Tag: Rachel Law

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.

When-is-the-right-time-to-get-help-for-GCSEs-and-A-levels?

Posted on by

It can be quite difficult to spot that your child needs help coming up to their GCSEs or A levels; they want to be independent and frankly don’t always know they need help. Tutor My Kids offers some pointers to help decide.

Ask the question.

It’s always worth asking your teenager which subjects they’re finding hard – it may be the subject matter, the way it’s taught or how well they get on with their teacher. It’s worth asking the question of school too. Schools and colleges are pretty direct these days – many teachers will say if they think a private tutor may help.

Mock results.

Mock results are invariably below the grades your child will get, because they’ve got another 6 months+ to go at this point, but if they’re significantly different from the result they were expecting, it could be helpful to get a private tutor to help with GCSEs or A levels. If your child has any learning difficulties, it’s also worth asking if they can get extra time in the exams. Take a look at Could my child get extra time for GCSEs and A levels?

What grades do they need?

The government are now insisting all students get GCSE maths and English and it certainly easier to get these done in year 11 with the other GCSEs, than have them hanging over into year 12 or 13. Take a look at  the new GCSE grades for information on the new grading systems.

Does your child need a specific grade to get into their sixth form, university or apprenticeship choice?

How can a private tutor help?

A private GCSE or A level tutor can help in all sorts of ways. Firstly they can help with subject knowledge – filling in any gaps which your child has not fully understood. Secondly, they can advise on where to pick up marks. Many of our tutors also mark or set exam papers, so have a really good understanding of where marks can be gained and lost. Finally, confidence should not be underestimated, a student who is confident of his or her abilities is invariably calmer and more relaxed going into the exams, which means they’ll suffer less from exam anxiety and perform better.

When is the right time to get help from a private tutor?

Whilst it is always good to be guided by your child and by school, as a provider of private A level and GCSE tutors in Cambridge and surrounding areas, at Tutor My Kids we’re also aware that availability of good tutors drops rapidly the closer it gets to the exams.

They’re in year 10 – is this too early?

This depends on your child. If they’re very far behind the grade that they need in year 11, they may well be value in finding a private tutor in year 10.

How do I find a good tutor?

At Tutor My Kids we’re biased, but we think that teachers make the best private tutors. Almost all our private tutors in the Cambridgeshire area are teachers. Teachers know how to put across the information well; it’s what they do everyday. We also believe that the personality fit between the tutor and student is as important as their subject knowledge, so we always visit our clients personally and always interview our tutors face to face to ensure a great match. Personal recommendation is always a good way to find a good tutor and we’re always delighted by how many of our clients recommend us to their friends and colleagues. And of course, our tutors are all DBS checked.

If you’re sourcing a tutor yourself, do ask for testimonials from present or previous clients and check them out.

For more information, please email Rachel Law or call her for an informal chat on 01223 858421.

 

 

Could my child get extra time for GCSEs and A levels?

Posted on by

How could my child qualify for extra time in his/her GCSEs or A levels?

Qualification for extra time in the exams is ultimately down to your child’s school to decide, but there are various factors which might mean that your child would benefit from extra time. If your child has dyslexic tendencies – click the link to download our Dyslexia Questionnaire,your child may be able to get extra time in the exams. Children with working memory issues may also be able to qualify for extra time.

Which exams are eligible?

UK GCSEs and GCEs (A levels) and BTech are eligible for extra time.

How could I apply for extra time?

At Tutor My Kids, we always point you to the SENCo (Special Educational Needs Coordinator) at your child’s school first because they know your child’s educational history and can best advise.

However, sometimes, schools don’t have the time or funding to assess all the pupils who might benefit from exam time and it’s useful to be able to do this testing privately.

How does it work?

If you think your child may be eligible for extra time in some exams, speak to the SENCo first. The SENCo needs to fill out the first part of a form, called a ‘JCQ (Joint Council for qualifications) Form 8’. Then school or Tutor My Kids can assess your child and complete the rest of the form to see if extra time can be gained?

