How it works
There are four stages, and the first one is free. Nothing is booked, paid for or promised until you have spoken to us and met the person who would teach.
You tell us what is going wrong
Send us the basics and we reply on WhatsApp, usually the same working day. We are trying to establish four things: the exact subject and syllabus your child is entered for, where the marks are actually being lost, what has already been tried, and what the timeline is.
That last point matters more than most families expect. A student two terms out from a paper and a student six weeks out need completely different work, and pretending otherwise wastes everyone’s money.
If we think the problem is organisational rather than academic, or that a tutor is not the fix, we will say so here rather than book you an hour to find out. Those cases are described in full here.
The trial class: one hour, free
Not a sample, a demo or a sales call with a different name. A full hour with the specialist we matched, working on your child’s actual material: a marked paper, the topic that went wrong, whatever is in front of them this week.
No card details are taken and nothing is owed afterwards. The reason we can offer it is that it is also the most efficient assessment we have: an hour of teaching tells a tutor more about where a student is stuck than any amount of describing it over the phone.
Afterwards you get our honest read on what is wrong and what we would do about it, and you decide whether to carry on. If the answer is no, that is a complete answer and there is no follow-up sequence.
The match
We find the specialist who fits: the right subject, the right level, and ideally someone who has prepared candidates for that exact paper recently. We then arrange a short introductory call so you can meet them, usually within 48 hours of your enquiry.
We will never tell you a named tutor is available before one has actually been assigned. If we cannot staff your request properly, we say so on the call rather than take the booking and find someone afterwards. That is the single most common way families end up with whoever was free.
Lessons
Sixty minutes is the default, once a week for ongoing support and twice a week in the eight weeks before a paper. Ninety-minute sessions suit students working through practical or coursework material, where a shorter slot loses too much time to setup.
Lessons run over video with a shared whiteboard, so tutor and student work on the same page at the same time, and in practical subjects the student works on their own machine while sharing their screen, which is far closer to exam conditions than watching a demonstration.
Every session follows the same shape: marked work from last week, the day’s topic with a worked example, then the student attempting a real past paper question while the tutor watches how they approach it rather than only what they produce.
Feedback, and knowing when to stop
After each lesson you get a short written note from the person who taught it: what was covered, what went well, and the specific thing that needs to happen before next week. Not a dashboard, not an automated score: a paragraph written by a human.
We do not sell prepaid blocks of lessons, and that is deliberate. Paying for twenty sessions up front makes it psychologically harder to stop when stopping is the right call. Lessons are billed monthly against what was actually taught, so you can end it whenever it stops earning its place.
On timing: lessons are scheduled in the student's own local time. Most run on weekday evenings between 4pm and 9pm, with weekend morning slots opening up in the months before the May/June series.
Practical questions
What do you need from me before the trial class?
The syllabus code if you know it, the student's year group, and the most recent school report or mock result if there is one. None of it is compulsory, we can work it out as we go, but having it to hand makes the free hour go considerably further.
How long are lessons and how often are they?
Sixty minutes is the default, once a week for ongoing support and twice a week in the eight weeks before a paper. Ninety minutes suits some A Level students working through Paper 4 practical material, where a shorter session gets eaten by setup.
Do you set work between lessons?
Yes, and it matters. A lesson that is not followed by independent practice mostly produces the feeling of progress rather than progress. The work set is short and specific (a past paper question, a traced algorithm, a spreadsheet task) and it is marked at the start of the next session.
How do you report back to parents?
A short written note after each lesson covering what was taught, what went well and what the student needs to do before next time. No dashboards, no automated score graphs: just a paragraph from the person who taught the lesson.
What if we need to cancel or reschedule?
Give us twenty-four hours and we will move the lesson at no cost. Inside twenty-four hours the slot is charged, because it was held and cannot be filled. Illness and genuine emergencies are treated as such.
How does the free 1-hour trial class work?
You book a time, we call you, and we ask what is actually going wrong, the syllabus code, the year group, what the last report said, and what you have already tried. At the end of it we tell you whether we think tutoring will help, and if so what shape it should take. If we do not think we are the right fit, we say so on that call. There is no charge and no obligation to book anything afterwards.
Are lessons online or in person?
Online only. Every lesson is taught over video with a shared whiteboard and a live code editor, so the student and the tutor can write and run the same code at the same time. We do not offer in-home or in-person tutoring anywhere.
Who will actually teach my child?
A specialist we match to the subject, level and problem you describe when you get in touch. You will meet them on an introductory call before anything is booked, and it stays the same person week to week: continuity is most of what makes tutoring work. We will never name a tutor before one has actually been assigned.
How quickly can lessons start?
We reply within one working day, then match a specialist and tell you when the free trial class can happen the week after. If you are in an exam term and the timeline is tighter than that, say so on the call and we will tell you honestly whether we can meet it.
What happens if it is not working?
Tell us early rather than late. Sometimes the fix is a different approach; sometimes it is a different tutor; occasionally the honest answer is that tutoring is not the bottleneck and something else is. We would rather have that conversation in week three than have you quietly stop booking.