United Kingdom · Tuition · Ages 6 to 67

Online coding tutor in the UK

On 21 January 2026 something changed that most parents looking for a tutor have not yet heard about. Until then, a self-employed tutor could not apply for their own DBS check, because the system was built around organisations doing the applying. Now they can, and guidance for parents from the Government, updated in September, tells them how to ask. That turns choosing a tutor from a matter of price and reviews into something with a checkable step in it. This page explains the change, sets out the four very different things the word tutor covers in the UK, and then states our own position, which includes a limitation we would rather say out loud than let you discover halfway through.

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In short

The word tutor covers four different arrangements in the UK and they are not equivalent. A self-employed tutor a parent finds and pays directly has, since 21 January 2026, been able to apply for an Enhanced DBS check and can be asked to share it. An agency, a platform and a teaching company each sit differently again. We are the fourth kind: a company whose teachers are employed and work from India. GOV.UK states that DBS "cannot access criminal records held overseas", so a UK check on our teachers would show nothing and we do not claim one. What we offer instead is lessons on a link a parent can join at any time, small groups as the default, work saved where a family can see it, and a named teacher who stays the same. The first lesson is free; after that a group place is USD 100 a month and one-to-one teaching USD 150.

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Three courses people usually want a tutor for

The three requests that arrive most often with the word tutor attached. Each card opens a full syllabus.

GCSE Computer Science course thumbnail

TUTOR / 01

GCSE Computer Science

Taught to whichever board a school has actually chosen, for students who are behind or want to be ahead.

Open the syllabus →
Python for Teens course thumbnail

TUTOR / 02

Python for Teens

The usual request when a school has taught blocks for three years and a typed language has arrived suddenly.

Open the syllabus →
Scratch Coding for Kids course thumbnail

TUTOR / 03

Scratch for Younger Children

For primary-age children whose school covers computing lightly, and who want to build something of their own.

Open the syllabus →

What changed in January

A self-employed tutor can now be checked, and asked

This is recent enough that many tutors have not caught up with it either. Everything below is quoted from GOV.UK.

The DBS system was built around organisations. An employer applied, the certificate came back, the employer decided. A tutor working for themselves had nobody to apply on their behalf, which left a whole category of people working with children who could not be checked even if they wanted to be.

Guidance published on 16 January 2026 changed that, and states that it "is live from 21 January 2026". Self-employed people and personal employees can now apply for an Enhanced DBS check, and where the role is eligible, one that includes the children's barred list, through a DBS Umbrella Body.

In September the Government updated its leaflet for parents, and it goes as far as scripting the conversation. Its suggested wording is: "Before we go ahead, I'd love to see your DBS certificate. I understand you can now apply for an Enhanced one - would you be happy to share it?"

The leaflet's own worked example is a maths tutor, where a parent asks about qualifications, experience and references, and the tutor also chooses to share an Enhanced with Children's Barred List certificate.

What a parent can and cannot do, from the GOV.UK leaflet
QuestionThe answer
Can I apply for a check on my tutor?No. "Parents and carers cannot apply for a DBS check on behalf of an individual. Where someone is eligible for an Enhanced DBS check, they must apply for it themselves through a DBS Umbrella Body."
Can I ask to see one?Yes, and the leaflet suggests the words to use.
What if it shows a bar?"If a certificate shows that someone is barred from working with children or vulnerable adults, they are legally prohibited from carrying out certain types of regulated activity with that workforce."
Does a check cover everything?No. GOV.UK states that DBS "cannot access criminal records held overseas, so a DBS check may not provide a complete view of an applicant's criminal history, if they have lived outside of the UK."
Is a private arrangement regulated activity?Not necessarily. Regulated activity "excludes any activities carried out in the course of family relationships or as part of any personal, non-commercial relationships."

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Sources, read 20 September 2026: DBS checks for self-employed people and personal employees, published 16 January 2026; A guide for parents and carers employing self-employed workers or personal employees, updated 17 September 2026; and DBS check requests: guidance for employers, updated 11 September 2026.

