Most maths platforms drill what a child got wrong this week. We find the earlier gap that’s causing it.
Existing platforms are excellent at delivering practice on the topic a child is currently struggling with. But for children in care, that topic is rarely the actual gap — it’s the symptom of another gap, left by disruptions to their schooling months or years earlier. STEMeUp is built to find that earlier gap, fill it, and unlock what they’re ready to learn next.
Symptom vs root cause
Imagine a Year 10 student stuck on a linear equation. The teacher sees “struggling with algebra” and assigns more practice. But that’s not where the problem started. Eighteen months ago the student changed placements and missed a couple of weeks on negative numbers — and every equation since has been tripping over that same gap, without anyone catching it. More algebra won’t help. What helps is finding the thing underneath the algebra.
That’s what our engine does. It works backwards from where a student is visibly stuck to the earlier gap that’s actually causing it, so we can fix the real problem instead of drilling the symptom.
The learner journey at STEMeUp
Finding one gap is just the start. From there, the platform keeps working out what a student knows, what they don’t yet, and what they’re ready to learn next based on what they already understand. Each concept they master opens up the ones that build on it, so there’s always a sensible next step. It carries on like this, concept by concept, adapting as the student goes, until they reach their goal.
Gap mapping
Year 9
The engine assesses every concept and finds the gaps.
STEMeUp Tutoring
Year 9–10
Foundations first — the earliest gaps fill before anything new.
STEMeUp Tutoring
Year 10–11
Each mastered concept unlocks the ones built on it.
Grade 5+ achieved ✓
Year 11
The whole map mastered — goal in hand.
Across the three-year window from Year 9 to GCSE, the tutor adjusts mode and difficulty to the learner — teaching a concept, asking the learner to teach it back, or offering an easy win when the right move is to rebuild confidence before pushing on. Every mathematical output is checked for accuracy before it reaches a child.
GCSE Maths is a web of connected concepts, each one resting on those below it. We map every learner precisely onto that web — concept by concept — so when a child gets stuck, we can tell the difference between a topic they haven’t met yet, one they’re actively struggling with, and one whose root cause sits several steps upstream.
The platform is built around what works for the people supporting the child. An up-to-date picture of each learner’s engagement, time on task, progress, and gaps — written in language that drops straight into PEP meetings, statutory reporting, and Ofsted evidence. Only three clicks away from an individual or cohort-level report. No setup, no extra admin. It’s a resource to use if and when you need it.
Chatbots hand over answers. Our tutor never does.
The research below shows why that choice matters: when a tool gives students the answer, they stop doing the thinking that makes learning stick — and can end up scoring worse in the exam than students who never used it at all. Our tutor breaks each problem into steps, works through examples, and asks the learner to explain the idea back.
We build STEMeUp with the people who use it:
We’re rolling out across the North East first, beginning with Durham, before scaling nationally.
Built to be safe and secure. The platform meets UK GDPR requirements and is built to the Cyber Essentials standard, with safeguarding embedded throughout.
We’re selecting a small group of schools and local authorities for our first pilot cohort. Get in touch to find out more.
Get in touch