Richmond Tutoring provides 1-to-1 online A-Level Computer Science tuition for students in Years 12 and 13 across the UK. We teach AQA 7517 and OCR H446, covering programming, algorithms, data structures, computer systems, theory and the programming project. Start with a free 45-minute lesson, and bring the NEA brief if the project is the worry.
Richmond Tutoring offers 1-to-1 online A-Level Computer Science tutoring for Years 12–13 across the UK, covering AQA 7517 and OCR H446.
Three things we do differently across Year 12 and Year 13.
We begin with your child’s exam board, year group and where the NEA is up to. Then we find what is actually costing marks — object-oriented programming, recursion, floating point or the long written answers — and shape their A-Level computer science tuition around that. It is never a one-size-fits-all approach.
From recursion and object-oriented design to graph traversal, Big O and Boolean algebra, we make difficult A-Level computer science easier to understand and remember. Students see why an algorithm works, then write and trace it the way the exam asks.
Once it makes sense, we take it into real questions from your child’s own board: code written and traced by hand, algorithms shown step by step, and extended answers that reach a conclusion. That is where understanding turns into marks.
Most parents do not arrive looking for an A-Level computer science tutor. They arrive with a sentence about their child. These are the ones we hear most.
He did well at GCSE computer science but is struggling now.
Programs get longer, object-oriented design arrives, and the theory assumes confident binary and logic from the first week. We rebuild the foundations inside the A-Level work, rather than starting again.
She never took GCSE computer science.
Many schools allow it, and those students need programming fundamentals quickly. We build them in the first term, so the harder Year 13 content and the project sit on solid ground.
He codes well, but his theory marks are low.
Floating point, Boolean algebra, networking and the ethics questions reward precise wording and a clear structure. We teach each topic with the language the mark scheme wants, and practise answers that reach a conclusion.
Recursion and data structures lose her completely.
Stacks, queues, trees, graphs and hash tables, and the algorithms that run on them. We draw each one, trace it by hand, then implement it, so it makes sense on paper as well as on screen.
The NEA has stalled and he does not know where to start.
We will not touch the project itself. We can teach the techniques it might need through separate examples, and explain what each section of the marking criteria is asking for, so your child can move it forward on their own.
Her predicted grade puts her offer at risk.
Predictions come from Year 12 work and mocks. We find the topics losing the most marks, fix those first, and time the work around when the prediction is made.
We teach AQA 7517 and OCR H446. Pearson Edexcel does not offer an A-Level in Computer Science, so those are the two specifications UK schools enter students for. Lessons work from your child’s own board’s past papers and mark schemes.
AQA A-Level Computer Science tutoring for specification 7517
We provide AQA A-Level computer science tutor online, 1:1, for Year 12 and Year 13 UK students.
What students face
OCR A-Level Computer Science tutoring for specification H446
We provide OCR A-Level computer science tutor online, 1:1, for Year 12 and Year 13 UK students.
What students face
Year 12 and Year 13 are different jobs. What a tutor works on changes between them.
Year 12 is where the step up shows. We close the gaps left from GCSE, or build the fundamentals from scratch for students new to the subject, then move from short scripts to structured programs with classes and sensible data structures.
It is also the right time to learn the techniques a strong NEA might need, before the project itself begins.
Year 13 is the busiest year: the NEA through the autumn and spring, new content to finish, and two long exams at the end. Predicted grades matter for university and apprenticeship offers too.
So A-Level computer science exam preparation runs alongside the project: timed past papers, theory revised by weakest topic, and for AQA students, the year’s Skeleton Program.
Exam questions often mix all three. Sometimes a parent comes to us about one in particular. If that is you, your search ends here.
Writing structured code, on screen and on paper. The focus is on:
Tracing them, writing them and comparing them. The focus is on:
Precise answers across a wide syllabus. The focus is on:
The NEA is a programming project worth 20% of the A-Level on both boards. It must be your child’s own work, and under JCQ rules any outside help has to be declared to their teacher.
Teach, explain, and leave the work to your child.
Teach the programming techniques a project might need — object-oriented design, recursion, file handling, databases — through separate exercises. Explain what each section of the marking criteria is asking for. Teach testing and debugging strategies your child then uses on their own.
