Practice 01

Tutoring in residence and online.

Senior tutors placed with a single family at a time, in person at the family residence or online across time zones. Engagements run for a term, an academic year or longer.

i.The shape of the work.

A tutor is not a substitute for a school. A good tutor is the person in a child's week who can think only about the child.

Each tutoring engagement begins with a written brief. We sit with the family, the school's reports and the most recent assessments and we agree what the work is for. The brief is short. It names the subjects, the cadence, the outcome and the date by which the outcome will be visible.

The tutor then works to that brief, in the family residence or online, on a schedule that respects the rest of the child's life. Sport. Music. The week the family travels. The hours a child can actually concentrate. We do not believe in adding hours that produce nothing.

ii.The tutors we choose.

Every tutor on our roster has been chosen by the principal. None of them have applied. They have been observed, asked and persuaded. Most have a teaching life at a senior school or a university already. Some are examiners. All of them carry the standard of the institutions they were formed in.

The minimum standard

A first-class degree from a research university. Five academic years of teaching the relevant board. A reference from a head of department in writing.

The standard we look for

The kind of teacher a child remembers in their thirties. The kind who is asked, by name, every year. We do not have many of these. We do not need many.

If the fit is not exact in the first three sessions we replace the tutor without question. The cost of that replacement is ours, not the family's.

The hours we choose not to add are as important as the hours we do.
From the practice's house notes

iii.What we cover.

The work falls naturally into three groupings. Most engagements span two of them.

  • IB Diploma - all six subject groups, Theory of Knowledge, Extended Essay
  • IB Middle Years Programme
  • A-Level and Pre-U across the major boards
  • IGCSE and GCSE
  • SAT, ACT and AP for US-track families
  • Pre-school readiness and early literacy
  • 7+, 11+, 13+ and Common Entrance preparation
  • Common Pre-Tests and ISEB
  • Oxbridge subject interviews and admissions tests
  • UCAT, BMAT, LNAT and the senior medical and legal entrance tests

Where a subject is not on this list, we will say so directly. We do not take work we cannot stand behind.

iv.Tutors in residence.

For a small number of engagements each year a senior tutor is placed in the family residence for an extended period. A summer between schools. A gap before university. A year of recovery after illness. A relocation.

The residence model is not common, and is not for every family. It requires a household that can absorb a long-staying member of the team and a child whose work warrants that attention. Where it is right, it is among the most useful things we offer.

Engagement length

Six weeks at minimum. A full academic year is common. Longer placements are arranged by exception.

Discretion

The tutor is briefed and vetted by the principal before arrival. Where the household has its own confidentiality terms, the tutor signs them. References are not for circulation.

v.Cadence and reporting.

Sessions run weekly during term and as agreed in vacations. The principal sees the tutor's notes after every session. A written report is prepared at the close of each half-term and on request.

The principal speaks to the family at the close of each half-term as a matter of course. Where the engagement is at a turning point - an exam window, a school transition - the cadence is closer. We are quiet, but we are reachable.

The other practices, often held alongside.

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