Tag: becomingatutor

Why-a-maths-assessment-is-key-to-getting-the-best-tutor-for-your-child

Posted on by Rachel Law

At Tutor My Kids, tutors in Cambridgeshire, a maths assessment is a usual part of our process of putting in the right tutor for your child. It enables us to assess your child’s abilities, their maths gaps and how they approach their work. The importance of getting the right tutor in terms of personality and approach, who will bring out the best in your child is, in our opinion, an integral part of getting the best tutor for your child.

Whether your child is struggling with the basics or the more advanced work makes a huge difference in finding the best maths tutor for them. A strong mathematician may benefit from a tutor who can really question and stretch them, whilst an underconfident student needs a much more gentle, encouraging approach. Establishing this can make the all the difference between ‘ok’ tutoring and exceptional tutoring.

Establishing where your child is with their learning

How confident a student is with their maths is a key determiner to the kind of tutor who will work best with them. Students who are working on the higher paper and are looking to get the best grades for sixth form, invariably need a supportive approach, but one which challenges them to think strategically to tackle the type of questions at level 8/9. A student who has always thought of themselves as a weak mathematician will need someone who can fill in missing gaps, gently, to raise their confidence and enable them to gain the marks they need to pass their GCSE maths. The new GCSE exams need a particular set of skills – see What’s different about the new GCSEs and what skills are needed?  Whilst dyscalculia is rare, it can be a problem. At Tutor My Kids, we do offer dyscalculia screening. Take a look at How dyscalculia screening helped a parent. So, it’s absolutely key to establish where your child is with their learning. Then we can look at the personality match between the student and the tutor.

Getting the personality match right

At Tutor My Kids, we think that getting the right personality match for your child is absolutely key to great tuition. We always meet you and your child in your home, to get a feel for your home ‘culture’ and your child’s personality. We establish what kind of approach will best support your child. We meet all our tutors at Tutor My Kids face to face and know the kind of students that they most prefer to work with – some love pushing the most able students, others simply adore helping the students that don’t ‘get’ maths. This joint knowledge and personal approach helps us to get the best possible match of tutor for your child and your family.

Putting it all together

This is where the magic happens. We put together your child’s level, approach to learning, confidence and personality and bingo we get a great tutor matched to your child to help and support them in their goals. It’s brilliant when we get this right! Student’s simply fly! See our client testimonials and tutor testimonials for a taste of this.

If you’d like more information on tutors in Ely, Cambridge, Newmarket and Huntingdon, take a look at our For Parents page, email Rachel or call Rachel on 01223 858421.

If you’re a teacher interested in finding out how to join our amazing team and working with really well assessed students, please take a look at our For Tutors page, email Rachel or give her a call on 01223 858421.

 

Can-you-keep-up-with-Keats

Posted on by Rachel Law

Private tutor Cambridge

If you’re a teacher who can help kids Klarify (sorry!) Keats, we’d love to hear from you.

With the new English Literature and Language exams we’ve got huge demand for GCSE English tutors in Ely, Cambridge, St Ives, Huntingdon and Newmarket who can simplify Shakespeare,  de-mystify Dickens and untangle Keats (my alliteration fails me with Keats!).

We’d love to hear from you.

Do take a look at our For Tutors page, one of our recent blogs – Are you a teacher who’s forgotten what a joy teaching is? To find out what some of our tutors think of working as a Tutor My Kids tutor, take a look at their stories. For an informal chat, please email Rachel Law or call her on 01223 858421.

 

Can-you-simplify-Shakespeare?

Posted on by Rachel Law

With the new English Literature and Language exams we’ve got huge demand for GCSE English tutors who can simplify Shakespeare,  de-mystify Dickens and untangle Keats (my alliteration fails me with Keats!).

We’d love to hear from you.

Do take a look at our For Tutors page, one of our recent blogs – Are you a teacher who’s forgotten what a joy teaching is? To find out what some of our tutors think of working as a Tutor My Kids tutor, take a look at their stories. For an informal chat, please email Rachel Law or call her on 01223 858421.

Could-you-earn-enough-by-tutoring-alone?

Posted on by Rachel Law

TutorMyKids private tutor

This is a question that we’re asked quite often, especially when teachers are thinking of leaving a teaching post. It is a bit of a ‘how long is a piece of string question’ as it almost entirely depends upon how much you need to earn, however a number of our tutors at Tutor My Kids only work as private tutors. These tend to be teachers who tutor English, maths and science in Cambridge, Ely, Huntingdon, Newmarket and surrounding areas, but there are options that can supplement income too.

Daytime and evening tuition.

