Tutoring for poor performance..year 10.

[SpeedyMcNobhead]

Not quite your usual thread, most people here are high achievers and tutoring for high grades.

DS has just had his first assessment results for autumn term. He’s got a grade 2 for maths and a 3 for English. Other subjects are in the 5/6 category. But obviously English and Maths incredibly important. Our neighbour is a retired maths teacher and has agreed to weekly maths tutoring, his first session has showed that DS hasn’t really even got the basics. A majority of this is down to non consistent teaching through years 7-9 (supply teachers 75% of the time). The school he attends is not great but none of the others around here are!

So I have maths covered anyway but wondering whether I should be seriously considering English too. Does anyone have experience of tutoring for poor performance rather than the usual wanting to get a 9? Money is an issue, we can’t afford to be dropping lots on tutors, we are lucky neighbour is doing the maths at a reduced rate for us as he knows us.

Lots of people use tutors for this reason.

Dd had a tutor from end y8 for English as she was predicted not to pass. (Then covid and MH completely screwed things up.)

I think tutoring to help pass maths & Engish is pretty common. Much better than resitting in college!

@TeenToTwenties and how did your DD fare in the exams in the end?

DD2 has a tutor for Maths and English to hopefully achieve a 5 in both. She’d be borderline 3/4 without.

She missed all y11 in the teacher assessed grades year.
Has passed level 2 English functional skills.
Taking maths for second time this summer ...

My son has been having maths and English tutoring since Y9 - maths from Grandma (who is a retired maths teacher) and English at local Kip McGrath centre. He had fallen behind due to combination of undiagnosed ND and poor teaching. After a year he has redeemed the maths, moved up several sets and is on track for a decent grade, the English he struggles with but tutor is helping him with getting his thoughts onto paper in a structured way which will hopefully improve grades across the board. We are also trying support with the set texts by taking him to see Blood Brothers, Macbeth etc
Not passing English and Maths would really restrict options at 16+ and mean having to retake them. Support now if you can possibly stretch to it.

Yeh really common to get tutoring for this (I'm an English teacher/tutor).

Some tips for passing if you need them:
Language is the ones college ask for and make them resit, not lit.
Lang is all about practice and timing - move on to the big mark questions as soon as possible.
Know what skills each question is asking you to show as its not obvious from the questions.
Be careful following the advice of YouTube teachers, it's not often great.

Is he doing AQA?

My son is in year 11 and has had tutoring in maths and English since year 9. He really struggles academically although his effort is incredible.
The tutor has really helped with his confidence and at this stage is the main reason we are still paying.

I dread to think how much it's cost us since we started but hopefully he'll get passes in the core subjects.

I think he is doing AQA.

I will avoid YouTube as a teacher then, I would look for other free resources but DS really could do with someone over him actually teaching him.

I suspect I’m going to have to bite the bullet and look for an English tutor too. School for English have started an after school intervention class which is something but I’m not hopeful it’ll be enough.

Fair play to her for persevering, it sounds like she’s getting there.

@SpeedyMcNobhead It has been a long road. She got an ehcp in y12, and is currently 'y15'.

Hi @SpeedyMcNobhead as others say, it is totally normal for parents to employ tutors to bring students up from grades 2/3/4 to grades 4/5/6 (some sixth forms and unis require a 6 in maths and English just to get in), especially in core subjects like maths, English and science.

In fact only on MN and occasionally IRL have I heard of high-achieving students being tutored – on a thread recently someone said a student they knew had been tutored to reach “that string of 9s” which made me shudder a bit. What string of 9s? And who needs that anyway? no one. I do know someone whose son was tutored in the GCSE for their chosen A level subject which I thought was a bit wild tbh. Anyway.

I was a classroom teacher and I know lots of English teachers who do a bit of tutoring and they would all say the same – their standard candidate is working at a 2/3 grade and hoping for a solid 4/possible 5.

I would say that it is early-ish for tutoring so if money is an issue, you might be better to save it till this summer (post-exams a lot of tutors may have spaces as well) and have a solid push from then. Also I presume he has only covered one text at this stage? so it's not much to go on as yet in Eng lit at any rate.

Both Eng lit and especially Eng lang are very technique heavy, as a PP notes. You need to answer the questions in the way the AOs specify. Can you get his paper from school and see where he went wrong? That would be helpful. Maybe a few sessions now with a tutor to get some idea and then a weekly session from later in the year, if the money is an issue. Also Zoom sessions are sometimes cheaper, as are small group sessions, so that’s worth exploring.

Btw yes you need to know what boards he is doing (may not be the same for lit and lang tho it’s likely IME). And what texts.

@clary thank you for helpful advice. I did wonder if it might be considered a bit early for English, maths is a different ball game, once you understand the concepts then it sticks.

I will find out what exam board he is with and the texts for lit and go from there I think. It also gives me time to see if the after school intervention lessons show any improvement too.

If money is tight then find out the way his teacher tells him to structure the questions and then the timings suggested.

Get ds to do past papers (free on AQA website, Google, "AQA English Language Paper..." and then 1 or 2 depending whet to practise. If he does them in his book then ask him to get class teacher to mark then repeat process, improving on feedback.

English language is like a driving test or mastering a sport - it needs practice and coaching rather than teaching.

Also, try seneca... It's a free online learning platform with quizzes etc.

As I said YouTube can be dodgy as they are often there to get views rather than give good advice so if he does use it just remind him that just because a YouTuber has loads of followers/views it doesn't prove to anyone that their followers passed! They can be helpful but use with caution.

Good luck... Seneca is good for most subjects I think.

As a maths teacher (who knows lots of English teachers), this is totally normal for tutors.

As long as your son is willing to put in the work it will be worth the money. If he isn't then you (he) have a different problem.

I've taken on students before who couldn't be bothered during tutoring sessions and never completed tasks in between - it's a waste of their parents money and I told their parents that. Not all tutors will be as honest/blunt.

DC had three tutors a week, French English and science as they are dyslexic, for a year. We used the ‘my tutor’ site and it was easy. Thankfully it got them the pass grades required for A level, where they are predicted AAB as NOT doing English’s, French or science.

if your DC is hard working and good at other subjects I think the tutoring is a short term pain to get them to the next step.

I am actually going to say that Youtube is a great resource and often recommended by teachers at my child's school. Free Science Lessons (chap with blue background) is one of them.

Stacey Reay won an award by Pearson Education for her excellent teaching skills and we used her for English lit and language alongside Mr Salles who I absolutely credit with helping my children understand (and me) what was needed to get the marks. Plus there are paper walkthroughs online too.

Past papers for English language with the mark scheme open so you can go through question by question will help you as a parent see what gets marks. This is like any game, learn what gets marks and how to get the most marks. Understand AOs (assessment objectives, all listed out in the mark scheme) and then the different levels within those. This is a great foundation to build on.

Just repeated a PP!!

Mr Salles on Youtube is great. I recommend him to my tutees (I teach GCSE English.) Most of my time is spent with students who are borderline 3/4 - and it's all about technique and strategy. You have to know the AOs, have the timings down and focus on the big money questions. Lots of great advice already on the thread. 🙂

What is a resource/website for past papers esp English please?

@shobiddi it depends which exam board your child is doing as the exam formats are different. You can just Google past papers and the exam board and they come up. They are public record so all free to view.