GCSE and A-Level examinations resumed in Summer 2022 after two years of Teacher-Assessed Grades for all Key Stage 4 students (Year 10s, Year 11s  - and Year 9s for three-year courses) and Key Stage 5 students (Year 12s and 13s) are therefore back working towards end-exams.   

For 2024, candidates will receive Formula Sheets for Maths and Science subjects.   They will not receive "Advance Information" guidance that was given in 2021 and 2022.

Results days have returned to their pre-Covid dates.   In 2024, they will be Thursday August 15th for A-Levels and Thursday August 22nd for GCSEs.

The best time is always: “before now” !

Girls are more likely to confide in parents, and particularly in friends, that they would like some support.  

Boys tend to look upon tuition as “needing help” and “showing weakness”, and might put off talking about it until it becomes a crisis.

Often, the trigger for tuition is a school report, or letter home from school, indicating that the student is underperforming.

Other signals might include: a reluctance to go to school, particularly on certain days; not completing homework; truanting; and a change to being unhappy at school or tension with a particular teacher.

While tuition can be remedial, it can also be aspirational.   

It can be for catching up, keeping up or getting ahead.   

It is amazing what we can achieve together !

Whatever the goal, try not to leave it to the last moment.   

It is better to start tuition a year before – than just before – a deadline.

Yes, we tutor individuals with neuro diversities, including ADHD and Autism.

Everyone is unique.

For neuro-minorities, a standardised school classroom lesson creates frustrations, for both teacher and pupil, as the individual doesn’t “fit” the plan for the majority.   The more “non-standard” individuals in a class, the harder it is to manage it for all.

One-to-one tuition allows the flexibility and dynamism that suits the individual, rather than the classroom teacher, and allows the individual to be the majority. 

Our Shangri-La is to find a way that is engaging and which allows the individual flexibility and scope for their imagination to roam – sometimes to fly off at a tangent, which is good – to satisfy that present thought and to coax them back to also make progress towards an underlying objective or learning goal.

People with neuro diversities respond better to individual treatment and consideration, and attain better outcomes.

During the Coronavirus Pandemic, we are only offering online one-to-one tuition.

This is because a tutor going from house-to-house risks becoming a community "Super-Spreader" for Covid.   We feel that this is socially unacceptable.

We consider that it is more responsible to provide quality tuition online than to run those risks with the community.

That is something which is often thought, but I think you might be pleasantly surprised that your son really can concentrate when he is fully engaged – and that will be our aim.

We regard the last “D” of ADHD and other “syndromes” as an unfortunate choice of label.   we prefer “I” for individuality.   The advantage of one-to-one tuition is that we can adapt dynamically to suit your son’s, rather than the system’s, needs, allowing him some scope for his imagination to blossom when the moment takes him, and then linking him back seamlessly to our objective.

Throughout the tutorial, we will be fully engaged in two-way conversation, so the opportunity to become distracted is reduced, unlike being in a classroom.   Your son will also be writing on documents and the whiteboard on the screen, giving him kinaesthetic activity to further keep him engaged.

Most students lose track of time rather than clock-watch, and many want to carry on beyond the end of the arranged session.   Time will fly and, who knows, it might even be enjoyable !

One.

We don't compromise.   We only offer one-to-one tuition focussed entirely on your child.

Our Mission is to improve the Life Chances of each and every child we tutor, no matter which school they go to and no matter whether they are top or bottom of their group - or hidden in the middle.   We do not cherry-pick pupils, based on ability or grades. 

It is especially distressing to hear from pupils who really do want to learn, but find that their classes are disrupted by bad behaviour, and their teachers’ attention is directed towards others. 

That is where we can particularly add value with one-to-one tuition, providing undivided attention to your child's needs.

Absolutely Not !   Absolutely chalk and cheese !  

Our online tutorials are 100% dedicated to your child - there are no other classmates or distractions.

Your child will be engaged in a one-to-one, two-way, dialogue throughout each tutorial and can ask questions at any time, and receive thorough answers, checked for understanding before moving on.

