Why use a private tutor?

A private tutor will provide individualised support to your child. This is especially helpful if your child needs to catch up on work they’ve missed in school, or if they simply need more thorough guidance on a topic/subject. It’s not always possible for teachers in a school to provide this support as class sizes can be too large and varied. Therefore private tutors can step in to help. Many students find that private tutors have helped them to improve their understanding, become more confident in their subjects and as a result improve their grades.

Why use a mentor?

A mentor is a trained professional who will be able to provide assistance for a variety of your child’s needs. This assistance ranges from application support and interview preparation to get them onto that competitive university course to assistance with mental health issues such as test anxiety which is preventing them from achieving their full potential. One to one mentoring is a valuable tool to support your child in their progress and help prepare them for further and higher education.

How much should we expect to pay in tuition fees?

This varies depending on location, subject and experience. Our tutors and mentors will let you know how much they charge per session. We offer a 25% discount per student for group classes.
Tutors rates will depend on their experience and the subject taught, but the general guidance is:
£25-£70 per hour for qualified teachers
£15-£25 per hour for tutors
Mentors rates also vary depending on their experience but they generally start from £40 per hour.

(It’s necessary to note that at Booksmart Tutors we don’t represent tutors who charge the lower rates as we only provide educational professionals for tutoring services due to the higher quality service they can offer. There is a reason gaining a teaching qualification requires an extra year at university and we acknowledge and value the expertise this brings).

How qualified are your tutors and mentors?

There are no specific qualification requirements for tutors and mentors in the UK, so many agencies provide tuition from university graduates and even students. We, however, do not. Our tutors and mentors are qualified teachers, approved examiners and at the very least have a degree level qualification in education.

How many lessons do you recommend?

In general, we would recommend at least 10 lessons before assessing for progress. This would equate to 10 hours. We also recommend that students don’t take large gaps in between lessons in order to not hinder their progress.

How long will an average session last?

All sessions are 60 minutes long. This is the minimum amount of time we recommend ensuring our tutors and mentors can fully cover a topic.

What is online tutoring?

Online tutoring is literally teaching using an online portal whereby both students and tutors can log in for a lesson at an agreed time. Online tutoring offers extra tools that face-to-face tutoring doesn’t, such as the ability to use an interactive classroom. Since the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, there has been a huge rise in online tutoring and your child will now be much more familiar with how to use technology for lessons. It’s a safe and effective way to teach and we honestly think online education is the future!

Is online tutoring as effective as face-to-face tutoring?

Absolutely! Online tutoring is exactly the same as face-to-face tutoring. In-fact we would go as far as to say, perhaps even better since tutors can set homework, pre-work and interactive tasks via our online classroom. There is literally nothing that face-to-face tutoring can offer that online tutoring can’t. Online tutoring also means that both tutors and students can be more flexible with their lesson times since tutors don’t need to factor in travel time to students’ homes.

How long will it be before I should see my child’s progress?

We would recommend at least ten 60 minute lessons, and keeping a regular tutoring schedule, before assessing to see progress. We encourage tutors to assess progress on a regular basis to constantly focus on areas students need the most help in. We also provide guidance to all our tutors, in our tutor handbook, on assessment for learning and how they should assess student progress every lesson and use this to plan for the next lesson.

How will we see our child’s progress?

Every tutor is different but we do encourage all our tutors to report progress to parents periodically and maintain a constant dialogue with students and parents regarding progress and next steps.

What happens if we don’t want to proceed with sessions after our free consultation?

You are under absolutely no obligation to book lessons with any tutor, especially if you don’t feel they are the right fit for you. That is why we encourage all our tutors to provide free consultations with you beforehand to ascertain what your requirements are and whether that particular tutor is able to meet them.

Do any tutors specialise in lessons for students with special educational needs?

All our tutors have a wealth of experience working with students with a variety of special educational needs, which is a given for most teachers. On appointment, we also provide all approved tutors with a tutor handbook which incorporates further guidance for working with students who have general learning difficulties in addition to:

Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

Social, Emotional and Mental Health Difficulties

Speech, Language and Communication Needs

Dyslexia

Dyspraxia

What if we need to cancel a session?

You may cancel a booking at any point before the scheduled start time of a lesson/session. Cancellations made 24 or more hours before a lesson/session is due to commence will incur no charge. Otherwise 50% of the lesson fee will be charged and deducted within 24 hours of the time the lesson was due to commence.

What should I do if a tutor or mentor asks me to pay outside of Booksmart?

Please report tutors and mentors that do this by sending an email to support@booksmarttutors.co.uk. This is a violation of the Booksmart Tutors Terms & Conditions. It is also potentially risky; if you pay the tutor/mentor outside our Booksmart Tutors system, you may be at risk that the tutor/mentor doesn’t deliver the session as scheduled. At Booksmart Tutors we ensure your payments are delivered to tutors and mentors only after your session has finished and you’re satisfied with the quality of it. In the event that a session does not go as planned, there is no way for tutors and students to settle their payment issues in an easy manner. If we can’t see any record of the session in our system, we will not be able to help.