Should you get private tutoring for your child when schools go back?

Nightingale emphasise that they have a holistic approach to education. Their premise is that learning is a not a destination, but a life-long process. That the purpose of learning is not to just get through exams and school, but to learn how to learn, how kids learn best for themselves, and how to apply it in life going forward. 

What do Nightingale Tuition offer?

I asked the owners what services they offer, and specifically how they work with young people. This is what they had to say:

Various evidence-based techniques such as the Feynman Technique and SRS (spaced repetition system) are utilised to create a structure in our teaching and to build the most fundamental skills required in every subject. Feynman Technique involves some teaching from the students themselves and it’s the idea that you have only grasped the concept if you can successfully teach it to someone else. SRS is a smart and efficient take on rote memorisation, and with memorisation being something that all students goes through and many struggles with, we place a particular emphasis in perfecting this skill.

Our lessons are typically in blocks of 2hrs. We found this to be the optimal time in which we can employ our teaching methods. This amount of time is required to not only teach our student new content, but to also help consolidate old learning through consistent reviews. More often than not, students struggle to keep up not because a lack of effort, but because a foundation was never established, which becomes this vicious cycle that even though they are learning, they are not moving forward. Students will ultimately sit exams, and we help them prepare mentally as well as academically. Exams are at least 1.5hrs and sometimes more, so it’s crucial that we build the ability to focus for longer lengths of time from the get-go.

We also assess our tutors against some of the less obvious criteria, which gives us a real point of difference. We also don’t place so much emphasis on qualifications given that sometimes tutors are just hiding behind them. For us, a good tutor is firstly a good person, someone who’s passionate about teaching and ultimately brilliant at teaching. It doesn’t mean we don’t look at their qualifications, but rather we look at them in conjunction with their personality, attitude, work ethic and of course, teaching skills. 

Does tutoring help?

That comment about kids struggling to keep up because they never consolidated a foundation really resonated with me. Schools move children on so fast in subjects – they can’t help it, the class sizes dictate it – and I’ve seen that create problems for my own kids further down the line. As an example, with our handwriting problem, it wasn’t until Evan developed confidence in his vocabulary, and his ability to come up with a good story, that he began to see himself as someone who could write. That just wasn’t going to happen in time for the school environment to wait for him, so we had to intervene at home.

We’ve been extremely lucky over the last term and a half. Whilst schools are closed, and exams cancelled, our own school has sent a full curriculum of work every day, and my kids have been kept busy. I’ve reassured my daughter – who has GCSE’s next year – that whatever happens, she will be in a good position compared to a lot of her peers nationally.

I’m so aware of that privilege though, and I know that many children won’t be in as good a place, so there must be a lot of parents wondering if extra tuition might be a consideration. Nightingale Tuition might be one way of  catching up on study progress lost during the Covid lockdown, and making sure you’re not behind. Whether it’s worth the cost is a difficult one. You can only decide that after you see the results for your own child. But I do think if a child is frustrated with their lack of progress, or worried about upcoming exams, it’s definitely worth trying, if you can afford to stick with it for a couple of months to see if there’s an improvement.

If you’re interested in finding out more, Nightingale Tuition are offering my readers a free introductory trial lesson of 1 hour to see their methods first-hand. They know with all the services out there, it’s difficult to choose, and hiring a tutor can be a big step, so this is the perfect way to test out options before subscribing to the service. 

For more information, and to book your trial visit Nightingale Tuition and enter code AMFREE1 at checkout.