Your child's work is visible to the tutor, and the tutor's material is visible to your child, so misunderstandings or mistakes can be picked up and addressed immediately.

There isn't an inflexible classroom delivery plan to stick to, so the teaching and learning can be dynamically adapted to your child's needs on the day.

This all leads to a faster rate of learning and greater confidence for your child.

This is not a problem at all to tutoring online.

There are all sorts of reasons for not wanting to be on screen, from child-protection, to shyness, to diagnosed conditions.   We can conduct tutorials aurally (sound only) if that makes a student more comfortable.   

We have found that some students on the spectrum actually open up and respond better to a “talking computer” than they do to an adult human, which is another advantage of online tuition.  While seeing facial expressions is a valuable cue to empathising with a student’s level of understanding, it is not essential. 

Yes.   We are happy to switch between subjects in different tutorials - and even dynamically during a single tutorial.   So, if your child is focussing on English in a tutorial but has a burning question about Maths, we will be able to address that question, and then return to the original topic.

By satisfying your child's inquisitiveness straightaway, it not only promotes learning about the question they have asked, but also removes a nagging distraction that could detract from learning about the main topic.  

The Easter break is the last significant tranche of “non-school” days prior to the start of the academic GCSEs and, as such, the time is precious for preparation.

However, your son will not attend school after his exams are completed, so why not consider booking your holiday for then, before the normal end of term ?   (GCSEs are normally finished by the last day of June)

The weather will be better than at Easter, and the cost of travel and accommodation will be lower, as these are always inflated for school term holidays.   Your son could also look upon the holiday as a reward for all his effort, and a time to completely chill-out and enjoy quality time with the family, without the spectre of exams looming ahead, as at Easter.

Withdrawing a child from mainstream education is a VERY big decision.  Everyone is unique and everyone’s circumstances are different.   Without oversimplifying those complex circumstances, perhaps you can consider those two dimensions: The Unique Person (including Relationships, Safeguarding and Bullying); and Effectiveness of Education (including the quality of teaching, social development and facilities).

You can, of course, put your son down on the In-Year ‘casual’ admissions waiting lists at alternative schools.   The phrase: ‘The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence’ cautions us that other schools might also have hidden complex issues.    

• Read, but do not rely upon, Ofsted reports; they are little use to parents as they are always out of date, and circumstances could have changed and even reversed since the last inspection.   
• Check out opinions with other current parents and carers, but bear in mind that it is easier to criticise than to praise.   
• Look to see if the headteacher has been in place for a long time, or has changed recently.   Long service suggests stability, whether that be good or bad.   A change in headteacher often leads to a change in other senior staff and that can totally change the way a school works – for better or for worse.

It is advisable to hold on to his present school place until your are guaranteed a place at another school, and NEVER surrender to any pressure or suggestion from the current school to off-roll.   In this way, the school and the education authority remain obliged to continue working to resolve issues, and have a legal obligation to provide a good education for your child – at least as good as the average across the country.

If local schools are full, you might discuss the possibility of Managed Transfers with your present school.   This is where two schools arrange to ‘exchange’ pupils who both want out of their present situation.   This might give both of them fresh starts without the baggage of whatever events have been experienced in the foregoing years.

If you are actually considering withdrawing your child, bear in mind that you will totally lose the support and interest and resources of the school and the education authority; your child will become more isolated and less socialised, organised sports and extra-curricular clubs and activities will disappear, as well as completely losing the breadth of teaching resources (however good or poor) in a variety of academic subjects and practical disciplines.   As a home-educator, you will have to stand in to replace all of these.

Private tuition can provide excellent academic instruction, mentoring and even counselling, but can rarely substitute everything that an entire school can provide; particularly facilities and peer-group interaction.    Tutoring across the entire curriculum will be expensive and time-consuming, and mentally and physically draining for you.   You will have to find and pay for exam centres, and to ensure that you have been teaching to the appropriate exam-board specification that your exam-centres are authorised to examine.