What do I need to be aware of?

Firstly, submitting a form 8 is no guarantee of getting extra time.

Secondly, the school’s SENCo (special educational needs co-ordinator) will need to fill out the first part of the form.

Thirdly, the concessions are applied for by exam subject, so you might get extra time in one exam, such as English, but not another, say maths.

Finally, the school would ultimately make the final decision if extra time will be awarded.

How does private testing work?

Have a look at the Dyslexia Questionnaire first.

Get in touch with school’s SENCo to see if they think a ‘Form 8’ would be successful and if they’d be prepared to submit one.

If they’re not willing or able to submit an application, would they fill out the information to enable the test to be done by Tutor My Kids?

Once you’ve had the ‘Form 8’ filled out by your school’s SENCO, we book for our qualified assessor to assess your child.

The assessor (using various standardised tests) will assess your child and fill out the ‘Form 8’ with the results.

How far will Tutor My Kids’ assessors travel?

Our Tutor My Kids assessors will travel up to 15 miles from Cambridge to do the assessment. It can usually be done at their school.

How long will it take?

The testing takes up to an hour, depending on the tests done.

What are the costs?

Fees for the testing, completion and submission to JCQ are £180.

What’s the deadline for summer 2018 exams?

Deadline for the submission of the form 8 (with SENCo comments) is end Jan 2018.

Who can I discuss it with first?

The school SENCo is a great place to start, especially, if your child is already having help from the school. Please also feel free to call Rachel Law on 01223 858421 or email her at hello@tutormykids.co.uk

 

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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3-Things-to-Do-with-Your-Kids-Over-the-Summer

Posted on by
Mum helping her daughter learn

There are 3 key things to help your kids with over the summer.

Reading

Regular reading is always a great thing to help your child. For young children, read to them and with them, reading the tricky words for them. Aim for daily if at all possible; as with all things, a few minutes a day is more beneficial than an hour at the weekend.  As they get older, encourage them to read to themselves too. For older kids, getting ahead of GCSE and A level texts ahead of September can be a great help. Not all kids love reading – try getting them reading on a kindle, tablet or audio books. There is definitely a link between reading and writing; those children who read a lot tend to use better word choices in their written work.

Writing

Take a look at your child’s school report and see if school have highlighted any particular ‘next steps’ – using capital letters, commas, better word choices etc. Writing a daily journal can be a great thing for children (maybe invest in a gorgeous notebook specially for that purpose), book reviews, letters to relatives (who doesn’t like to receive a hand-written note), hand-made greetings cards, shopping lists etc.

Also take a look at How to make writing easy for kids #1 and How to make writing easy for kids #2

For older children, time spent getting ahead of texts for GCSEs and A levels over the summer can be invaluable – taking notes, mindmapping (https://mindmapsunleashed.com/10-really-cool-mind-mapping-examples-you-will-learn-from and revision cards, can be a great help.

Handwriting

Handwriting formation is a great one to crack over the summer, when you’ve got a little more time on your hands. Just check with your school that you’re following the correct style for your school. Most schools teach joined up writing because it’s thought to help spelling if you join up the word in one sweep (it’s from NLP – a thought and an action combined). However, it’s important to get the individual letter formation correct first. Some children can be rushed into joining before this is secure. This site is a great one for advice and help, from another teacher and parent, and includes free handwriting resources. http://www.teachhandwriting.co.uk/

Maths

For children in years 1-2, a thorough knowledge of numbers – which ones add up to 10 and 20 (these are called number bonds). Learning doubles, halves and random single digit sums (e.g 5+7) are invaluable skills to work on. A good way to practise this is to make a game out of it. Get a 0-9 dice (type ‘0-9 sided dice’ into Amazon or ebay or use a random number generator) and throw them randomly to generate 2 numbers to add. You can throw twice for older children to get 2 digit numbers (e.g. 23 + 68). Again, 5 minutes daily is much more effective than an hour at the weekend. Children relying on adding with their fingers isn’t wrong at all, but it slows children down, especially as the maths gets harder.  It also stops these problems becoming entrenched later down the line. Our tutors in Cambridgeshire and I have seen many GCSE students who still add up basic numbers on their fingers whilst being able to do Trigonometry and other much complex maths.

