tutor for an "average" year 7

[namechangingagainagain]

I have prepared myself for being flamed for being pushy. :)

We live in a rural area and he goes to a large good comprehensive secondary school. It is an area where "low academic expectations" has been highlighted as a problem.

We considered private and although we could afford one or two sets of school fees DS has 3 siblings and financially it would have crippled us. WE thought a good plan would be to go state and supplement as needed ( they all have instrument lessons for example).

We're now wondering whether some kind of tutors might be a good idea for DS12. He is "expected" across the board. His teachers say he is a pleasure to teach as he gets down to work diligently. His English teacher said " you will be pleased to hear he's on track for a c grade GSCE pass".

Well I'm not... flame away !
Friends with children who are not exceptional in any way seem to be getting strings of a*/a in other areas/ at other schools. I want to give DS every advantage I can and it seems s if a c grade gcse pass is the target.

Di you have a academically middle of the road/ middle set child who improved with 1 to 1 tuition in maths or English? Where would I find someone and is it best to arrange it weekly/ fortnightly?

Thanks in advance

Of course children will improve with 1-1 expert tuition - any extra time spent properly practicing a subject will see an improvement.

Tutoring is best done at least weekly, otherwise there's too long a gap between sessions. You could ask the English and maths department if they have any recommendations for tutors, sometimes they know ex-staff who would do it.

Best time to look would be now. Maths and English GCSEs have just finished, so tutors will have spaces.

"His English teacher said " you will be pleased to hear he's on track for a c grade GSCE pass".

Well, I would be horrified if a teacher said this- because it would mean they didn't realise that GCSEs had changed and there is no such thing as a grade C any more.

They can hardly say 'he's on track for a GCSE grade 5 pass' when no one knows yet what that will look like.

There's a lot of translating back to old grades/levels at the moment when communicating with parents, so that they can have some understanding of where their child is at.

thanks for your thoughts.

I'm sure his English teacher is aware of the GCSE changes. he may even have said " on track for the equivalent of a GCSE grade c" and I was paraphrasing!

We're going to look around for some tutors. Thanks again