Private tutors teach ex-cons the three Rs

Private tutors more used to coaching ambitious sixth-formers to pass their Oxford interviews are turning their attention to the former inmates of Wormwood Scrubs.

Many offenders lack basic reading, writing and maths skills, making it harder for them to find work after prison.

Now dozens of tutors from Bright Young Things Tuition, which specialises in preparing boys for the Eton entrance exam, are volunteering to help ex-offenders.

So far, 45 teachers have offered to forgo their fees of up to £70 an hour to run the sessions at the King's Cross offices of arts charity Only Connect.

Woody Webster, director of Bright Young Things Tuition, said he hoped tutors would soon be able to teach offenders while they served their sentences, adding: "Most of the pupils have not really received much formal education. Invariably, they have come out of prison without anything."

Lessons will focus on basic reading, writing and arithmetic as well as computer literacy. Students will be able to gain qualifications through the courses.