Also take a look at How to make maths easy for kids #1, How to make maths easy for kids #2 and How to make maths easy for kids #3

From KS2 (years 3-6) onwards, times tables are the back bone of maths success. Practise these so your kids can say them in random order and know the corresponding division facts. 25÷5=5.

For secondary age kids, after the basics (number bonds – numbers adding up to 10, 20 ,100 etc), doubles/halves, times tables), ensure that the formulae are known – area of a circle, Pythagoras, trig etc. My maths and other such sites are great for tutorials and practising tricky areas (fractions, percentages, decimals etc) over the summer too.

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

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.

Thanks for reading. Speak soon,

Rachel.

Rachel Law is the founder of Tutor My Kids, a teacher and a mum.

 

 

 

 

 

Summer Tuition – A great help or pushy parenting?

Posted on by

At first glance, it might look like pushy parenting, but it’s easy to forget stuff!

We all forget things if we don’t do them regularly. Can you remember passwords for websites that you rarely use – no me neither! PIN numbers for accounts you don’t use very often – yep guilty!

Kids are no different, they forget things.

It’s long been recognised by teachers that kids learning can take a backward step over the summer holidays, but is this true or an urban myth? Take a look at the research.

Many of our teachers who work as private tutors in Ely and Cambridge area report that without repetition children can forget things that they’ve learnt the prior to the holidays. Many of our private tutors work through the school summer holidays to keep the children’s learning active over the holiday.

I teach a day a week at a local school in the Ely area. The year before last, I kept the same class as they went up a year. (They left me in August as year 3s and re-joined me as year 4s in Sept). I was quite surprised by how much they had forgotten from the end of July to Sept. It’s rare you get the opportunity to experience the effect so directly. Hardly surprising when there’s so much going on in the holidays. All those ice-creams to be eaten, friends to see and places to visit.

Does it really matter?

For many kids it doesn’t matter that they forget things because topics will be covered again in the next academic year.  The education system is designed to allow for this. Also, you’ll most likely be reading with them or they can read independently and they’ll be experiencing other things whilst on holiday or out for day trips

What are the problems with this?

With increased focus on covering more topics in the curriculum, it does mean that it can be at a pace which is too quick for some children.

For many kids little and often work well to keep ideas fresh. High degrees of repetition help to keep ideas and way to solve problems front of mind.  Our tutors in Ely, Huntingdon and Cambridge, are aware of this and generally plan to repeat areas to ensure retention.

Shouldn’t kids have a rest in the holidays.

Absolutely! Kids should have downtime to chill, be a bit bored and enjoy time with family and friends. I think our children do need to have this time to relax and recuperate. In fact, I’d recommend not planning too many organised events so kids can make up their own play, games and do all that lovely old fashioned stuff like building dens in the garden. Limit screen time and get them outdoors.

But, the two aren’t mutually exclusive. It’s still possible to do this and incorporate 4-6 hours tuition over the WHOLE of the summer holidays, a 1 hour, weekly session without impinging on this time.

 Do I need a tutor? Can I do it myself?

At Tutor My Kids our tutors are qualified teachers, which we feel is important, especially at primary level, because the ways in which maths and English are taught in school is entirely different to the ways in which most parents were taught.

However, there are things you can do to help your own kids, without question. The main things are to read with your kids regularly, practise handwriting, play some maths games and get them to write a journal, diary or letters to keep these skills up.  Take a look at our news to see various blogs on how to help your kids learn.

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

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.

Thanks for reading. Speak soon,

Rachel.