Hitting the target, but missing the point
A £1.12 billion lesson in how good ideas go wrong
They called it the great catch-up. The government's £1.12 billion National Tutoring Programme was meant to be the answer to children's lost learning after Covid lockdowns closed the classroom doors. Yet what followed offers a sobering lesson for Keir Starmer's Labour as it prepares to launch its own flagship education policy: a £365 million programme of universal breakfast clubs in England's primary schools.
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The study from The New Britain Project reveals how the National Tutoring Programme "hit the target, but missed the point," with less than half of pupils receiving support coming from disadvantaged backgrounds and only one in six schools continuing the programme once government funding ended. The attainment gap between rich and poor pupils is currently at its widest since 2011.
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The findings highlight four critical lessons from the tutoring scheme for Labour's breakfast club rollout:
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Quality standards crumbled under pressure
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After almost 6 million hours of tutoring, we are none the wiser whether it actually made a difference
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Procurement was the achilles heel of the NTP
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New money filled old holes
"The parallels are striking. Like the tutoring programme, breakfast clubs are a good idea backed by evidence. But schools watched the programme turn from a promising initiative into a box ticking exercise in finding the shortest possible route to deliver 6 million hours of tutoring, sidelining its original mission in the process. The new government can’t afford to make the same expensive mistake.”
Our Recommendations
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Update and properly enforce school food standards to prevent a post code lottery in nutrition
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Leverage existing real-time attendance data to quickly identify and resolve issues, and use Labour’s pledged Pupil ID numbers to link education and health outcomes to track long-term impact
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Commission local government public health teams to support effective delivery
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Put in place clear guidelines to prevent funding being diverted to cover existing gaps, similar to the management of pupil premium funding, with more targeted support for the schools in most need
“Labour’s ambitious plans must avoid the pitfalls of the previous government’s mis-steps. The tutoring programme failed because it didn’t focus on the details, ultimately losing sight of its mission. Parents and schools need breakfast clubs to be different.”
Join the Conversation: How can we ensure Breakfast Clubs deliver real impact? This report highlights crucial lessons from past failures. Now we want to hear your ideas on how to make the breakfast club pledge into meaningful change for children's health and education. #BreakfastClubImpact
Bridget Phillipson, the Secretary of State for Education, has said that breakfast clubs could support working parents, reduce persistent absence and improve student attainment. But the report warns that without clearer government direction on objectives, minimum nutrition standards and delivery mechanisms, there is a risk that breakfast clubs become another well intentioned policy that falls short of its promise.​​​​​​​