Private tutoring in the UK costs between £25 and £40 per hour, and often more in London. For a child having weekly lessons, that is £100 to £160 per month – a significant expense that many families simply cannot afford. The result is predictable: children from wealthier families get extra support, and children from less wealthy families do not.
The Maths of Group Lessons
One-to-one tutoring is expensive because the teacher's entire time is dedicated to a single child. But research on effective group sizes shows that group instruction can achieve learning outcomes comparable to one-to-one – provided the teacher is skilled and the session is well-managed.
This is where the arithmetic changes. A teacher earning a fair rate per lesson, teaching a group rather than a single child, means the cost per child drops dramatically. Each family pays a fraction of what one-to-one tutoring would cost.
Why £5 Specifically
We tested different price points. Below £5, parents questioned the quality. Above £5, some families began to hesitate. Five pounds sits at a point where it feels accessible to the vast majority of families while still signalling that this is a real, structured lesson with a qualified teacher – not a YouTube video.
At £5 per lesson, a child having weekly maths lessons costs £20 per month. That is less than most streaming subscriptions. Two lessons per week – maths and English, say – comes to £40 per month. Still less than a single hour of private tutoring.
If a family can afford a streaming subscription, they can afford a weekly lesson with a real teacher. That is the bar we set for ourselves.
Fair Pay for Teachers
Low prices for families must not mean low pay for teachers. Bell.Study operates on an 80/20 revenue share – teachers receive 80% of lesson revenue, and the platform retains 20% to cover infrastructure, safeguarding, payment processing, and development.
For context, many tutoring platforms take 40% to 50% of the lesson fee. Some agency models take even more. Our 80% teacher share is deliberately higher because we believe teachers should be well compensated. A teacher who is fairly paid delivers better lessons, stays on the platform longer, and builds relationships with their students. Underpaying teachers is a false economy.
No Subscriptions
Bell.Study does not charge monthly subscriptions. You pay per lesson, and only for lessons you book. This matters more than it might seem. Subscription models are optimised for the provider – they create recurring revenue regardless of whether the customer uses the service. For families, this often means paying for lessons that do not happen during holidays, half-terms, or busy weeks.
Pay-per-lesson is fairer. If your child is on holiday, you pay nothing that week. If you want to try an extra lesson before exams, you book one. There is no contract, no minimum commitment, and no penalty for stopping. This puts families in control – which is exactly where they should be.
The Mission Behind the Price
Bell.Study exists because quality education should not be a luxury good. The £5 lesson is not a marketing gimmick or a loss leader – it is the entire point. We built the platform to make this price sustainable: group lessons, efficient technology, low overhead, and a direct connection between teachers and families with no unnecessary intermediaries.
Every decision we make is filtered through a simple question: does this help us deliver great lessons at £5? If it does, we do it. If it does not, we do not. That clarity is what makes the model work.