Four kinds of tutor

The same word, four different arrangements

When a parent types online coding tutor, four quite different things come back, and the questions that matter are not the same for each.

What you are actually dealing with
ArrangementWhat it isThe question that matters most
A self-employed tutorOne person, found and paid directly by the familyWould you share your DBS certificate, and can I take a reference from a family you teach now?
An agencyA business that matches you to a tutor and handles the moneyWho employs the tutor, who checked them, and what happens if the match does not work?
A marketplace or platformA listing site where individuals advertise and you chooseWhat has the platform verified itself, as opposed to what a tutor has typed into a profile?
A teaching companyAn organisation with its own teachers, curriculum and lesson structureWho exactly will teach my child, will it be the same person each week, and can I see the lessons?

There is a second difference that matters more for coding than for most subjects. A maths tutor can usefully work on whatever the school set this week. A coding tutor who only does that produces a student who can finish homework and cannot start anything, because programming skill is cumulative and homework is not.

The useful shape for coding is a sequence that goes somewhere, with the school's work handled inside it rather than instead of it. That is a class, even when it is delivered to one person.

So the questions worth asking a coding tutor are slightly different. What will my child be able to build in three months that they cannot build now? What happens in a lesson when their code does not work, and who does the typing? Will anybody read the code, or only the output?

Our answers to those are on how we teach, and the seven checks on the choosing a class page apply to a tutor just as well.

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Our honest position

What we are, and the check we cannot offer

This section exists because we would rather lose a booking here than have a parent find out later.

We are a teaching company. Our teachers are employed by us and they work from India. That has real advantages, including a fixed timetable that never shifts with British clock changes and small groups that actually fill at a sensible hour, and it has one clear limitation.

A DBS check searches records held in the United Kingdom. GOV.UK states plainly that DBS "cannot access criminal records held overseas, so a DBS check may not provide a complete view of an applicant's criminal history, if they have lived outside of the UK". For a teacher who has always lived in India, a UK check would return nothing and would mean nothing. We therefore do not claim DBS-checked teachers, and any coding company with overseas staff that does should be asked exactly what it checked.

What we do instead is structural rather than documentary, and a parent can verify all of it in the first week.

Lessons happen on a link. A parent can join any lesson at any time without asking, and we never treat that as an intrusion. Small groups are the default rather than one-to-one, so a lesson is rarely one adult and one child. Every teacher is named before the first lesson and stays the same. Work is saved where the family can open it, which means you can see what was actually done. And for younger children we ask that an adult is in the house and reachable.

Questions we would expect any parent to ask us
QuestionOur answer
Are your teachers DBS checked?No, and they could not usefully be. They work from India and a UK check cannot see overseas records. We say so rather than use a phrase that sounds like a yes.
Can I sit in on a lesson?Yes, any lesson, without telling us first. The link is the same one your child uses.
Will the same person teach every week?Yes. The teacher is named before the first lesson and changes only if you ask or if they leave.
Is one-to-one the default?No. Small groups of five to ten at one level are the default, and one-to-one is offered where a group would be the wrong room.
Can I see what my child has done?Yes. Finished work is saved where you can open it, and the weekly feedback goes to you as well as to the learner.
What if it is not working?Stop. There is no minimum term, nothing is taken in advance, and we would rather you left after a month than stayed unhappily for a year.

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Progression

What tuition is actually for, stage by stage

Tuition works best when it is aimed at something specific. These are the four requests that arrive most often, and what each one really needs.

Four reasons families ask for a coding tutor
The requestWhat is usually behind itWhat actually helps
My child is behindA school that taught blocks for years and moved to typed code suddenlyA term of short typed programs, slowly, until the keyboard stops being the obstacle
My child is boredA confident learner waiting for the rest of the classHarder problems rather than more of the same, and a project nobody set them
There is an exam comingA GCSE, National 5, CCEA course or A level closer than it lookedPast material, timed practice and the specific board, not general enthusiasm
They want to build somethingA game, an app or a site the child has in mind alreadyA route from that idea to a finished thing, with the boring parts included

Homework help is not a plan

A tutor who only does this week's task produces a student who can finish and cannot begin. School work is handled inside a sequence that goes somewhere, not instead of one.

