State secondary - When to start tutoring?

[AylesBuck]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for some advice from parents who have older/adult children. DCs are currently achieving well in KS3 state school, and I want to ensure they have the best possible chance when it comes to their GCSEs and A-levels.

For those of you who have been through this, when did you start tutoring for your children? Did you find it beneficial to start earlier or closer to the exam years? Any specific tips or experiences would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you

There are so many subjects at secondary school it might be worth letting them settle and see where their weaknesses are before starting tutoring. They may not even need the extra support. They will definitely need to do sciences as well as maths and English to GCSE and if you’re planning for tutors for all that’s going to be heavy going. I think my advice would be just to look at your child and tutor where necessary (or not at all if they’re already looking like they’re high performers anyway)

i don't think it's worth it for GCSE, the grades are often not desperately important and as pp says there are too many subjects.

i think tutoring delivers the best bang for buck if it starts a couple of months into year 12, ie towards the very beginning of A levels. maybe once the results of Christmas exams come in to give an idea of where to target in order to pass muster/to excel?

As PPs have said, it's worth waiting to see what subjects they're most likely to benefit from extra help in before committing. Also, just to warn you, be careful with who you choose to tutor them. It's basically a completely unregulated industry, and while there are many amazing tutors out there, there are also a lot who, while their subject knowledge might be good, don't know anything about the exam system or the phrases that you need to use to hit marks on the mark scheme which is really key at GCSE. The safest bet is someone who is a teacher but otherwise try to do your research and go with recommendations from other people. I worked for a while through a tutoring agency and felt it was criminal some of them were taking parents hard earned cash when they had no idea how to support the kids to do well

Why do you assume your DC will need it?

Extra school unless they truly need it is a miserable use of childhood.

I am preparing to possibly need a maths tutor when my eldest starts year 10, but only if there is still gap between her potential grade and her performance

You can't tutor everything.
So first consider if it is even needed.

Going from a 3 to a 4 in maths/english is important, or maybe a 5 for specific entry requirements.

Otherwise think why you want to do it. If there isn't a specific issue to be solved is it worth it to get a subject up a grade?

Tutoring can help with understanding, revision, exam technique. If you know what you want it will help find the right person.

I cannot possibly imagine that a child who has not studied hard and who considers GCSE not important will pass A levels very well

Most of the subjects are continuation. If a kid hardly applied herself to maths at GCSE is unlikely master it all within two A levels and pass it with flying scores

my son has Math tutoring since year 4. And no, he is not bad at it that needs tutoring. Actually, he has always been good at maths

Umm, we didn't.

Unless you count 'one session with Aunty Janet', for my slightly panicky DD who felt she didn't get maths? Aunty J does a better calm and soothing voice than I do.

Would be more beneficial to work with them on really effective long term learning and revision methods including the importance of starting early (ie beginning y11 not y9!)

Don't assume you'll need to. Of all my friends with kids in state schools I only know one who has got her DD a tutor.

What did you mean by 'year 24', Letsgoogogo? Wouldn't that make them 28 and old enough to get on with it?

Wait until you know what they struggle with. We did maths and physics from year 10 as dc had poor teachers and lost confidence. They never needed tutoring in any other subjects.

Never tutored, ever. Stay in touch with the school, find out how they’re doing and fill any gaps as time goes on.

Schools have a vested interest in your child doing well. There may be bumps like a missing teacher but for the most part work with them and trust them.

We never bothered. I only know of one of DC's friends who had a tutor. They are all still managing to achieve excellent grades.

You could start a bit of maths from year seven if you like - to make sure your child has a really good understanding all the way through. Iron out any confusion as it happens.

I just don’t understand why you would do this without any checks and balances. If you happen to have a kid that would be likely to get nines without tutoring why would you put them through it? Unless it’s a one upmanship “look at what a wonderful parent I am, focusing on my child’s education” kind of way. Surely the very bright kids could use that time to focus on other life experiences.

From a financial point of view alone that would be a terrible return on investment!

(I don’t mean you personally PP I means the royal you)

Thank you all for the excellent advice. Looks like I should wait and see if they need tutoring.

I started maths in year 9. And maths science English ion years 10 and 11.

It was invaluable.

Definitely tutor. They have no idea how to revise or how to tackle questions

They can ask everything they need to in their own time. That's impossible in state school.

Depends on the child.
Depends on the school.
Depends on whether you have the spare cash and the urge to spend it that way.

There's no definitely about it; it's just something you might want to budget for, like anything else.

I agree with others, wait to see where tutoring might be needed. I never had tutors for any of my DC – oldest has LD but tutoring would have been no use, tho I worked with him on some aspects and his teachers were supportive too.

DD and DS2 would not have been interested – for the subjects they loved, they did the work themselves; for others, they did what was needed. As another poster suggests, GCSE grades (unless aiming for Oxford) are academic (haha) beyond a certain level. DS2’s 6s in Spanish and CS and DD’s 6 in maths don’t matter – no point spending money and time fruitlessly (probs) trying to turn those into 7s. @Flyhigher mine were taught how to revise and to tackle questions in school. That's a big part of the teachers' job in KS4.

If you get towards the end of year 10 and it’s clear your DC is likely to struggle to get a 4/5 in English and maths, then yes, I agree some intervention is a good idea, esp if they are overall able and likely to look at A levels or uni.

Hard agree with @whizbee – deffo look for a teacher or tutor who has worked in schools and knows the exam spec. I have worked with students who have suffered here – in Covid I did a good deal of assessment for TAGs with HE DC, and some had clearly had a tutor who knew nothing about the actual exam they would be taking. They had clearly not been taught what was needed, what to expect and how to answer the questions. Whatever the subject there will be boxes to tick.