The student is a mature and personable young man from Switzerland. He moved to England for school in 2011 and enrolled in an international school in Y11 for his GCSEs. Despite only one year of preparation and English not being his first or strongest language, he achieved nine good passes. Unfortunately, he found the GCSE course much easier than he expected and after moving to another school for his A levels, did not put in anything like enough work and achieved dismal results in his AS Biology and Maths exams in the summer of 2012. His academic failures were partly as a consequence of having learned much in the way of self-study techniques from the international and were compounded by some social distractions.

The student has started his second year at the second school on a much more positive note and his early test scores have been promising, albeit that much of this material is straightforward because it’s the early part of the course, and because he’s done it before. He receives some private tutoring support in addition to his regular classes and this has meant that he goes into class prepared for what is going to be covered, and is therefore able to be more attentive and to contribute more during the lessons. Even so, and with one or two exceptions, the school is not really behind him, and the young man himself is not enamoured with the school. As a result, there is a strong feeling that the time has come for him to receive full time private tuition from a skilled educator in an environment that ensures the young man the intensive academic input he needs while allowing him more of the freedoms that would come with being an undergraduate.

The student is a good cook; he can look after himself and takes great care in his personal appearance. He enjoys keeping fit, and has interests across many spheres of life including the arts, languages, and sports. A full time private tutoring environment that includes social opportunities with peers of similar age, and that involves independent living arrangements, would foster the range of subject knowledge and academic skills that he and his family feel will allow him to blossom and which will prepare him for successful admission to a good university.

The arrangements being considered to provide this different approach to the last years of high school are to move him to Newcastle on Tyne where Tutors International has an excellent relationship with a school. This relationship allows students who are taking Science subjects access to the school laboratories both for the coursework and for examination practicals. The school also allows students to take examination subjects that require external moderation such as orals for language exams. As well as relocating to Newcastle and accessing relevant resources at the host school, the student would work full time with a highly skilled and engaging private Tutor, someone able to distil information so that students can easily grasp the concepts while enjoying learning the skills required in order to excel in the examinations. The student and his Tutor will live separately, but close by each other and the school, and tutoring would be at a venue convenient to both and suitable for the purpose. This close attention to study, involvement and support from one of the best private day schools in the country, with the opportunity to develop independent study habits, has superb outcomes for all concerned.

In an ideal world the intensive learning that comes from one-on-one tutoring of this nature will permit the student to catch up from his disappointing year and finish his A levels in the summer of 2013. Until the Tutor starts working with the student, it is impossible to know whether this is feasible or not and will involve close liaison with Tutors International and the student’s parents about what the best course should be in this regard.

This is a complex role that not only involves the one-to-one tutoring of Mathematics and Biology A level, but the coordination with a mainstream school to provide a supporting role as examinations centre, access to labs for the Biology course and examination practical, arrangement with peripatetic Tutors at the school for support preparing for A levels in French and German, and perhaps also some exam strategy for Mathematics and Biology.

The position will therefore require an experienced Tutor who has an excellent and up to date record of tutoring to the highest standards of A levels in Biology and Maths, and the credibility and professional acumen to establish successful working arrangements with a range of teaching professionals at the host school.

The Tutor will need to work cooperatively with the student to establish a constructive timetable to cover all the material, revise earlier work, and prepare for all the exams. His current modules were taken with AQA, but the Tutor need not stay with this board if there is good reason to change to another, perhaps to take advantage of the exam test dates. In the event of a change of board it will be important to determine whether the grades are transferable. If so, the Tutor will need to ensure that this transfer is correctly administered; if not the Tutor will need to make sure that all requirements for the new board are completed in a timely manner.

The Tutor will work an average of seven hours a day, five days a week. This does not include preparation time.

It is not envisaged that this time will all be indoors in formal study. In addition to visits to museums and art galleries, the Tutor should also include periods of recreational learning, perhaps through games devised to reinforce or prepare for a recent subject of study, or to encourage and develop sports, music and other skills.

It has not yet been discussed how the week will be structured. Whatever is decided, it will be essential for the Tutor to develop a timetable. This will need to be firm, yet able to accommodate the flexibility that comes with a role that includes several itinerant teachers, in a home-school environment.

The Tutor will have a minimum of nine weeks (45 working days) paid vacation per annum. The dates for this will be at times convenient to the Client.

The family will cover the costs of the Tutor’s first outward journey and final return journey, as well as one return journey per annum, as per the Terms. If the Tutor is asked to join the family at their home in Zurich at any time, the Client will cover the Tutor’s full travel, board and lodging expenses for these periods.

The Client will rent a small, furnished apartment for the Tutor in a convenient location near the student (who will be in separate accommodation) and the host school. Tutors International is happy to sign the lease for this rental and to add an additional payment to the Client’s Fees to cover this cost. The Client will be responsible for covering the cost of all utilities (lighting, heating, hot water etc) on this rental, except for the Tutor’s personal phone calls and food shopping.

The tutoring will either take place at the student’s or the Tutor’s apartment, in the host school, or Newcastle University library, or perhaps local city libraries, or whatever venue is suitable for the student and his Tutor in any situation.

The student is a gregarious young man with a sensible outlook. He is not involved in any inappropriate activities like many young people of his age and is keen to make this period of study productive and successful so that when he concludes his schooling he will have achieved the standards that open as many doors as possible to further education in Switzerland, the UK and perhaps even the USA.

It will be essential for the Tutor to help the student to connect with peers, perhaps through the host school or through connections with the various Universities in the Newcastle area, in ways that do not detract from studies and that broaden his CV to improve applications for further study after school.