A Suffolk-based tutorial business which helps secondary school students build their skills and confidence in maths is expanding with the launch of a new teaching centre.

Community Maths School, which has been operating in Bury St Edmunds for three years, will be be offering regular after-school sessions at the Basepoint Business Centre in Ipswich.

A series of five classes, one for each core module of the maths AS and A level courses, is also being run from April 7 to 11, during the Easter school holiday.

All the maths courses are led by experienced tutors who are teachers of maths at top performing state schools.

Community Maths School also works with Kate Patterson, a former head teacher, who uses Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and hypnotherapy techniques that enable students to think positively and overcome fears that would otherwise damage exam performance.

Claire Meadows-Smith, the founder of Community Maths School, said: “The pressure’s really on students when mock results are out. Almost every job or career opportunity these days requires a minimum Grade C pass in GCSE Maths.

“The Easter break is often seen as the “last chance” for grade-busting revision or to seek specialist maths support to overcome any anxieties. In my experience as a Head of Maths, exam underachievement is often down to a lack of self-belief by the student and their failure to understand how to apply their learning in an exam situation.

“Our classes are deliberately small, just four students for GCSEs and three for A Levels, so we always have sufficient time to plug any skills gaps and to help with confidence-building.“

Community Maths School has already provided support for more than 100 students, including a structured revision programme with a Facebook group that offers exam questions and tutored feedback. Among them are A level students Matthew Palmer and Elliot Stock who studied AS maths with the Community Maths School last year to exceed their predicted grades.

Matthew said: “My grades not only improved in maths but in my other subjects too. I study Physics and there is maths required in that too. I come every other week and it has really helped me, firstly to get my grade A at GCSE but then to make the very big step up in standard to the A level maths course.”