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Tutoring by the hour · no packages · first session free if it isn't right
We can't promise a grade, and anybody who does is guessing with your money.
The exam board decides the grade, and a great deal of what moves it happens at school and at home rather than in an hour on a Tuesday. What we can promise is written below, along with the point at which we'd tell you to stop paying us.
What we can't promise, and what we can
We can't promise a grade — Nobody can. The exam board marks the paper and the school teaches most of the course. A tutor who quotes a number is selling confidence rather than teaching
We can't promise a place — At a school, a set or a sixth form. Those decisions belong to the people making them, and a tutor promising to influence one is describing something else entirely
We can promise the same tutor — Every week, not a rota. Where they're ill you'll be asked whether you'd rather rearrange than take somebody your child doesn't know
We can promise a plan you can read — One page, in plain words, saying what we think is missing and what we'll do about it. Rewritten every half term rather than written once
We can promise you'll be told what happened — Three lines after every session, sent the same evening. What was covered, what went well, what to leave alone at home this week
We can promise to say when it's not working — Before you've paid for another term. That conversation is further down this page because it's the one that matters
We can't promise a place — At a school, a set or a sixth form. Those decisions belong to the people making them, and a tutor promising to influence one is describing something else entirely
We can promise the same tutor — Every week, not a rota. Where they're ill you'll be asked whether you'd rather rearrange than take somebody your child doesn't know
We can promise a plan you can read — One page, in plain words, saying what we think is missing and what we'll do about it. Rewritten every half term rather than written once
We can promise you'll be told what happened — Three lines after every session, sent the same evening. What was covered, what went well, what to leave alone at home this week
We can promise to say when it's not working — Before you've paid for another term. That conversation is further down this page because it's the one that matters
What we ask you
What's actually worrying you — Often it isn't the subject. "He's stopped talking about school" is more useful than a mark
What school has said — Including where you disagree with it. We won't repeat any of it back to them
What you've already tried — So we don't spend six weeks rediscovering it
What you'd like us to leave alone — Some households need homework to stop being the argument. That's a legitimate goal and we can work to it
What school has said — Including where you disagree with it. We won't repeat any of it back to them
What you've already tried — So we don't spend six weeks rediscovering it
What you'd like us to leave alone — Some households need homework to stop being the argument. That's a legitimate goal and we can work to it
What we ask them
Whether they wanted to come — Asked privately, in the first ten minutes. A lot of children have never been asked
What's the worst bit — Usually specific and usually small. "I can't read my own handwriting" has changed more grades here than any revision plan
What they'd rather be doing — Because we're taking an hour of it, and knowing what it cost them changes how we use it
Whether they want you told — Anything a child says here is shared with you, and they're told that at the start. Nothing is kept from a parent and nothing is reported behind a child's back
What's the worst bit — Usually specific and usually small. "I can't read my own handwriting" has changed more grades here than any revision plan
What they'd rather be doing — Because we're taking an hour of it, and knowing what it cost them changes how we use it
Whether they want you told — Anything a child says here is shared with you, and they're told that at the start. Nothing is kept from a parent and nothing is reported behind a child's back
When we'd tell you to stop
Written down because a tutor with no stopping point is a standing order. Replace these with yours and then say them out loud when they happen.
When the gap has closed — The commonest one. Once somebody is keeping up in class, another term of tutoring is mostly reassurance for the adults, and it's your money
When your child doesn't want to come — Not a wobble on one wet Tuesday — a settled no. An hour a week with somebody they resent will not teach them anything and it costs more than the fee
When it isn't an academic problem — The section below is about this, and it is the second most common reason we end things
When school is already doing it — Sometimes the support is there and nobody has explained it to you. Ask the school first; the answer is free
When there's no time left to use — Two weeks before a paper, starting from a long way back, is usually a fortnight of stress for a mark that barely moves. We'll say so rather than take the booking
When somebody else would be better — A different subject specialist, a different personality, or a different kind of help entirely. You'll get a name where we have one and no fee comes back to us
When your child doesn't want to come — Not a wobble on one wet Tuesday — a settled no. An hour a week with somebody they resent will not teach them anything and it costs more than the fee
When it isn't an academic problem — The section below is about this, and it is the second most common reason we end things
When school is already doing it — Sometimes the support is there and nobody has explained it to you. Ask the school first; the answer is free
When there's no time left to use — Two weeks before a paper, starting from a long way back, is usually a fortnight of stress for a mark that barely moves. We'll say so rather than take the booking
When somebody else would be better — A different subject specialist, a different personality, or a different kind of help entirely. You'll get a name where we have one and no fee comes back to us
When it isn't a tutoring problem
None of this is a diagnosis and we're not qualified to give one. It's a list of things that have turned out to be the real answer, and who to ask instead.