The full order of topics is on the coding roadmap.

Say the target out loud

Families who name what they want in the first lesson get further than families who do not, because it changes what the teacher plans.

If the target is an exam, bring the board and the specification. If it is a project, bring the idea.

The catalogue

Nine courses tuition usually aims at

Grouped by what a family is trying to fix or reach. The free lesson settles which one fits.

I

Catching up

For a learner behind where school expects

UK / TU1 / 01

Scratch, properly

The blocks stage done well, so the next stage has something to stand on.

Open the syllabus

UK / TU1 / 02

First Python

The crossing from blocks to a keyboard, taken at a pace that makes it stick.

Open the syllabus

UK / TU1 / 03

Computational thinking

Breaking problems apart and describing rules aloud, which is the part schools skip.

Open the syllabus
II

Exams

For a course already under way

UK / TU2 / 01

GCSE Computer Science

Theory and programming taught to the board a school has chosen.

Open the syllabus

UK / TU2 / 02

Python in full

The language behind almost every UK specification, taught past the examined parts.

Open the syllabus

UK / TU2 / 03

Algorithms and data structures

The A level and Higher material, worked on paper before any code is written.

Open the syllabus
III

Building something

For a learner with an idea already

UK / TU3 / 01

Full stack web development

A site with data behind it, put online where other people can use it.

Open the syllabus

UK / TU3 / 02

App development

A phone app from sketch to something installable, including the unglamorous parts.

Open the syllabus

UK / TU3 / 03

Game development

The request behind most children asking for a tutor in the first place.

Open the syllabus

How lessons work

A named teacher, a kept slot, and a link you can join

Teachers work from India, where clocks do not change, so the UK sits five and a half hours behind in winter and four and a half in summer. Every slot is agreed and stated in UK time.

After school

The usual slot for school-age learners.

Evening

For sixth formers and adults once the day has finished.

Weekend morning

Longer and calmer, and better for finishing a build.

Join any lesson

Parents can sit in on any lesson without arranging it. Same link, no notice needed, and never treated as a problem.

Groups by default

Five to ten learners at one level. One-to-one exists where it genuinely suits the learner, not as the standard product.

The same teacher

Named before the first lesson and kept, because most of the value is in somebody knowing the learner.

Work you can open

Finished projects are saved where the family can see them, which is how a parent knows what happened.

Weekly feedback

On the learner's actual code, with reasons, sent to the parent as well as the learner.

No minimum term

Nothing is taken in advance and nothing ties you in. Stopping takes one message.

Student work

Work built in lessons

Four projects from current and former students. More sit on the student labs page.

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AI and ML

NutriLife

An AI nutrition coach that reads what you eat and works you toward a target.

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Misti AI chatbot for maths and coding screenshot

AI and ML

Misti

A chatbot that answers mathematics and programming questions, built and deployed by a student.

by Harshit · Open it

GuardianX AI internet safety assistant screenshot

AI and ML

GuardianX

An assistant that helps a young person recognise unsafe situations online.

by Vivaan · Open it

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Web app

SkyCast

A weather forecasting site with live conditions for any location.

by Krish

Fees

What tuition costs here

A monthly figure rather than an hourly one, quoted in US dollars for every country outside India. Nothing is taken before the free lesson.

Free first class

USD 0

no card required

  • A full lesson with a teacher
  • An honest view of the right starting point
  • No card details requested
Book it

Group batch

USD 100

a month, billed in US dollars

  • Five to ten learners at one level
  • A named teacher who stays
  • Weekly feedback on the learner's own code
  • Stop any month, with one message
Start here

One to one

USD 150

a month, billed in US dollars

  • One teacher and one learner
  • Built around an exam date or a specific target
  • Right for a deadline or a learner well ahead
Enquire

What families say

Rated 4.9 across 547 Google reviews

Taken from Google unedited, written by families nobody asked.

