How to get tutoring contracts with schools and academy trusts.
Schools buy intervention tutoring from providers who pick up the phone. An AI calling agent can introduce your service to school business managers, heads of year and trust leads, then log who wants a proposal.
Why schools buy tutoring from providers who call
Most schools and academy trusts have a budget for intervention tutoring, but they do not advertise for providers the way they advertise for teachers. They use approved supplier lists, word of mouth, and whoever contacts them at the right time. If you wait for an advert or a tender notice, you are competing with every provider who saw the same listing.
A direct phone call to the school business manager or the head of year responsible for pupil premium spending puts you in the conversation before the procurement round starts. That call is how you move from unknown provider to someone with a name and a proposal on their desk.
Who to phone inside a school or trust
Schools are busy places and the person who answers the main number is rarely the person who commissions tutoring. You need to reach the right decision-maker:
- School business managers — they control the budget and manage supplier relationships. In a single school, this is your first call.
- Heads of year or heads of department — they identify which pupils need intervention and often recommend providers to the business manager.
- SENCO (Special Educational Needs Coordinator) — if you offer specialist tutoring, the SENCO decides which external providers work with their pupils.
- Trust leads for education or school improvement — in a multi-academy trust, one person may oversee tutoring across a dozen schools. Reaching them means reaching every school in the trust with a single conversation.
Building a list of these contacts takes time, but it is the foundation of every successful campaign. Use school websites, Companies House for trust structures, and council lists of maintained schools. Read the full guide on building a UK cold calling list.
What schools ask on a first call
Schools are cautious about who works with their pupils. On the first call, expect questions about safeguarding, qualifications and track record:
- DBS checks — do all your tutors have enhanced DBS clearance? Schools will not consider a provider who cannot confirm this immediately.
- Subjects and key stages — are you offering maths, English, science, or all three? Primary, secondary, or both?
- Delivery format — in-school, online, or a blend? Post-pandemic, many schools expect both options.
- Evidence of impact — schools funded through the National Tutoring Programme or pupil premium want to see measurable progress. Be ready to explain how you track and report outcomes.
- Pricing — per-pupil, per-session, or block booking? Schools budget in different ways, so flexibility helps.
Your AI calling agent's script should address the most common questions upfront. You can write your own calling script or adapt one to the education sector.
How AI cold calling reaches every school in a trust
A multi-academy trust can have five, ten, or thirty schools. Calling each one manually takes days. An AI calling agent does it in a single campaign: you upload the list, the agent phones each school, introduces your tutoring service, asks who handles intervention commissioning, and logs the answer.
FoxEra's AI agent (Cass, Alex or Andrea) records and transcribes every call. You see who answered, what they said, and whether they asked for a proposal or said to try again next term. You only pay for connected minutes, from 12p per connected minute, with no subscription. New accounts start with £7 of free calling credit.
This means you can run a test campaign across one trust before committing to a larger list. If ten schools pick up and three want to talk further, you have three warm leads for the price of a few minutes of calling.
Let your AI assistant manage school outreach
If you use ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor or another AI assistant, you can connect it to FoxEra Calls and run your school outreach without logging into the dashboard. Your assistant can add leads from a spreadsheet, choose the calling agent, preview the campaign cost and headcount, and run it after you approve.
This is especially useful during term time when you are delivering tutoring sessions all day. Set up a campaign in the morning, approve the preview, and check the transcripts that evening. Nobody is phoned without your explicit approval, and every action is logged.
Connect in three steps: add a custom connector in your assistant, paste the FoxEra MCP server address, and sign in. See the developer guide for full instructions.
Following up and winning the contract
The AI agent does the introduction. Your job is to follow up the warm leads personally. Read through the call transcripts, identify who asked for more information, and call them back with a tailored proposal.
Schools often buy on a termly cycle, so timing matters. A provider who calls in June for September delivery is better positioned than one who calls in October when budgets are already committed. Use a follow-up sequence for schools that said to try again next term, so you stay in their pipeline without losing the contact.
Keep your proposals clear: subjects offered, DBS confirmation, pricing per pupil or per session, and how you report progress. Schools commission providers who make the process easy, not just cheap.
Frequently asked questions
How much does AI cold calling cost for tutoring providers?
Calls cost from 12p per connected minute with no subscription. New accounts get £7 of free calling credit, enough to test a campaign across a small trust.
Can the AI agent explain my tutoring services to a school?
Yes. You write or approve the calling script before any calls go out. The agent follows your script, mentions your subjects, key stages and DBS status, and logs the response.
Is it legal to cold call schools in the UK?
Yes, business-to-business cold calling is legal in the UK, and schools are organisations. Screen your list for any sole-trader contacts against the TPS register. Read more on UK cold calling rules.
How do I find school business manager contact details?
School websites list senior staff. Academy trust websites list their schools and central team. Council websites list maintained schools in the local authority. Companies House shows trust structures. Use these to build your calling list step by step.
When is the best time to call schools about tutoring?
Schools plan intervention tutoring before each term. Calling in May or June for the autumn term, or in November for the spring term, puts you ahead of providers who wait for published tenders.