GCSE Maths - When to start tutoring?

[Daphnesmate]

We are thinking of employing a tutor for an hour each week to support my now year 9 daughter with maths during her GCSE's. This isn't a new thing, she received maths tutoring for a year in the last year of juniors to boost her confidence as she just generally panicked with numbers and it seemed to help her confidence no end. Obviously, tutoring is not cheap, so I'm wondering how to get the most out of it such as what period of time would most benefit her in the run up to the exams? Anyone had experience of this, it would be great to hear from you.

Has she started her GCSE course yet? I would suggest that probably the end of Y10/beginning of Year 11 is going to be most beneficial because by then she’ll have covered a good chunk of the GCSE curriculum and she’ll have some idea about the bits that she would most benefit in tutoring from. At that point she might also have a predicted grade which could be improved with tutoring, so she’ll be able to see an improvement and it’s a double confidence boost.

Does she actually need it? What do her teachers say? I would agree with @Stillabitemo and wait until she's further into her course to see where she needs support.

Yes, I think that the time frame you suggested would be most beneficial. It's more for boosting confidence really and having some individual one to one time to go over a few things. It really helped her before - not only in terms of ability but it helped her confidence too, so I am hoping the same will happen again and she is quite open to receiving the support. I think class sizes are just too big in most schools to have this individual attention and us trying to help her ourselves just doesn't work (parent/tutor thing).

Yes I got a maths tutor for my eldest. She passed her maths and is now at uni. I think it's worth doing but in gcse year. Not too early!

It depends on where she is now, how confident she is, what paper she's expecting to take etc.

What sort of grade is she aiming for?

What set is she in currently? Is she expecting to do higher or foundation?

Have school said she needs one?

I employed a tutor for DD at the beginning of year 10. DD is a capable child but really lacks confidence in her abilities. I found having the tutor early on boosted her confidence for the rest of the GCSE years which was a massive help.
She is now doing maths at A Level.

@Daphnesmate I think beginning of Y10 is a good time to start. My son started at that time and has had the chance to really improve his maths, without having to cram. Some of his friends started later, but struggled with time management because they had so much to learn in not enough time.

If you're worried about cost, I would recommend an app both of my children (and it seems their friends too) use, called "EasyA" (link below). It allows them to ask as many questions as they want, without the hassle of scheduling sessions in advance.

apps.apple.com/us/app/easya/id1478549100

I’m a GCSE maths tutor, I would not work with anyone with less than 6 months to go to their examination, they just wouldn’t get much out of it.

Ideally I would start now, or at the very least the start of year 10. It’s a 2 year course so the best way of tutoring is to check knowledge and deepen understanding of topics as they are taught by school.

I think the best time to find tutors is in May/June when their current students are finishing. Waiting until September to find someone, you may find that all the better ones are already full, or you have less choice on their availability.