Pupil putting all the responsibility on me to gain good grades

She clearly isn't learning what she NEEDS from the tuition in her opinion. This doesn't reflect on your ability as a tutor but more on what she actually needs tuition on. It sounds like you need to just look at WHY she's making silly mistakes rather than teaching the maths from scratch.

You are a grown up so deal with it. She is a child that is disappointed, angry and possibly embarrassed by her result. She's hitting out as many children do, and you happen to be the victim on this occasion. You are a teacher for goodness sake, you should expect these sort of scenarios. You are getting paid plenty for this I expect, so stop playing the victim (child), and deal with it, or tell the parents you can no longer continue teaching her.

You are making a rod for your own back by even engaging with the idea that it is your fault if the child doesn’t succeed. It is not. All you can do is try to help her understand the concepts she struggles with. How long do you have her for? An hour a week? It is a very short time in which to cover everything she finds challenging. Make it clear to her and her parents that you are there to help but can’t guarantee good results - that is up to the child ( and to school of course as they should be making sure the whole curriculum is covered) I have been a private tutor for over 20 years and I would never allow this sort of entitled behaviour from my pupils.

Agree with this.

I assumed reading the OP that you were an older teen doing your first tutoring job, not a fully qualified teacher.

There'll be less pressure. Less pre-teen angst and anger to deal with

Sorry, which one is the child here?

I think you should stick to younger kids

Of course it shouldn't. Speak to the parents.

I'd think this too!
Suppose it depends how easily you can get another pupil / how much you really need the income.

Could have a trial period first so you can see if it works.

This may be off, but is she missing how to learn teaching? At that age my children knew what worked for them they also did exam techniques.

If she is capable of grasping the concept with you it sounds like she is missing the self motivation and study techniques. Would it be possible to speak to her mother and sketch out a plan.

I think it’s an issue when people are paying for education (similar thing happens at universities) where people feel like they are paying for a grade rather and are consumers rather than paying for an opportunity to study and are learners.

‘She very poor’!? Coming from a tutor in what way

Retired teacher here.
The dialogue should not be between you and the pupil!
It should be a regular 3 way dialogue with you, the parents and the pupil.
when she showed you the E grade and ‘seemed angry’ why didn’t you challenge her and ask her to explain her anger? An 11 year old is not in charge.
She needs to be given a realistic target. It’s ridiculous that she is expecting A for maths.
Also, you are doing homework with her which is fine but the parents need to be aware that much of your time is spent as 1-2-1 homework club.

1. set up a meeting with parents and the pupil
2. set up a WhatsApp group for you, the parents and the girl.
3. report back after every lesson. So that you are not doing extra work for nothing (tutoring is hard) maybe take the last 10 minutes of each lesson and involve the girl - ‘ok ,,Sally this is what I am going to say to your parents.’

She needs a ks3/4 specialist tutor, in fact, she needs several - not a primary school teacher.

Even at y8 the stuff they're learning is waaaay beyond year 6 - the way each subject is taught, the progression to GCSE level. Not just Maths, but even developing how to answer more complex questions. For 4 hours a week I assume the parents are paying top whack for tutoring and if not then You're doing everyone a disservice.

Do her - and them - a favour and outline exactly what you CAN help her with (and manage everyone's expectations about outcomes), and point them in the direction of subject specialist tutors appropriate to her key stage.

It really isn't appropriate for a non-subject-specialist to be tutoring at KS3/4 and charging full price (upwards of £35ph where I am).

She needs to be doing revision and practice and homework too

Yes you need to.
And you should pass on what she said about school so they can advocate for her.

It sounds like she would benefit from some extra tuition specifically in maths with a maths tutor? I would speak to her parents and explain that you're not going to be able to cover the whole maths curriculum in the hours you've got with her at the moment.

Whendothingsstarttoimprove,

Could she be discalculate? Does she understand when she is with you, or not at all?
It is not as well understood as dyslexia.

No matter what there will be a next step for her. I wish her luck.

@Riversideandrelax thanks , yes I am very proud if her. Whatever her GCSE results end up being I know she has worked hard this past year and has had to overcome far more than any child should have to in life.

@Whendothingsstarttoimprove ,

‘Then this end of year test, so covering everything from the year was back down to an E, it was disappointing’.

It is really common for weaker students, with help and work, to be able to improve topic test results, but far harder to get the learning to stick for larger summative examinations.

What is popular now, and I think effective, is quiz starters revisiting former learning. If you decide to carry on with her, that might well be worth trying.

As someone who loves maths, I do find it quite depressing that people are forced to learn and take exams in maths that they don’t really understand but just learn as a series of techniques, with lots of practice. However, it is possible to get really quite weak students 6s and 7s at GCSE if they put the work in. One year later, though, 90% of it will be gone. It remains debatable whether that hoop is worth getting young people to jump through…