At Tutor My Kids we have tutoring opportunities in the daytime and evening. We usually tutor students after schoool, for our private clients, but we also work with home educated children to support parents in the teaching of their children during the daytime. We also work with schools in Cambridgeshire to support their inclusion work, alternative provision and providing tutors to support Looked After Children. This provision can be after school or during the school day. We’re increasingly needing teachers who have daytime availability to satisfy this demand for Alternative Provision work.

Combining tutoring with other options.

Many of our tutors in Cambridgeshire combine their teaching with other options. Some teach part-time and/or supply teach in the local schools in Ely, Cambridge and surrounding areas. Some have caring responsibilities for elderly parents or young children. And a number mark exam papers which provides additional income as well invaluable insight into the nitty gritty of exam marking schemes! Private tuition provides great options to work in a more flexible way.

Curious?

Do take a look at our For Tutors page, one of our recent blogs – Are you a teacher who’s forgotten what a joy teaching is? To find out what some of our tutors think of working as a Tutor My Kids tutor, take a look at their stories. For an informal chat, please email Rachel Law or call her on 01223 858421.

 

How-to-choose-a-good-tutoring-agency

Posted on by Rachel Law

TutorMyKids private tutor

Choosing the right tutoring agency is a combination of a number of factors – where they’re based, what they specialise in, who they recruit, what they’re like to work for and their fit with you.

Geography

Check the geography that the agency covers and, most importantly, where most of their clients are. Tutor My Kids teachers tutor in Ely, Cambridge, St Ives, Huntingdon and Newmarket.

Specialism

Does the agency specialise in certain subjects? What do they have most demand for? Most agencies will have most need of maths, science and English tutors, but will also need other tutors too.

Teaching Experience

Some agencies are very happy to take on a wide variety of tutors, other specialise in just teachers. If you’re a teacher, you may find yourself better valued in an agency, such as Tutor My Kids whose tutors are almost exclusively teachers.

Size of agency

Large agencies may have more opportunities, but you may get lost amongst the many other tutors, or it may simply feel less personal. A smaller agency is more likely to know it’s tutors and clients well and offer a more friendly service. At Tutor My Kids we think all our tutors are amazing and because we’re small get to know our tutors well.

Clients

It’s also worth asking what a typical client is for the agency? Are they largely independent school or state school – you may have a preference. We’re really lucky at Tutor My Kids as at least 60% of our clients are referred to us by other clients. This means that we tend to have like-minded clients and typically our clients want their students to have more confidence in the subject but also generally. We feel that they’re arranging tutoring for their kids for the right reasons.

What are they like to work for?

This can be hard to work out, but check out their testimonials and ask to be but in touch with existing tutors if in doubt. We’re always delighted when we get testimonials from clients and tutors. Check ours out by clicking the links. I’m also a firm believer in trusting your gut instinct when you chat to them.

Get in touch with Tutor My Kids

For more information on becoming a tutor click the link, email Rachel, or call Rachel Law on 01223 858421 for a chat.

 

 

 

Can-you-demystify-Dickens?

Posted on by Rachel Law

Tutor My Kids is hiring GCSE English teachers for tutoring opportunities in Ely, Cambridge, St Ives, Huntingdon and Newmarket areas.

For information about becoming a Tutor My Kids tutor, click the link, email Rachel Law or call Rachel on 01223 858421 for an informal chat.

Why-tutor-through-a-tutoring-agency?

Posted on by Rachel Law

7 reasons why working through a tutoring agency is a great solution.

You don’t need to be your own sales and marketing department

Most teachers are not experts at marketing themselves – if fact usually it’s the other way round. At Tutor My Kids, we know all our tutors personally and can ensure that the client is aware of all your strengths (even the ones you haven’t spotted but we have!) You can sit back and be assured that you’ll be put with great students who are on your wavelength.

We match you to the perfect students for you

We meet clients and tutors in person and take the time to work out what everyone wants. This enables us to match you with some amazing clients. See our client and tutor testimonials to see how well we achieve this.

You’re paid regularly

When parents are busy, it’s sometimes difficult to ask to be paid. At Tutor My Kids, we invoice our clients directly and pay our tutors separately, so you can focus on the important business of the teaching without worrying if you’ll be paid and any awkwardness that can result. Agencies vary, but don’t assume that you’ll lose part of your fee by working with an agency. At Tutor My Kids we paid in full.

You’re still able to have private clients too

Check the small print, but all reputable agencies should allow you the freedom to take private clients too.

Clients aren’t axe murderers!

OK, I’m being a bit silly, but on a serious note, working through a reputable agency give you the reassurance that the parents and students that you’ll be working with are safe to work with and aren’t going to waste your time.

