Civitas Schools

What Civitas Schools does

Civitas Schools is a UK-registered charity (charity number 1085494) founded in 2005 that delivers low-cost supplementary English and maths education to children from disadvantaged backgrounds in London. It operates a network of ten community venues — church halls, schools, and community centres — across Harlesden, Kilburn, King's Cross, Euston, Wapping, and St Pancras, providing after-school classes on weekday evenings and Saturday schools, serving up to 300 pupils per week with waiting lists that exceed capacity by up to two years. The pedagogical model is explicitly traditionalist: synthetic phonics via Irina Tyk's Butterfly Book, mental arithmetic, times tables memorisation, classic literature engagement, and ability-based rather than age-based grouping, with a teacher-to-pupil ratio of at least 1:10. Pupil progress is measured annually through the Cambridge Primary Insight assessment across five dimensions (reading, spelling, mathematics, arithmetic, non-verbal reasoning).

The business model is donation-led: parents pay a nominal fee of £2–£4.50 per teaching session, which the charity itself states covers only a fraction of operating cost. The balance is funded by individual voluntary donations and a small set of named institutional sponsors — The Stationers' Foundation, Pears Foundation, Springer Nature, the Freeman Family Trust, and The Worshipful Company of Insurers — several of which are tied to specific named school locations. The organisation deliberately refuses government funding to preserve curricular and operational independence, allowing teachers to work free of SATs pressure and rigid national curriculum constraints. It is led by Director Justine Brian, operates with 31 employees (predominantly part-time teachers and volunteers), and is headquartered at 55 Tufton Street, Westminster.

Name

Civitas Schools

Legal name

Civitas Schools

Website

https://civitasschools.org.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2005

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Civitas Schools is a UK charity that runs ten community-venue schools across London delivering low-cost supplementary English and maths lessons to disadvantaged primary-age children, funded entirely by donations and nominal parent fees.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Supplementary Education Services

NAICS

Educational Support Services (611710), Exam Preparation and Tutoring (611691)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

K–12 Core Curriculum Small-Group Tutoring Centers (Math/ELA/Science/Social Studies) (EDANAHAA)

Keywords

• Supplementary education
• After-school tutoring
• Saturday schools
• Charitable education services
• Primary school support

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Nominal Parent Fees: Parents pay a nominal fee of approximately £2 to £4.50 per teaching session, though this income covers only a fraction of the cost of running a school.
2. Individual Donations: The organization relies entirely on individual voluntary donations from supporters to fund operations.
3. Trust and Corporate Sponsorship: Generous support from trusts and corporations including The Stationers' Foundation, Pears Foundation, Springer Nature, Freeman Family Trust, and The Worshipful Company of Insurers.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Civitas Schools delivers low-cost supplementary English and maths lessons to primary-school-age children from disadvantaged backgrounds through a network of 10 weekday after-school and Saturday schools held in church halls, schools, and community centres across London. Teaching is delivered by dedicated part-time and volunteer teachers using traditional methods such as synthetic phonics (Irina Tyk's Butterfly Book), times tables memorisation, mental arithmetic, and classic literature engagement, with ability-based grouping ensuring at least one teacher per ten children. The charity operates on a community-led, donation-funded model with nominal parent fees of approximately £2–£4.50 per session and deliberately refuses government funding to preserve its independence.

Product overview

Civitas Schools operates a network of 10 supplementary education schools across London, providing low-cost English and maths lessons for children from disadvantaged backgrounds. The core offering consists of after-school classes and Saturday schools, all using traditional teaching methods with small class sizes. The programme includes the Traditional Teaching Methods Programme (featuring Irina Tyk's Butterfly Book synthetic phonics), the Cambridge Primary Insight annual assessment system, and dedicated support groupings. Schools are branded by location and funder, including the Freeman Family Saturday School, Pears Foundation Saturday School, King's Cross Schools Network, Springer Nature Saturday School, and St Pancras Wednesday School, collectively serving up to 300 children weekly.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Freeman Family Saturday School: Saturday school in Harlesden supported by the Freeman Family Trust
• Pears Foundation Saturday School
• King's Cross Tuesday School
• King's Cross Thursday School
• King's Cross Regent's Saturday School
• King's Cross Living Centre Saturday School
• King's Cross Stationers' Saturday School
• Somers Town Stationers' Saturday School
• Springer Nature Saturday School
• St Pancras Wednesday School

