Tuition centre for primary students only?

[Primarysteve]

I'm looking into opening a tuition centre to provide maths and English support for children and have looked at a couple of the franchise options. I've found they are "all age" i.e. they teach from 5-16 year olds and are mostly run by former secondary teachers. As a primary teacher myself I would rather focus on what I know best and think the kids would get more from a specialist (in whatever age range they are in), and am therefore considering the possibility of setting up independently to do just that. Any thoughts from anyone that might look for this type of service would be appreciated.

Many thanks

TBH I would much rather my child be tutored by a maths specialist or an English specialist the key stage they taught wouldn't bother me too much.I am thinking of that series last year/year before where they discovered that most primary teachers were crap at maths and some didn't even understand what they were supposed to be teaching!

Why not? I think it's a good idea, there should be plenty of demand for it. You will probably need plenty of stimulating activities to keep them focused. I would probably not send my 6 year old there since I am a secondary teacher myself and I just buy the books from Smiths and do Maths and English with her. However, some parents are busy at work and do not have the time, patience or motivation to help their own children.

I have mixed thoughts about this because of personal experience. I am very pro teaching my kids maths at home because They don't do enough in school.

However the big negative about parents helping is they don't always teach the methods that kids are learning in school and therefore cause great confusion. Too many parents don't agree with current teaching methods and impose their out of date knowledge onto confused kids.

I sent my switched off Dc to a centre and they were immediately animated and it brought back their enthusiasm. This centre offered and promoted one to one tuition but it actually had one tutor to four/six children so the children actually had very little one to one contact. In the early days the lessons were way below their actual ability so didn't need help and were just left on a computer to get on with it. When they did need help the tutor was too busy helping other kids

Tbc

If I ever did this again, I would want my kids to be fully assessed in all areas to know what all their strengths and weaknesses are in the full range of the curriculum. Most centers seem to do a basic test then set the levels without appreciating kids can be at different stages within maths.

If I was paying for one to one, then that's what I expect.

Computer maths programmes are great but I would expect the tutor to be reviewing the results and checking properly that the child understands by doing problem solving and games as additional teaching.

I would want feedback / help / guidance about the curriculum and expectations.

If homework was issued I would expect it be challenging and interesting.

I haven't found a successful literacy tuition centre so can't comment.

After we stopped using the centre I investigated online programs and my kids learnt so much from them. They also learned the correct methods that are being taught in school which was a great help

A lot of my friends still use the tuition centre because they can't be bothered to help their kids at home, so there is definitely a market. With online programs parents still need to be very involved.

I wish you well with your project

I think I'd be more comfortable going to a tuition centre that specialised in primary school age, then the whole age range.

There is one non-franchised tuition centre near me, and I do wonder how on earth they'd be able to teach DD to read when they are also tutoring for A levels and the 11+

But I think you need to decide your market. Are you going for 11+ / private school selection exams or are you going for kids who are behind and need help to catch up or kids who are really behind or EAL kids or kids who have no problems but just neurotic parents?

Or are you going for any primary school aged kid who needs help in anything? If so how will you market it? And whatever you do how will you market it?

I feel that Maths in particular is not reinforced in primary school. It's great to be moving fast and learning all these new concepts and ideas and they do look good on paper but I do wonder how many childen can actually keep up without help. I know from experience with my own Dd that she forgets things she has learned quickly and needs constant reinforcement.
If you specialise in Maths and English for primary only, then I think there would be a demand. As for marketing, newspapers, a personal website and most importantly, if you do a good job then word of mouth is a very powerful tool. If you are working alone, it's best not to cover too wide a spectrum and do what you are familiar with. There are plenty of National curriculum resources available but I think it could take a long time to be as competitive as one of the already established centres with a supply of resources. Have you considered private tutoring to start with....?That will give you time to build up resources and then move when you have a number of students to a premises. Good luck, there is plenty of demand out there.

Thanks for the views. Just in case anyone is interested; I've stocked up on resources (at a cost of over 5k to get started), I'm looking at premises now and hope to be up and running for after Christmas

What area of the country are you in - just roughly?

Essex. No jokes please!

Hi there! I've built up 2 tuition centres with around 40 students. It's been one of the most satisfying and rewarding experiences of my life. Unfortunately due to greater family commitments i'm thinking about selling - would you be interested?