Struggling and underperforming pupils at East Sussex schools will receive one-to-one tuition outside classes after the county was selected to pilot a new government scheme.

Penny Gaunt, East Sussex County Council's deputy director of children's services, believes the initiative will provide a major boost to education in the county - and not just for the children being tutored.

This is absolutely fantastic news for parents in East Sussex.

Asking whether one-to-one tuition is beneficial to children is really a no-brainer. If you asked any parent or carer whether they would like their child to take part in it, the answer would almost certainly be yes.

Previous trials and research have shown one-to-one tuition has a very positive impact on children's learning. Children, and boys in particular, respond well to individual attention. If we had the budget for it, we would already have made additional tutoring available.

East Sussex is one of only ten local authorities out of more than 150 in the country to be selected to trial this scheme. We are lucky to have been picked but we also worked very hard on our application. We believe this scheme has the potential to make a really positive impact on children in the county.

Schools in East Sussex already perform well but this will be an opportunity to bring in additional resources and funding. To be selected we had to demonstrate that we had the capacity as an authority to lead and manage it effectively and that the headteachers of the 51 schools involved were positive and enthusiastic about the scheme.

We would not have worked so hard to become involved if we did not think it had real potential to help the children in all the schools to make extra progress.

The opportunity to have extra tuition for children who have fallen behind, for them to receive extra help, is fantastic. If you said to any parent that their child would be offered that, I think they would be delighted.

It will not just be for children who have fallen behind though, it will also be for pupils who have got stuck on a particular topic or for stronger pupils who could attain more.

We want to make sure all those children get to higher levels.

It will provide a different focus for schools, separate from exam grades.

This is about children making progress. Schools with 60 to 70 per cent of their students gaining five A* to C grades at GCSE sometimes do not have pupils making as much progress as those at schools with 50 per cent A* to C passes.

This includes children who should be getting higher levels. Our commitment is to every child making good progress and helping schools get higher percentages.

Getting good GCSEs is important but we have got to very careful that we do not just judge how well a school is doing. Sometimes the schools with lower percentages are achieving more by getting less able pupils up to a good standard.

Pupils taking part will be selected very carefully by what teachers know about their rate of progress.

All schools in East Sussex already have systems in place which enable them to monitor the progress of each individual pupil.

What schools should be doing, and some of them do it extremely well, is setting curriculum targets based on that monitoring. They can work out what each child needs to do next, what should be the next bit of English or maths they are required to learn.

This pilot scheme will be based on a model which was shown to have really effective results in Australia when it was trialled there. The extra tuition will be provided after school by qualified teachers but not by the children's usual classroom teacher.

It has to be someone different.

When a child receives individual support from an adult other than someone who is teaching them day in day out they can establish a different relationship. If you child had their own teacher it could be a bit stale and less effective for them.

The tuition will be carried out by teachers in the county who can provide the necessary skills. They will be paid for however much tuition they provide. It may be good for teachers who work part-time or who have recently retired or are returning to work.

The scheme has been shown to be very successful in enabling some children who have appeared to get stuck to enhance their learning - children who have fallen back and so haven't been able to achieve their previous levels of attainment.

Because the pupils taking part will be getting extra help outside the classroom it should help the regular teacher in classes. They will be able to teach the class as a whole more, rather than needing to dedicate attention to individuals who may be behind or those who could be pushing on to further attainment.

The one-to-one tutor will work with the regular class teacher to make sure that the tuition ties in with what is done in class.

I'm extremely optimistic. I think it has the potential to really help a significant number of children who need that bit of a boost to help them learn.

The investment is very significant although we do not yet have exact amounts. Ten per cent of pupils at the schools will get up to 20 hours additional tuition a year. It will affect something like 1,000 children overall.

One of the big positives for the children is that success breeds more success. If they get help to bring them up to date they will not struggle in lessons where they might have done before. That will have a really positive effect on their morale in general and that generally reflects in their learning.

Morale is important for the age group taking part, seven to 14-yearolds, because within that period they will make the transition from primary to secondary school.

If they are helped by tuition it may make the transition between the two smoother for the children and they will settle in to learning faster.

Evidence shows that children who struggle to make progress at primary school often find the transition more stressful.

It was our decision which schools would take part. We invited schools to express an interest and had more wanting to take part than we were able to use. We were looking as far as possible to have secondary schools involved along with partner primaries in their areas.

We have chosen six secondaries with partner primaries and a range of primaries who were not necessarily associated with secondaries.

We looked at where we thought there was the greatest potential for pupils to make progress. We have got a mixture of schools, some of which are already attaining very well which we feel could attain even higher, some of which are middling and one which has more of a chequered history but is improving.

It should strengthen the links between the primaries and secondaries, which will also make the transition easier for the children.

The scheme is something which I am sure all schools and all children would like to have available. Our understanding is that, if it is successful, it will be extended to all schools, which would be a very good move.

The pilot is for two years and there will be progress checks to see what the early indicators are. We expect to see some real impact in the results for 2008 and 2009.

I think it will make a big difference to our schools and I'm hopeful it will be extended across the county.