Posted message under business start ups but only one respondent.....

[evertheoptimist09]

i intend to open a tutorial agency in West London with a slight difference. It would have a high street presence offering face-to-face tuition, online tuition, exam preparation for 7+, 11+, and a homework club. We would also offer SEN advice/assessment and dyslexia tuition. All provided by qualified, crb checked teachers. All feedback greatly appreciated....

Who would be doing the sen assessment as you only mention teachers.

It would probably work on London but it gives against everything I believe. 7 years olds should not be having extra tuition but enjoying life! We have the most stressed children in the world. Tutoring for entrance exams at a young age us a massive contributory factor to this in my opinion.

Sorry not to be more positive, I am sure people will be flocking to you .

Makes me sad though.

Sorry, I don't understand the "slight difference" -what are you doing that others aren't already doing?

Thank you, I welcome and appreciate your honest responses. The SEN assessments would be carried out by fully qualified Educational Psychologists.
The slight difference is that the centre will have a high street presence and offer a homework club, after-school tuition and an advisory centre. i appreciate that this is already happening in some areas.
I take your point about 7+ tuition (although this would constitute a small percentage) but should parents want to avail themselves of our services we will offer all relevant support.

Sounds like Explore learning (apart from the Sen bit).

As far as I am aware they only offer maths & English. We will be offering tutorial support up to A Level standard in a variety of subjects.

This wouldn't be stand-out different in London. There will always be demand for tutoring in London, so I suspect the market will stand new entrants, but you'll be in competition with established rivals.

It sounds to me that you are trying to be all things to all men, spreading yourself too thinly. Specialise in one area (as in subjects or age-group; not physical area), get known for that and then expand to other areas.

You might as well go the whole hog and call it a Free School.

what will you charge?

dyslexia action already offer ed psych dyslexia assessment and dyslexia tuition and have their own learning programme.
How will you compare with their fees?
What learning programmes will you use?

What yootha said. You are to all intents and purposes planning to open a school. With reduced hours. That's a big job!

...also what qualifications will the dyslexia teachers have?

i think the stand out part is educational psychologists, the rest of it seems normal.

Some schools already do all of this and more out of school hours themselves. Have you checked with the area to make sure they don't already do all of this? My local schools already offer all of this.

How will you run a homework club for an entire area? Will this be by appointment depending on the school or a drop in? How will you cope with several students from different schools popping on for the club, knowing they will be studying different things.

The dyslexia teachers have QTS and the AMBDA qualification. We are not trying to compete with Dyslexia Action, many ed psychs specialise in dyslexia and they work on a freelance basis out of the various centres mentioned here.
We are not a school but a tutorial centre, offering a variety of related services under one umbrella.
The homework club is for the benefit of primary school children. It would be staffed by teachers with experience across the key stages who would help to clarify concepts and offer support (not tuition).
Thank you once again for all your feedback, which is very useful. I am fully aware that this will appeal to some and not others.

We have the most stressed children in the world?

The children living in places like Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong would love to laugh in the face of the naive gwailoh but they are too busy cramming for yet another test.