There are four children, a boy and three girls. The boy is 3½, and his sisters are 5, 7, and 9. Before their move to Switzerland, the children attended good London prep schools, where they found school quite easy and were doing well in a competitive British elementary and preparatory environment. The Swiss schools, however, have a sufficiently different approach to the educational pathway at the age groups in question, and have such old resources by comparison to good British schools, that there is a genuine concern that this year away will put the children, especially the older ones, at a distinct disadvantage when they return to London from September 2015.

There are several facets to this role because of the varying stages of the children.

The oldest girl is finding her current school rather dull and could probably handle the academic material from the year above if only her French was good enough. Although language skills will certainly catch up and the school has indicated a willingness to review the situation in due course, there is concern about the effect of the lack of challenge in the meanwhile. The key responsibility for the Tutor in this part of the role is therefore to ensure that progress across the relevant subjects for the 11+ are maintained both before and after any decision by her school. She will be taking the 11+ upon her return to London, and so preparation for this is an important aspect of the role.

The younger children do not have an important test looming, but once again are at risk of slipping behind their peers due to differences in the education systems. The Tutor will therefore need to work with the 7-year-old to ensure that her core Mathematics and English development is maintained at the pace expected by NHP. Focus for the other two children will also be in their core Literacy and Numeracy skills through formal study and educational play. Additional work to encourage a love of learning for learning's sake should be included for all children.

The boy is at school from 8.30am - 11.30am every weekday morning. The Tutor would therefore start working with him from about 1pm, after he has had his lunch. He does not work well when around any of his siblings, and will need to be taught separately; the housekeeper or another adult carer will be available to look after whichever children are not with the Tutor at these times. Obviously there will need to be a continuous dialogue about what works best regarding this routine.

The three older children are home by 4pm, except on Wednesdays when they finish at 12pm. They too will be available to work with the Tutor after they have had a chance for a quick snack. There is sometimes some homework, which thus far has not been taxing, and there will then be plenty of time to provide extension and enhancement material that fosters the desired educational development and lifelong love of learning. The tutoring will usually finish at 8pm when the bedtime routine starts.

At weekends the family travel to their home in Verbier where they ski. It is not a requirement that the Tutor can ski, but it would certainly be good if she enjoyed winter sports and being in colder climates.

The Tutor will generally work weekends, but will get two consecutive days off per week instead as her ‘weekends'. The exact days for this are not yet confirmed, and may be subject to change during the assignment. Such changes will be with as much advance notice as possible.

The Tutor will typically work with the children after school for three of the five weekdays, from 1pm or 1.30pm to 8pm on weekdays. Hours at the weekends are not yet certain because it depends on the children's ski-school. Whatever the arrangements, the Tutor should expect to be working either a morning or an afternoon, but not both.

The Tutor is entitled to two consecutive days off per week, but should not expect these to occur at weekends or to be regular in their timing. As far as possible the Client will try to give the Tutor at least a week's notice of when their ‘weekend' break will be, but the Tutor will need to understand this is not always possible.

Any untaken weekend days that accrue will be compensated by payment in lieu at the end of the contract. The Tutor is entitled to 3 weeks paid vacation during the contract period, probably around Christmas and Easter at times to be agreed with the Client.

The Tutor will be provided with his or her own apartment close to the Client's home in Geneva. Save for the Tutor's personal telephone use, the Client will cover all bills on this apartment. The accommodation arrangements in Verbier are not currently certain, but whatever is decided will be respectful of the private needs of a professional teacher.

The Client will reimburse the Tutor for all local public transport, and may be able to make a car available for some excursions. In general, though, the Tutor should not expect to have access to a vehicle for his or her personal use.

The Tutor must be fit and healthy, a non-smoker.

Though not essential, it would be an advantage if the Tutor speaks French; this was one of the main reasons for the family's decision to move to Geneva for a year.

The Tutor must be organised, self-reliant, and independent. She should not require ‘hand-holding' for any aspect of the position. This role requires a Tutor who is flexible and able to adapt their plans to the different locations and the needs of a large family, without fuss.