English Tutor

[Caramel73]

Hi
Im looking for an English tutor in the battersea, clapham area. My dd is currently in year 7 and is not making much of a progress, so need a pick up.
We have never had a tutor before, so not sure how to go a out getting one etc... Any help would greatly be appreciated.

Just Google for private tutoring agencies, and there are dozens.

But is a tutor really the best thing for her? How was she progressing in Yr6, and is she happy in secondary school?

The jump from the 'family' kind of environment in many primary schools, to the much larger secondary, with different rooms and different teachers for possibly each subject, can unsettle some children for a considerable time.

Is she aware she of her difficulties, and what is the exact nature of them? Is English her first language? I only fear that a tutor might possibly put her under pressure that she finds difficult to cope with, and have an adverse effect on her. What is she like with all the other subjects?

If you can clarify these queries I will try to help more. I was a Teaching Assistant in primary schools for twenty years, but also had a few years in comprehensive schools, particularly supporting pupils who needed extra help.

Hi Ferguson

English is our first language. My dd is very lazy in her writing and loses marks for silly mistakes, this has been ongoing through primary school. She is a very capable child but sports are her first love.

Starting secondary school has not been an issue for her, the problem is that we are finding that the school teaches year 7 in a mixed ability class, in which the lesser ability children get more help. Overall she is probably middle to top all of her subjects.

Thanks for clarification -

That is unfortunate if attitude and carelessness affects her writing. And obviously at secondary school, virtually all subjects will require to be written up, even Sports or Games probably on some occasions!

As I said, you should easily be able to find a tutoring agency, that will provide tutors for all over London. Make sure you read all the 'small print' and check as thoroughly as you can exactly what levels they teach to, whether there is any kind of 'guarantee' of progress, how long a contract or commitment lasts, can you 'get out' if it isn't working for your child.

But a tutor isn't necessarily going to be able to 'cure' a lazy attitude.

Have you tried to get advice at her school? Is there a pastoral person, or Head of Year or House, who can encourage children in such circumstances? Your child can't be the first to be like this; maybe they keep Yr7 in mixed ability until they settle down, and teachers really get to know pupils. I would expect from Yr8 that English and Maths should be streamed by ability, even if other subjects aren't.

Do you know what her attitude to a tutor is, or will be, or have you not got around to asking her yet?

If you do find a suitable agency or tutor, I will have a look at the details, if that is any help to you. But obviously, the decisions must rest with you and DD.

Thank you, my dd is happy to have a tutor but as I have just received her school report, I will have to wait until the term starts to get feedback.

Bear in mind that if she is middle/top in her subjects, even if they do set later on (not all schools will! There is a lot of evidence in favour of mixed ability teaching) she will probably be in the second ability set not the first. This will be a big group - probably 32 ish - and so she still won't get a lot of individual attention from a teacher.

Also it's unlikely that just simple mistakes are keeping her marks down English. In a reading skills assessment spellings, punctuation, grammar etc would be corrected if mistakes were made but these wouldn't affect the overall mark. If you do get a tutor make sure that you have clear targets from the school about what her weaknesses are and what skills she needs to be building next.

The biggestfactor in attainment in English for non-SEN, non-EAL pupils is the amount of reading they do. If she isn't reading at home she will not be able to keep up with the top of the class. It needs to be frequent (daily), varied and challenging. You can still make a big difference at this age by reading with them - get her to read aloud to you, look up words you don't know in a dictionary after trying to work out the meaning from inference, discuss the plot, characters, setting, style of writing etc so that she's thinking about the text as something that has been created not something that's 'real'. I.e. Why do you think [author] wrote [character] like that? If she's going to fight against reading aloud with you, do tandem reading - you both read the same book separately and do the discussion as above at ends of chapters.

Hope this helps.

Thank you so much for you help and advice :-)

This child is now in the upper sixth!