Practical Details

“David’s own educational success and writing sets him apart from other tutors. He has always been well prepared for each lesson and has actively sought to understand the syllabus and differences in exams boards.

He has a very encouraging approach, which has increased my son’s confidence in his own ability. David is happy to tailor lessons to what is required at the stage of the academic year that you are in… My son went into Year 10 exams feeling far more confident.”

- S.T., Parent (contact information available on request)

My usual method of working is very simple, and can be easily adapted to your needs. However, the basic outline goes like this:

The Initial Meeting

After you have contacted me, we start with a free initial meeting. I like to spend this first meeting getting to know what my new student wants out of our tutorials – goals, areas of difficulty etc. Then we can arrange the first proper tutorial.

I take preparation very seriously; I always spend at least an hour preparing an individual lesson for each of my students, so anything you can bring to our meeting to assist me with tailoring our tutorials (schoolbooks, teachers' recommendations, previous writing) would be very helpful.

The Tutorials

I teach exclusively online. I usually use Zoom, but have taught very successfully via Skype, FaceTime and Google Hangouts - and I will happily make use of whatever technology best suits you.

I usually tutor each of my students for one hour per week, and I recommend this as a good starting place as the student gets used to the sessions. After a few weeks, we can easily make the tutorials more or less frequent, or alter the time spent to better suit your needs.

I do ask for students to do some practice work for me between tutorials – but this is highly flexible, and I will always take the student’s other work and commitments into consideration.

Charges

I charge £30 for an hour’s personal tuition. Longer tutorials will be charged at the same hourly rate, although a discount may be arranged. I can also teach small tutorial groups (of no more than four) for a reduced rate per student.

I ask for twenty-four hours’ notice if a tutorial needs to be cancelled, otherwise I must charge. However, genuinely unforeseeable circumstances are completely acceptable.

DBS Certificate

I have a recent DBS certificate which is available for inspection on request.

Ending Tuition

At our initial meeting, we will discuss what your personal goals are for this tuition. In the case of preparing for specific exams/university entry, the tutorials will have a natural end-point.

Either you are I may end tuition at any time, although if you are dissatisfied with the tuition, I would ask you to discuss this with me first, to see if I can alter the style and content of the tutorials to better suit your needs. However, the most important thing in personal tuition is to find the right tutor for you, so if it isn’t working I will not mind at all!