Sandra Tomkinson of Grade 4 Maths: Innovation Starts With Solving the Problem in Front of You
Some of the strongest business ideas don’t start with a big strategy session.
They start with one customer.
One problem.
One moment where you realise the way you’ve always done things isn’t working for the person in front of you.
That’s exactly how Grade 4 Maths began.
Sandra Tomkinson, founder of Grade 4 Maths and Saltash Tutors, is a finalist across three categories at The Class Business Awards 2026.
Sandra has been tutoring full-time for 10 years, but Grade 4 Maths grew out of a much more recent problem.
One student changed the whole model
Sandra had a student who simply wasn’t retaining what he learned from week to week.
She could teach the same topic again and again, but by the following session it felt as though they were back at the beginning.
So she started researching.
She looked at spaced repetition, memory and how students retain information over time. Then she began recording videos for him to watch between lessons.
That one solution gradually evolved into something much bigger.
Grade 4 Maths became a structured online programme focused specifically on students working around grades one, two and three who need to secure that all-important grade four pass.
The student who sparked the idea passed his GCSE.
And Sandra kept building.
Narrowing the problem made the solution stronger
One of the things I really like about Sandra’s approach is that Grade 4 Maths isn’t trying to teach everything.
It’s deliberately focused.
Sandra identified the 100 key skills students need in order to pass GCSE Maths and built the programme around those.
That means students aren’t overwhelmed by the entire Foundation curriculum all at once.
They can see exactly what they need to know, track their progress and focus their revision on the gaps that matter most.
There’s a wider business lesson in that.
Sometimes innovation isn’t about adding more.
It’s about stripping things back until the customer can clearly see the path from where they are now to the result they need.
Build around how people actually behave
Sandra has also designed the programme around the reality of how these students learn.
Sessions are kept under 20 minutes.
Students work through the course at their own pace.
Short tests tell them which skills they need to work on next.
Spaced repetition brings older skills back into the learning journey so they don’t simply disappear again after a few weeks.
Sandra explains that some GCSE skills may first be taught years before the exam, and for students who struggle with retention, that gap can be enormous.
So the programme keeps circling back.
“They keep jumping back like this. So they don’t forget.”
That’s not just good teaching.
That’s strong service design.
The model is built around the user, rather than expecting the user to fit the model.
The results speak pretty loudly
The first official GCSE year for Grade 4 Maths produced a 95% pass rate among students who were considered highly likely to fail.
This year, the pass rate was 92%, and 46% of students achieved a grade five, going beyond the grade four target they originally needed.
For Sandra, though, the real goal isn’t just the percentage.
GCSE Maths is a gateway qualification.
Without it, students may need to keep resitting or find their options restricted when it comes to college courses, apprenticeships and future study.
That’s why she feels so strongly about getting the programme in front of more families.
“We don’t want their choices restricted just because they haven’t passed an exam.”
Giving away the core idea
One of the most interesting decisions Sandra has made is to give away the 100 skills checklist the course is built around.
She could have kept it behind a paywall.
She didn’t.
Around 10,000 people have already downloaded it, and Sandra’s aim is to get it into the hands of 40,000 people over the next year.
Teachers and tutors are also using the checklist in their own work, including with GCSE resit students.
That might feel counterintuitive from a traditional business perspective.
Why give away the thing your product is based on?
Because for Sandra, the bigger mission matters more than guarding the information.
Even if someone never buys the course, the checklist could still help them pass.
That generosity also builds trust, visibility and credibility around the business.
Service innovation is never really finished
Sandra hasn’t treated Grade 4 Maths as a product that was built once and then left alone.
The business has a Head of Product whose job includes speaking to users and identifying where anything could work better.
If a student doesn’t understand something in a video, Sandra looks at why.
If the issue could affect someone else too, she’ll remake the entire video.
“We’re continually making it better.”
That’s the part of innovation people sometimes miss.
The first idea is only the starting point.
Real innovation comes from listening, testing, refining and being willing to change something that already feels “finished”.
From local tutoring to national visibility
There’s another transformation happening behind the scenes too.
Sandra built Saltash Tutors largely through local reputation and word of mouth.
Until around two years ago, she barely used social media and certainly wasn’t putting herself on camera.
Then Grade 4 Maths became a national product.
Suddenly Sandra had to learn webinars, social media, funnels, videos and visibility from scratch.
And that hasn’t always been comfortable.
She admits that standing in front of a camera with nobody responding back has been one of the hardest parts.
But her reasoning is brilliant.
If the students on her programme can push through something difficult, she can push herself too.
That’s what growth often looks like.
The business model changes, so the founder has to change with it.
The next target is 1,000 students
Grade 4 Maths had around 200 students last year.
Sandra now wants to reach 1,000 students, while maintaining the strong pass rates the programme has already achieved.
That ambition isn’t just about making the business bigger.
It’s about shifting the statistics.
More students passing.
More young people moving on without having to keep resitting.
More families feeling that maths doesn’t have to be the thing that closes doors.
And that’s why Sandra’s story is such a strong example of service innovation.
She didn’t innovate because innovation sounded impressive.
She innovated because one student needed something different.
Then she kept listening.
Watch the full interview
In our full conversation, Sandra shares how Saltash Tutors grew over 10 years, how Grade 4 Maths evolved from one student’s needs, why the programme focuses on 100 key skills and how she’s building visibility around a model that’s already helping students achieve remarkable results.
👉 Watch Sandra’s full finalist interview here.
Grade 4 Maths is a finalist for Service Innovation Award, sponsored by Super Simple Websites, and Rising Star of the Year, sponsored by BabyBeats. Saltash Tutors is a finalist for Tutor Business of the Year, sponsored by Jo Brianti, at The Class Business Awards 2026.
Join us on Saturday 10 October 2026 at the National Conference Centre in Solihull for The Class Business Live, followed by The Class Business Awards & Afterparty.
The daytime event runs from 9:00am–3:00pm, bringing together class business owners, finalists, judges and sponsors for learning, mastermind discussions and sector connections before the evening celebrations begin at 6:00pm.
There’s still time to book your ticket here!
