The student is 10 and is the oldest child from a lovely family. He has a younger brother (age 9), and other siblings. For the past academic year, the boys have been home-schooled by a primary teacher (not through Tutors International). The decision to home-school was made because it was clear in July 2015 that the student was not on track to do well in his 11+ in January 2017 and the family thought that the individual attention that would come from a good private tutor would improve his performance. Unfortunately, the tutoring they received, while probably about the standard of a middling state primary school, has not moved him on at the hoped-for pace, leaving his parents concerned about what the future now holds for him.

The student is a lovely boy who wants very much to do well. He is aware of many of his limitations in numeracy and literacy, but has not yet learned what level of effort is required to bring about the changes he and his parents want, and unless he has firm instruction to keep him on task does tend to default to avoidance. He is a sensitive young man and should do well in the care of the right teacher. He is interested in the world in general and has been exposed to a wide range of experiences through travel, sports, and the busy life of a large family. He has worked well in a home school environment without many of the distractions of a school, and the isolated learning has certainly not deleteriously affected his social skills. His parents are realistic about their son’s potential and are not aiming at highly academic institutions, so this is not about pushing for a place at a school that he is unlikely to fit into. It is more about ensuring he has a choice of the local private schools and so that he can thrive when wherever he goes.

For this short term intensive role, the Tutor will work solely with the student and concentrate preparation on the key subjects for the 11+ exam in January. The focus of the tutoring is therefore on English, maths and on verbal and non-verbal reasoning. In the remaining time available before the exam, the student and his Tutor will need go back to basics, find out what is secure, then rebuild his knowledge without the weaknesses that currently affect his sub-par performance. The Tutor will need to be firm, able to take the student in hand quickly, and expect the best of effort from him at all times – this will require a new level of intensity from him, and so this firmness will also need to be encouraging and motivational rather than harsh or disciplinarian in style.

Everyone is aware that what is being sought over the next 4 months was originally planned to be completed in 18 months, so it is essential that the Tutor who takes on this role is aware that there will be some challenging moments ahead, and that the student must be kept motivated. With these challenges will also come the immense satisfaction from being part of the student’s growth.

The successful candidate for this role will need to be able to dedicate almost every possible moment to the task at hand. The family envisage 8am-5pm daily, including weekends if necessary, obviously with breaks as needed during the day for lunch etc. Obviously the Tutor will need time to prepare material for this role and so there is no expectation that it will be all day every day until the exam, but certainly it could become increasingly intense as the exam date approaches depending on the rate of progress that has been achieved.

The Tutor must be highly organised in his or her work and offer an immensely structured approach that makes it crystal clear to the student what needs to be done and on what timeframe, and so that his parents and Tutors International are continuously able to see and follow the progress.

The student must be drilled until many skills that are currently laboured (like multiplication tables and spelling) become second nature. His writing needs attention, as does mathematics and problem-solving. It is expected that the Tutor will give the student weekly practice tests and that the scores in these tests will inform all parties of his rate of improvement. The student is currently significantly below average, so there really is a lot to do in a short time. His parents want this intensive period of study to put as much pressure on their son as possible without overdoing it. The Tutor will be free to employ reward systems as needed, and is empowered to determine whether the student has earned the rewards for his work. It is hoped that the lack of gaining the reward due to failure to complete work targets is sufficient to obviate the need for anything punitive, but should more discipline be needed to get their son to take full advantage of this opportunity then his parents are open to discussing options.

The Tutor should expect to work an average of about 40 hours a week during weekdays and to be available at weekends if these additional hours are needed. This does not include preparation and marking.

No accommodation is available for this role.

No travel is expected as part of this job. If that should change the Tutor’s full expenses and a per diem stipend will be covered by the Client.

The Tutor is responsible for his or her own commuting costs. The nearest train station is Walton-on-Thames and there is a fast train service to Waterloo.

It is essential that the Tutor is a non-smoker and leads a healthy lifestyle.

The Tutor will send daily reports to Tutors International. These will summarise teaching and learning for the day, discuss any behavioural issues encountered and how they were dealt with. In addition to daily reports to TI, the Tutor will prepare weekly reports for the Client. A DropBox will be maintained in which progression through the material and results of practice tests will be readily available for review.