★★★★★

"The one step solution for my son. Modern Age Coders make learning coding so simple that kids love it. The teachers explain complex concepts clearly with practical exercises and interactive content."

Ria Mukherjee

Parent

★★★★★

"Modern Age Coders has been a game-changer for me. I struggled to grasp IT concepts and coding before joining, but their classes transformed everything. I can now confidently write complex programs with ease."

Samriddha Mondal

Student

★★★★★

"One of the most wonderful education centres out there. Education is not limited to school syllabus but focuses on skill development."

Vansh Agarwal

Student

★★★★★

"My child Dhairya is really enjoying the Modern Age Coders classes. This is his first online class and he eagerly looks forward to it. I can already see his improvement, and the teachers are very cooperative."

Sonam Oswal

Parent of Dhairya

★★★★★

"Modern Age Coders have wonderful teachers who teach in a clear, easy and practical way. The teacher boosts students' confidence and inspires them to learn without hesitation."

Sonu Goyal

Parent

★★★★★

"I highly recommend this computer coding class! The teachers are incredibly knowledgeable and passionate about coding."

Ritu Kedia

Parent

Questions about coding tuition in the UK

What UK families ask before booking a tutor

Are your teachers DBS checked?

No. Our teachers work from India, and GOV.UK states that DBS cannot access criminal records held overseas, so a UK check would return nothing meaningful. We would rather say that than use wording that sounds like a yes.

What changed for tutors in January 2026?

Guidance live from 21 January 2026 allows self-employed people and personal employees to apply for an Enhanced DBS check, and where eligible one that includes a barred list, through a DBS Umbrella Body. Before that, a self-employed tutor had no route to apply.

Can I apply for a check on a tutor myself?

No. The Government leaflet states that parents and carers cannot apply on behalf of an individual, and that an eligible person must apply themselves through an Umbrella Body. You can ask to see the certificate.

How should I ask?

GOV.UK suggests the wording itself: ask to see the DBS certificate and note that they can now apply for an Enhanced one. Most tutors will not mind being asked.

Can I sit in on my child's lesson?

Yes, any lesson, on the same link, without telling us beforehand. We treat that as completely normal.

Is it one-to-one?

Only if you want it to be. The default is a small group of five to ten learners at the same level, which most children find better than a one-to-one hour.

Do you charge by the hour?

No, by the month. A group place is USD 100 a month and one-to-one teaching USD 150, with nothing in advance and no minimum term.

Will you just help with homework?

We will handle school work inside a sequence that goes somewhere, but a tutor who only does this week's task produces a learner who can finish and cannot start. We say so at the outset.

Do you cover the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish courses?

Yes. Teachers work with National 5 and Higher, WJEC in Wales and CCEA in Northern Ireland as well as the English boards.

What if it is not working out?

Tell us and stop. There is no notice period and nothing has been taken in advance. We would rather you left after a month than stayed unhappily.

Elsewhere on this site

Other pages worth a look

Each covers one part of this properly.

How to judge a coding class

Seven checks that apply to a tutor, a class or a bootcamp equally.

Coding classes in the UK

The national page, and the index of every UK page we publish.

How we teach

The method, and the places it does not suit a learner.

Coding classes for teens in the UK

What Ofcom found about British teenagers and AI this year.

AI classes for kids in the UK

What the Government has committed primary pupils will learn.

Student labs

Projects our learners have built and published.

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Book a free first lesson

Leave a number and we will come back at a UK time that suits you. The lesson is real teaching, and it ends with a straight view of whether we are the right fit at all.

Rather read than talk? Every course page carries its syllabus, how we teach sets out the method and its limits, and the topic sequence runs down the coding roadmap.

WhatsApp us · +91 91233 66161 · contact@modernagecoders.com

WhatsApp is usually quickest and costs a UK mobile nothing. The number is registered in India, which we state here rather than leave you to notice.

No card, no contract. One reply from us, with a time.

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