Obviously agencies vary hugely – take a look at How to choose a good tutoring agency. At Tutor My Kids, tutors in Cambridgeshire, we always visit our clients in their homes prior to us working with them. One of the many reasons we do this is to assess if it’s a safe place for our tutors to work.

Safeguarding

As teachers, safeguarding is very much part of our DNA. We check that our tutors have a current DBS and also ask their current or latest head teacher for a safeguarding reference too. It’s one of the ways we look at safer recruitment. But what about staying secure yourself? At Tutor My Kids, when we arrange tuition we talk about safeguarding with parents – we insist that there is an adult in the house and that tutoring occurs in a downstairs, family friendly room – we’re a great fan of dining room or kitchen tables. It ensures that our tutors are visible and reduces that likelihood of any false allegations.

Get out of jail free card

When you’re working with a client, it’s very difficult to say if you feel it’s not working out with the student for fear of upsetting the family. Working through an agency enables the agency to have that conversation with the parents to help resolve a situation or remove the tutor from it. At Tutor My Kids, because of the great work we do before you meet the student, it’s very unusual that we need to have these conversations, but occasionally we do and we find it’s a great relief to the teacher for us to be able to help in this way.

For further information, take a look at our tutoring page, email Rachel Law or call Rachel on 01223 858421 for an informal chat.

 

Are-you-a-teacher-who-is-happy-at-work?

Posted on by Rachel Law

Research regularly shows that the three main indicators for being happy in your work are freedom to plan your own work, feeling like you’re making a difference and feeling valued.

Do you feel valued?

As a one-to-one tutor in Ely, Cambridge and surrounding areas for Tutor My Kids, our teachers are regularly thanked for helping their child to learn. Perhaps parents of classroom teachers intend to or think to at the end of the school year, but we’re blessed with fantastic parents who appreciate what we do every single visit.

Do you feel that you’re making a difference?

Teaching 30 pupils, makes it really hard to feel like you’re making a difference. You are of course, but it’s not so easily measurable. That or you spend your time measuring and proving that your class has progressed rather than focusing on the planning and teaching.  Private tuition is very straightforward in that way – you can see the difference that you’re making very clearly. Our tutors in Cambrisgeshire regularly see and love those light-bulb moments when their student gets it.

Are you teaching what you feel are the right things for your pupils?

Teachers are under a lot of scrutiny at the moment, from school managers, governors, parents and the government. I’ve had several conversations with teachers in Cambridge and Ely areas who feel that they are no longer able to plan lessons that they think are the right ones for their students. With one-to-one tuition, it is completely possible and necessary to follow exactly what is right for the student. There is time to go back to fill in gaps that would be impossible to achieve in a classroom situation.

Interested in finding out more about private tuition?

For more information on becoming a private tutor in Ely, Cambridge, Huntingdon, Newmarket and surrouning areas with Tutor My Kids, click the link here or email Rachel Law or give her a call on 01223 858421 for a friendly informal chat to see if it might work for you. You might also want to see how much our other tutors enjoy tutoring for Tutor My Kids by reading their stories.

5-reasons-for tutors-to-use-a-tutoring-agency

Posted on by

Private tutor Cambridge

Tutor My Kids is different from many agencies, so we’re probably a bit biased, but this is our thoughts why tutors and teachers can benefit from using the right agency to find students.

At Tutor My Kids, the vast majority of our private tutors are fully qualified teachers. Working in Cambridge, Huntingdon, Newmarket and Ely, our tutors teach at the students’ homes. So we think it’s really important to visit our clients personally.

Student and Parent Visits

We always meet with the student and their parents/carers in their homes in Cambridgeshire. Doing this achieves 2 key things. Firstly, it enables us to check that there’s a good place for tutoring to occur – a kitchen or dining room table, to allow space to work and set the right tone for tuition. We always suggest a ground-floor, family friendly area. It’s one of our safeguarding criteria. Secondly, by meeting the child in the parent’s home, we have a really good idea of the home ethos and culture which means we have a great idea of which of our tutors will fit in well with that. That means that when you meet the student and their parents, you can be pretty sure you’ll get along.

Assessment

In many cases, we’re able to do some assessment with our students, so the tutor already has a starting point for the tuition. Invariably, this information is supplemented by information from the child’s class or subject teacher, with the parent’s permission. We also think that it’s important to play to the tutor’s strengths.

We match your skills and preferences to our clients

We’re a small agency, with local knowledge, which means that we know all our tutors personally. We know which of our primary school teachers prefer to teach maths rather than literacy, which ones are happy with both. We know which of our maths tutors prefer to tutor the stronger and which prefer the weaker students. We know how far our tutors are happy to travel and accommodate this. We have the view that if the teacher is tutoring what they want, where they want, when they want, it all runs smoothly. Add onto this a great personality match between student and tutor and we’ve got a winning formula.