Products and services

• Civitas Schools After-School Classes Weekday after-school supplementary English and maths lessons for primary-school-age children who need extra educational support, held in community venues across London in venues such as the King's Cross Tuesday School, King's Cross Thursday School, and St Pancras Wednesday School.
• Civitas Schools Saturday Schools Full-day Saturday supplementary education programmes providing English and maths lessons for children from disadvantaged backgrounds, operating at multiple London locations including the Freeman Family Saturday School (Harlesden), Pears Foundation Saturday School (Kilburn), King's Cross Regent's Saturday School, King's Cross Living Centre Saturday School, King's Cross Stationers' Saturday School, Somers Town Stationers' Saturday School, and Springer Nature Saturday School.
• Cambridge Primary Insight Assessment Annual assessment programme testing pupils across five key developmental areas—reading, spelling, mathematics, arithmetic, and non-verbal reasoning—used to provide independent verification of pupil progress.
• Traditional Teaching Methods Programme A teaching methodology using traditional approaches including synthetic phonics (Irina Tyk's Butterfly Book), times tables memorisation, mental arithmetic, classic literature engagement, and independent work facing the board, delivered free from SATs pressure and rigid curriculum constraints.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over a third of year 6 pupils finished primary school without meeting government expected standards in reading, writing and maths in 2024

Named customers2 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves2 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Mathnasium: International franchise of maths-only supplemental learning centres. Comparable in targeting under-performing primary/secondary pupils with method-based instruction, but a commercial chain rather than a charity.
• The Prince's Trust: Large UK youth-focused charity supporting disadvantaged young people across education and employment. Comparable in size, charity status, and corporate/trust funder base, but operates across a much broader youth-development mandate.
• Teach First: Major UK education charity tackling educational disadvantage. Comparable mission of improving outcomes for low-income pupils, but works by placing teachers into state schools rather than running supplementary schools directly.
• Kumon UK: Established global supplemental education franchise emphasising maths and reading fluency through self-directed worksheets. Comparable in the maths/reading fluency focus and ability-based progression, but operates on a paid, structured programme rather than a charitable community model.

Direct peers

• Explore Learning: UK-based network of supplemental education centres offering maths and English tuition to children aged 4–14. Comparable in delivering after-school, fee-based small-group academic support with ability-tailored learning, though operating as a commercial chain rather than charity.
• The Tutor Trust: UK charity delivering tuition to disadvantaged young people across the North of England. Comparable nonprofit supplemental-tutoring model serving low-income communities with measurable outcomes reporting.
• Kip McGrath Education Centres: UK franchise network of tutoring centres focused on maths, English and reading. Comparable small-group, ability-grouped tutoring model targeting primary and secondary pupils needing extra academic support.
• Action Tutoring: UK charity providing volunteer-led tutoring to disadvantaged primary and secondary pupils. Directly comparable mission (closing the attainment gap for low-income pupils), volunteer-driven model, and supplementary-not-replacement positioning.

Others

• Centre for Social Justice: UK think-tank focused on poverty and educational disadvantage, with which Civitas Schools shares a 'Civitas' institutional lineage. Not a direct competitor, but a thematically adjacent organisation whose research and policy work underpins the educational-disadvantage space Civitas Schools operates in.

Emerging players

• Reach Out 2 Kids: Smaller UK charity providing educational enrichment and tutoring to disadvantaged children. Comparable mission and target demographic, though operating at a smaller scale with less geographic penetration than Civitas Schools.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/civitasschsuk
• Facebookfacebook.com/CivitasSchools
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/civitas-schools

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Civitas Schools