Via the Independent:

"Nothing beats one-to-one tuition for boosting a child's performance," says Susan Fieldman, regional editor of The Good Schools Guide. "State schools have 30 or more in a class and even private ones have 15."

Demand is greatest for GCSE and A-level tutoring but the biggest area of growth is in the primary sector, especially among parents who are hoping to get their children into a grammar school.

The most popular subject at all levels is maths, followed by English, with parents typically hiring a tutor for a couple of terms prior to an important exam. Anita Moss, founder of the Bright Tutors agency, says: "It's better to go for one hour a week spread across a year than cram, cram, cram." A realistic aim is to go one grade better than the predicted mark based on mocks.