This contract is almost as much about the family as it is about the individual children. The father successfully juggles the demands of being an entertainer with raising a family. He does so with the help of a very supportive and considerate wife, and domestic staff, who all work together as a team. Their lives revolve around the father’s business calendar, moving around the world in order to perform, supporting him and knowing when to give him the physical and mental space he needs to prepare for his work. Given the nature of his business, the members of the household, both family and staff, need to be very well organized and flexible in order to respond to last-minute changes to travel plans and the like.

The children’s mother is involved with their care and education. She is interested and engaged with the learning process, and enjoys making the time to expose the children to as many experiences as possible in the countries and cities they visit. She balances supporting her children with supporting her husband, and the whole family presents a united front at various fixtures throughout the year.

The children have responded well to their semi-nomadic lifestyles. They have been home educated from birth, and are used to the rhythm of travel and competition. However, now the girls are a little older, their parents feel it is the right time to employ a professional educator as opposed to relying on the nannies to provide their education.

The students are simply lovely children. They are bright, engaging and interested in the world around them. They have clearly been brought up well, and although from a very privileged background, they are not in the least spoiled. The boys are still primarily cared for by the family’s two nannies, and so the girls are the focus of this recruitment.

The girls are delightful. They are articulate, confident and polite and will be a pleasure to teach. They speak Swiss-German at home. Given their international lifestyles, their English is also coming along nicely, though an experienced teacher will be able to improve this significantly. Unsurprisingly, both girls are very sports minded, enjoying a range of physical activities. While they are mature for their age in some respects – they both have a love of and appreciation for cultural excursions etc. – they also display a certain innocence that is often lost when children enter mainstream schooling. Their lives to date have been relatively sheltered, and it would be good to get them involved in activities where they are able to mix with other children of a similar age.

The plan is to home-school the children for the foreseeable future, with a view to them reintegrating into mainstream Swiss education at the age of either 10 or 13. By this stage, the children should be very well prepared for school, with solid foundations to their knowledge, and excellent study techniques and habits that will set them in good stead for their secondary education and beyond. Given that they are to reintegrate into school, the Tutor will need to ensure they keep excellent records of subjects covered and grades achieved.

A Tutor is being sought to ensure that the girls’ education keeps on par with their peers, preferably in the Swiss education system, but in the British system if a Swiss educator of the required experience and mindset cannot be found. As well as being an excellent educator, the Tutor must be organised with their lesson planning and record keeping, flexible with their timetabling, and comfortable with large amounts of travel. Ideally, the Tutor will speak Swiss German or High German, but again, if not, excellent English with Received Pronunciation will be an acceptable alternative. The Tutor should be able to play the piano (or another musical instrument) and read music, as well as speaking either French or Italian (with Spanish as a third option).

A typical day will see the Tutor at work from 7am, helping to get the girls up and ready for the day and sharing breakfast with the family. Lessons will start at 8.30am and continue until lunchtime. The Tutor and family will eat together before heading off for the afternoon’s activity. Depending on location, the activity could be anything from sporting activities, visiting a museum or the theatre, or accompanying the family to a new city to support the father. The Tutor may not always be needed to accompany the girls during the afternoons, and if this is the case, they may be asked to use their time helping the nannies with the boys, or to use this time to prepare for the following day’s lessons. The Tutor needs to see herself as one of the team in general and to ‘read’ a situation so as to be a helpful member of the team. This means a degree of selflessness is required whenever such free time does become available. Although the nannies are primarily responsible for the boys at this stage, it is envisaged that the Tutor can help out by planning educationally enriching, age appropriate games, structuring their play or helping them learn to read as they get a little older. Dinner for the boys is at around 5.45pm, and at around 6.15pm for the girls, with bedtime taking place at 7pm for the boys and 8-8.30pm for the girls. The Tutor would be required to help the children with their bedtime routines but is not a nanny and will never be required to sleep in the same room as the children.

The above paragraph sets out the rough plan for a typical day tutoring, but the Tutor must be fully prepared for variations to this schedule as circumstances can crop up, often at short notice.

The Tutor must be able to deliver a full and rounded education, taking advantage of what each destination has to offer, and must be able to respond positively to sudden changes in the family’s plans. The Tutor must be a genuinely interesting and interested individual who can inspire a love of learning, while also involving the parents where appropriate. The Tutor should always have something ‘up their sleeve’ to keep the children positively engaged and should be as comfortable teaching lessons outside in the world as they are in a classroom environment. The Tutor will also be responsible for the character education of the children, teaching manners alongside virtues such as gratitude, community mindedness, resilience and respect for others.

The children already have a wide array of educational resources. At their home in Switzerland, the family has an excellent room full of books and educational games, and is very open to the Tutor adding to these resources. However, given their transient lifestyle, the Tutor should consider their choice of resources carefully to facilitate easy movement between locations. Fewer, higher quality resources will always be better than lots of resources that are difficult to travel with and keep track of.

The Tutor will join a well-appointed team of staff that currently includes two nannies, a housekeeper, and a chef. They will need to build good working relationships with the existing staff – especially the two nannies as there are some areas where the roles of Tutor and nanny could potentially overlap. Although there are a lot of people in the house at any one time, the domestic staff leave a relatively small footprint with everyone chipping in to help ensure the household runs smoothly. The family is very warm, inclusive and generous. They are keen to foster good relationships with their staff and welcome them to join family meal times. They are also quick to reward staff who go above and beyond what is necessary for their role.

Just as this role is about the family as much as the children, it is also about the attitude and professionalism of the Tutor as much as their academic capabilities. The Tutor needs to be proactive in helping the family to function and flourish. If they see a job around the house that needs doing, perhaps some washing up or tidying away odds and ends, they need to sort it out without making a fuss.

The Tutor should expect to work an average of about 50-60 hours per week over the course of five days, with preparation time in addition. It is likely that the tutoring will be scheduled for Monday-Friday, and while the family will endeavor to keep regular school hours, a degree of flexibility will be required.

The Tutor will be entitled to an average of two consecutive days off each week, though these will not always fall on the weekends. Any untaken holiday entitlement that has accrued will be compensated at the end of the contract, pro rata.

The family travel for 35 weeks of the year, and will require the Tutor for this period. The time spent with the family will be intense – the Tutor will need to work well under pressure and look after themselves emotionally and physically so as to maintain the stamina needed to work long hours and with frequent travel. The Tutor will be entitled to a minimum of 17 weeks paid vacation per annum.

Accommodation is provided in all locations. During periods of travel, the Tutor can expect private accommodation approximately 60% of the time, but will be required to share rooms with other members of household staff of the same gender for the rest of the time. While the family is at their home in Switzerland, the Tutor will have their own private room with shared kitchen, living and dining areas, in the family’s guesthouse. Neither the accommodation nor the role is suited to applications from tutoring couples.

During all periods of travel, the Client will be responsible for all the Tutor’s travel and accommodation expenses, and for all meals for any periods where the Tutor is accommodated in a hotel.

It is essential that the Tutor is a non-smoker, is fit and physically active and leads a healthy lifestyle.