The aim: a stronger project your child can explain line by line.
Nothing that would put your child’s marks at risk.
We never write, edit or debug any part of the project, choose the problem, design the solution or mark drafts. Help like that can be treated as malpractice, and it leaves a student unable to explain their own work.
The aim: if the help only makes sense for this one project, we do not give it.
We have kept this deliberately simple: you get to test your A-Level computer science tutor on a real lesson before you decide anything.
Fill in the form or send us a WhatsApp message. We arrange the free demo class and match your child with a specialist A-Level computer science tutor.
Take the free 45-minute lesson, and sit in if you want to. See how the lesson goes, ask us everything you want to ask, and only go ahead with A-Level computer science lessons if you are convinced.
Lessons begin, weekly. Your child starts learning the A-Level computer science they were stuck on, and that is what turns into marks on the A-Level papers and the NEA.
Every review is a Google review, quoted as written. Every grade we publish was checked against a results slip, and we say what it is an average of.
At Richmond Tutoring, the price for each 60-minute lesson of computer science for A-Level is as follows:
£36per hour
Five things worth checking, whoever you choose:
Then ask for a trial lesson before you pay for anything.
£36 for a 60-minute 1-to-1 lesson, the same as every other subject and level we teach. There is no placement fee and no contract — you pay per lesson. The first 45-minute lesson is free.
Yes, within JCQ rules. A tutor can teach the concepts and programming techniques a project needs and explain what the marking criteria ask for. A tutor must not write, debug or improve the project, and your child must tell their teacher about the help. How our NEA support works.
Many schools allow it, but entry requirements are set by each school or college. Students without the GCSE usually need extra programming practice early in Year 12, which is where tutoring often helps most.
It depends on the school and the board. AQA provides its Paper 1 Skeleton Program in several languages and the school chooses one; OCR’s written papers use pseudocode alongside the language students have learned. Tell us your child’s language at the demo class so we can confirm we are the right fit.
No, but it uses some mathematical thinking. Binary and floating point, Boolean algebra and Big O all involve maths, and A-Level maths helps, but most of the course is programming, problem-solving and computing theory.
It is a program AQA releases with the Preliminary Material before the exam, in each programming language it supports. Paper 1 asks questions about it and asks students to modify and extend it on screen. Because it is exam preparation rather than coursework, a tutor can teach it in depth: how it is structured, how to trace it and how to practise likely changes.
The biggest difference is Paper 1. AQA’s Paper 1 is taken on screen and built on a pre-released Skeleton Program; both OCR exams are written papers with nothing released in advance. The project is 20% on both boards, marked out of 75 on AQA and 70 on OCR, with the marks split differently between the sections.
No. We teach the UK A-Level Computer Science specifications from AQA and OCR taken in UK schools and colleges.
Yes. Every lesson is online and 1-to-1, so an A-Level computer science tutor online is available wherever you are in the UK — there is no travel and nothing depends on how far you live from us.
Most of the families we teach are in and around south-west London, and we also teach students across the rest of the UK. Places our students come from include Hammersmith, Tolworth, Isleworth, Bedford Park, East Sheen, East Twickenham, Kew Bridge, West Kensington, Hampton, Feltham, Barons Court, Twickenham, Hounslow West, South Acton, Kingston upon Thames, North Twickenham, Grove Park, Petersham, Hampton Wick, Ashford, Parsons Green, Strawberry Hill, Brentford, Ealing Common, Hampton Court, Heathfield, Stamford Brook, North Sheen, Richmond Hill, Gunnersbury, Brook Green, Teddington, Hanworth, Ravenscourt Park, Wimbledon, Hounslow, Acton, Barnes, West Twickenham, Kew, Ham, Hampton Hill, Sunbury, Fulham, St Margarets, Osterley, Ealing, Surbiton, Fulwell, Turnham Green, Mortlake, Richmond, Chiswick, Shepherd’s Bush, Whitton, Syon.
A real 45-minute lesson, one to one, with a specialist A-Level computer science tutor — free, before you decide anything. Tell us the year group, the exam board and where the NEA is up to.