward’s College sitting OCR A-level Maths (the school runs OCR not AQA) was getting C-grade mocks but predicted a B. Found a tutor on TheTutorLink in January — a Liverpool Uni Mechanical Engineering PhD in L17 who’d specifically tutored OCR for two years (most Liverpool tutors are AQA/Edexcel, so OCR fluency is a filter). £42 an hour, weekly 90-minute sessions through to May, total 14 sessions, £588 spend. Final A in August. The tutor’s intervention: drilled the OCR-specific question style (more proof-based than Edexcel) and rebuilt the mechanics fundamentals from scratch. Detail that mattered — an Edexcel-trained tutor would have wasted two sessions noticing the OCR style differences.
When to start and how often
GCSE engagements: October of Year 11 through May exams, weekly 60-minute sessions, total around 28-30 sessions. At £30 hourly that’s £840-£900. Some parents compress the work into January-May only (panic-mode), which works if the foundational maths is solid and only specific topics need fixing.
A-level engagements concentrate in spring term of Year 13. October-November is bridging (the Year 13 syllabus introduction), January is post-mock recalibration, February-May is exam prep. 14-16 sessions at £40-£45 hourly is typical, total £600-£720. A pattern increasingly common in Liverpool: parents book six 90-minute sessions in August before Year 13 starts, at £42 hourly, total £378. The boy starts Year 13 already familiar with calculus extension, parametric equations and 3D vectors, and the autumn term feels manageable rather than overwhelming.
11+ in Crosby is the longest engagement — January of Year 5 through November of Year 6 for the Bluecoat, weekly 60-minute sessions, total 38-40 sessions at £35 hourly, around £1,300-£1,400.
What it costs and how to book
Liverpool maths tutoring sits at: primary £20-£28, 11+ £28-£38 (specialists £30-£40 in Crosby), GCSE £25-£40, A-level £35-£50, university £45-£65. A serious GCSE engagement across the school year totals £750-£1,000 at typical rates, with a few extra Easter intensive sessions if needed. A-level Year 13 engagements run £1,000-£1,400 across 28 weeks of 90-minute sessions. Bluecoat 11+ prep at £35 across 18 months of weekly sessions totals £1,300-£1,400 — comparable with a residential prep school summer camp but spread thinly enough that most families in L23 manage it without much fuss. The 5% platform fee on TheTutorLink means the rate you see is broadly what you pay. Tutorful, MyTutor and Superprof take 20-25%, which is why several experienced Liverpool tutors have moved their listings here — same headline rate, more in their pocket. Filter by your L postcode (or CH for Wirral), by GCSE / A-level, by exam board (Edexcel, AQA, OCR), and message two or three local tutors with a specific question — which paper, current grade, target grade. Most local tutors reply within an hour during weekday evenings, which is when most parents enquire. Book the trial with whoever answers thoughtfully. The first lesson is free, which is a low-risk way to check whether the tutor matches your child’s exam board and explanation style before you commit to a weekly slot.