Sleep — The single most common one. A tired child looks exactly like a child who can't do the work, and no amount of tutoring fixes a bedtime
Eyes and ears — Free to check in most places and worth doing before anything else. Children rarely report that the board is blurry — they report that maths is boring
An unrecognised difficulty — Dyslexia, dyscalculia, attention difficulties. Ask the school's special educational needs coordinator, who can start that properly. We can describe what we see; we cannot assess anyone
Anxiety, or something happening at school — A friendship that ended, a teacher they're frightened of, something they haven't told anybody. Your GP and the school's pastoral lead are the right doors and both are free
A gap much further back — Sometimes a fifteen-year-old is stuck on something from year four. That's fixable and it isn't exam cramming — it needs a different plan and a longer run-up
Nothing at all — Some children are doing fine and are being measured against a sibling or a neighbour's child. That is worth saying kindly and we will say it
Eyes and ears — Free to check in most places and worth doing before anything else. Children rarely report that the board is blurry — they report that maths is boring
An unrecognised difficulty — Dyslexia, dyscalculia, attention difficulties. Ask the school's special educational needs coordinator, who can start that properly. We can describe what we see; we cannot assess anyone
Anxiety, or something happening at school — A friendship that ended, a teacher they're frightened of, something they haven't told anybody. Your GP and the school's pastoral lead are the right doors and both are free
A gap much further back — Sometimes a fifteen-year-old is stuck on something from year four. That's fixable and it isn't exam cramming — it needs a different plan and a longer run-up
Nothing at all — Some children are doing fine and are being measured against a sibling or a neighbour's child. That is worth saying kindly and we will say it
Checks, and how sessions actually run
Background checks on every tutor — Name the check your country actually uses and who holds the certificate. "Fully vetted" is a phrase rather than a fact, and you're entitled to see the paperwork
Sessions happen in view — At a table in a shared room at home, or in our own room with a window in the door. Never behind a closed door and never in a bedroom
Online sessions are recorded — Kept for a term, available to you on request, and deleted after. Nobody is asked to turn a camera on who doesn't want to
No private messaging with a child — Everything goes through you. A tutor who wants a direct line to your child, on any platform, is a tutor to end
You can sit in — Any session, without notice, without asking. Some children work better with a parent in the room and some much worse — either way it's your call, not ours
Who to complain to — A named person here, and the organisation that holds the checks. Put both, with contact details, on your own version of this page
Sessions happen in view — At a table in a shared room at home, or in our own room with a window in the door. Never behind a closed door and never in a bedroom
Online sessions are recorded — Kept for a term, available to you on request, and deleted after. Nobody is asked to turn a camera on who doesn't want to
No private messaging with a child — Everything goes through you. A tutor who wants a direct line to your child, on any platform, is a tutor to end
You can sit in — Any session, without notice, without asking. Some children work better with a parent in the room and some much worse — either way it's your call, not ours
Who to complain to — A named person here, and the organisation that holds the checks. Put both, with contact details, on your own version of this page
What it costs
An hour
$42 · pay as you go
- The same tutor each week
- Three lines to you afterwards
- Cancel any week, no fee
- First one free if it isn't right
Two a week
$78 · same week
- For a specific gap, not forever
- Reviewed every half term
- Drops to one when it should
- Cancel any week, no fee
A conversation
Free · thirty minutes
- Before anybody books anything
- Often ends in "ask the school first"
- No obligation and no follow-up
- Genuinely fine to take just this
No packages and no blocks — Nothing to buy ten of up front. A block booking makes it awkward to stop, which is exactly when families most need it to be easy
Cancel any week — By text, with no reason and no charge. Illness, a bad week, a school trip — none of it needs explaining
We reduce it ourselves — When one session a week would do, we say so and the invoice goes down. It has cost us a fair amount of money and it is why most families here came from another family
If money is tight — Say so. There is a lower rate, a couple of free places at any time, and the conversation about it is short and private
Cancel any week — By text, with no reason and no charge. Illness, a bad week, a school trip — none of it needs explaining
We reduce it ourselves — When one session a week would do, we say so and the invoice goes down. It has cost us a fair amount of money and it is why most families here came from another family
If money is tight — Say so. There is a lower rate, a couple of free places at any time, and the conversation about it is short and private
Ask about a first session
A free thirty-minute conversation first, always. A fair few of them end with a suggestion to talk to the school before spending anything here.
Ask about a first session
"Yes, and they're not keen" is a perfectly good answer and it changes how the first session runs rather than whether it happens. It's the most useful thing on this form.
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