We stay in touch with the tutor and client all the way through the process.

Rachel’s favourite bit of her job is talking to our clients and tutors to see how well the tuition is going.  Everyone likes to feel valued and we love to hear how well the tutoring is going. Having an agency to talk to means that any potential problems can be headed off too. The vast majority of the time, our clients and our tutors in Cambridge, Ely, Newmarket and Huntingdon, say how well we match our clients and tutors. In fact, only the other day, Rachel made a first call to a new client to see how the first session of tutoring had gone and the feedback was, ‘You couldn’t have found us a better tutor, Rachel.’ It’s not unusual to hear our tutors say, ‘All our clients are fabulous.’

Won’t I lose part of my fees?

At Tutor My Kids we pay our teachers a good hourly rate and our tutors keep all of it. We think it’s important for the tutor to be able to focus on their students, so we invoice the client and pay the tutor, to avoid the awkwardness of the tutor having to ask to be paid.

5 great reasons to join Tutor My Kid as a private tutor in Ely, Cambridge, Newmarket and Huntingdon areas.

So, good rates of pay, keen, well matched students, with Rachel having visited their home first of all, some assessment often done and the support of an organisation to bounce ideas off as the tuition progresses. What’s not to like? For an informal chat, please call Rachel on 01223 858421 or email Rachel to get in touch. We look forward to hearing from you.

Why-we-get-such-great-results-at-Tutor-My-Kids.

Posted on by

Private tutors Cambirdgeshire

 

 

 

 

 

What is it that we do that is so very different?

Well I think, as ever, it’s rarely one thing, but a combination of several things which together form something quite incredible.

We’re small and local

Founded in 2011 by Rachel Law, a teacher and mum, we’re based in Ely, Cambridgeshire.

We know all our tutors personally, so we know their background and experience. We know what they’re good at and what they’re really great at! We talk with them regularly and we’re one big team.

Our tutors are amazing

We have amazing tutors. We are pretty picky – with a few exceptions, all our tutors are qualified teachers. Teachers have the curriculum experience and years of experience to understand how to get that information across to students with a huge variety of different learning styles. It’s what teachers do day in, day out; it’s our stock in trade.

Our teachers have the academic underpinning and understanding to know which learning blocks build information and how to rebuild the missing ones.

If you’re a teacher who’d like to find out about Becoming a Tutor My Kids tutor, click the link, email Rachel or call Rachel Law on 01223 646421 for a friendly and informal chat.

Our clients are amazing

We have great clients who simply want to give their children more confidence in their learning. We’re blessed with appreciative clients who are generous enough to recommend us to their friends, colleagues and family.

For more information about Tutor My Kids or private tuition in Cambridgeshire, please click the links.

For us, it’s personal

Rachel visits all our clients in their home to ensure that we understand what is needed academically, but also to get a feel for how the student learns and which tutors would be the best fit for your family and child. Rachel also interviews all our teachers personally, face-to-face. We feel that the personality fit between tutor and student is equally important. As a primary school teacher, Rachel is also able to assess many of our students to understand where their strengths lie and discover areas where we can help to improve understanding and confidence.

We’re joined-up

With our clients permission, we liaise with the student’s class or subject teacher to supplement the information from the initial assessment. Our clients are invariably hugely supportive of their child’s teachers, but just feel that the teacher can’t devote the one-to-one time to their child that they’d like. Many parents worry that the teacher may be ‘put out’ if they get a tutor. This couldn’t be further from the truth; all teachers want the best for all their pupils and almost without exception are just delighted that the pupil is getting some extra help to support them.

We stay in touch

Our tutors feedback to our parents after each session to explain how it’s gone – what’s been good, what needs more work etc. In addition, Rachel stays in touch with our parents and tutors too throughout the tutoring, to ensure that it’s all going to plan and helping out with any issues or concerns.

We love seeing great results

We’re all hard-wired to love seeing great results from the tuition  – it’s one of Rachel’s greatest joys –  The best bit of my job! We just love helping people to thrive and giving kids confidence.

We’re positive

All our teachers are positive, upbeat people who bring a ray of light with them. They’re a joy to have around and without doubt this rubs off on to our pupils and their families.

What makes us brilliant?

So, I think it’s being small enough to know our tutors and clients well, having amazing, positive teachers who bring a rush of energy and positivity with them. It’s joining up with schools so we have the fullness picture we can of the student’s needs, keeping our clients up to date with progress and loving seeing kids learn, thrive and gain confidence. And feeding back to our parents.