Europe (MAL 0921)

Both students have been home schooled on a full-time basis by Tutors International for 8 years and as such we are well informed about their abilities, achievements and progress.

The girl is an intelligent young lady with a warm and thoughtful personality. She is ambitious, enjoys acquiring new knowledge and skills and is eager to please her tutors. She has matured greatly over the last year and is becoming a driven and conscientious student, keen to achieve maximum potential in her fast approaching (I)GCSE examinations.

She demonstrates the greatest aptitude and enjoyment in humanities and will most likely choose from these subject areas for her A-Levels. She sat both RS GCSE and French IGCSE a year early this summer and gained a 9 in RS and an A* in French. Naturally creative and an avid reader, she thrives on a teaching style that encourages her to explore these interests beyond the restrictions of the curriculum.

While she enjoys Sciences, it is unlikely she will continue them beyond GCSE. However, given her long term academic ambitions she is nonetheless eager to achieve the highest possible outcome for her double award IGCSE and is working hard to achieve this. She prefers to learn using a carefully structured skill building approach led by clear and attainable goals and finds it useful to review and refresh her knowledge regularly alongside learning new topics. Regular practice assessments using relevant IGCSE past papers will be particularly helpful in this regard, as will the use of interactive apps and exercises during teaching time to complement the content of the textbook. She also finds short videos/podcasts on relevant topics useful and these help deepen her understanding.

Her least favourite subject is maths. While she is working hard towards her IGCSE, she lacks confidence in her own abilities, and it is crucial that the tutor is able to work with her to develop strategies that will allow her to navigate the assessment process with a calm and efficient mindset. As with the Sciences, she needs a very practical, task-orientated approach that uses interactive techniques and regular refreshment of knowledge to reinforce her understanding. Past papers again will be important so that she can become comfortable with the format of the examinations as well as the language with which the problems are presented. Ultimately she will benefit greatly from a tutor who is able to help her recognise the real-world applications of both the Sciences and maths.

Outside tutoring, the young lady has a love of drama, dance and music. Until Covid she attended regularly both drama school and dance (Ballroom and Latin) class. Sadly, all these activities have stopped since January 2020, but they are resuming soon. She did however still manage to work online with her drama tutor and sat (online) her individual Grade 7 Trinity College acting exam this summer (equivalent to AS drama qualification) and gained a very high merit, one mark off distinction, which was a strong achievement and a testament to her resilience and determination to succeed despite the circumstances. She also re-discovered her love of music during Covid and taught herself (with a little help) to play both piano and guitar to a good standard playing daily to achieve this. She is now keen to take up the drums too! She also enjoys and plays tennis regularly and is a keen and competent skier and snowboarder.

The boy is enthusiastic, kind-hearted and gregarious with a strong work ethic. He performs academically at a high level and enjoys his schoolwork. He is naturally inquisitive, an asset in any educational programme, and his academic progress attests to his application in all subject areas. His favourite subject is currently history and he also really enjoys RS. He previously had strong preference for maths and the Sciences, subjects which he shows a particularly strong aptitude for, and the boy would respond well to a tutor who can reignite his passion in these areas alongside the Humanities. The boy, like his sister, studies French and Italian with their language tutor.

Since he began his subject based studies early, in many areas he is ahead of the standard year 9 curriculum in terms of content but is still developing analytical and evaluative abilities in line with his strongest peers. He is now working hard to develop the academic skills and maturity required for a KS4 student and needs a curriculum which will maintain his interest and enthusiasm whilst supporting his development of key study skills.

He enjoys all sports and is a good team player. Pre-Covid he played football in a local club and is a performance level tennis player. He’s recently become interested in boats and yachting. Like his sister, he is a keen and competent skier.

Both students have shown themselves to be highly competent across a wide range of subjects and interests. They’re also both committed environmentalists, have a strong moral code and a well-developed sense of justice. These attributes have been encouraged by their family as well as their tutors. Built into their timetable is a weekly session where they discuss and debate world affairs and current issues. These are all testaments to their maturity, intelligence and work ethic.

This role involves teaching a classical British curriculum in an unconventional way. The tutor will ideally combine the academic rigour of a classical education with a flexible, open-minded and adventurous approach. This will require the tutor to be inventive and innovative in the way they adapt the curriculum to inspire the children.

The Tutor will be responsible for co-teaching the full curriculum — with an emphasis on maths, chemistry and geography - to both students in individual lessons. It would be advantageous if other subjects could be offered, particularly Italian, Spanish, classical civilisations, or computer science. It is not absolutely essential that the Tutor is a qualified teacher, but they should have in-depth experience of teaching or come from a strong education background in the British or International system.

Above all, the tutor must love to learn as much as they love to teach - possessing the kind of intellectual curiosity that enables them to relish the challenge of mastering unfamiliar subject areas, while also having the confidence to cultivate that same attitude in their students.

Having already achieved top grades in the 2 (I)GCSEs she took at the end of year 10, the elder student is now halfway through a further 7 (I)GCSE courses. The Tutor will need to be comfortable with picking up teaching part way through these courses. A key requirement will be the need to equip her with revision and exam preparation skills to build her confidence and minimise any anxieties.

This appointment is initially until the end of the current academic year, with an option for annual renewals. The Tutor will need to design and deliver courses that consolidate and build on their schooling to date and progress them at least as quickly as the best schools, but without being pressuring or overbearing. It will be essential for the Tutor to maintain meticulous, up-to-date records of achievement for both children across all their subjects.

In addition to the formal teaching elements of this position, the successful applicant will have genuine passion outside the classroom, perhaps for the arts, sport, the environment etc. He or she will be keen to pass on their interests, such as a love of literature, theatre, poetry, music, cinema. The Tutor is likely to have a good degree from a competitive university in a relevant subject. The Tutor should also be interested in, and enjoy, world affairs, politics, media and culture, as it is important that the children are well versed in these topics. The Tutor should have the intellectual range to help the students to become well rounded, intellectually curious, environmentally conscious and thoughtful world citizens.

The appointed candidate will be highly educated, intelligent, well-travelled, responsible, practical, and down-to-earth, with a strong sense of fun and a wide range of personal interests they can bring to the role. The Tutor needs to be physically fit and active. It would be helpful if they could ski. The Tutor will also need to be responsible for managing the transfer of any teaching materials between locations or during periods of travel, so should be organised and practical.

This is a full-time position and, as far as possible, will need to follow a carefully planned timetable. The Tutor should expect to work an average of around 40 hours per week with preparation in addition. The Tutor will be entitled to two consecutive days off per week, normally at the weekend, but it is essential that they understand the need to be flexible regarding the family’s travel plans and the children’s other commitments. Although plans are made, they are often changed at short notice, meaning that it is sometimes inconvenient for the Tutors, as they might have to change social arrangements and other plans. People who find this this level of flexibility problematic should not apply.

Though the schedule for a standard working day is fixed there are times when some co-operation and teamwork with the family is needed and expected. For example, the Tutor should be willing to be involved with the children outside school, and to participate in events that are meaningful to them and the family in general.

The Tutor will be entitled to 9 weeks (45 days) holiday per year. This will be taken at times agreed with the Client. It will usually be broadly in line with ‘standard’ British school holiday periods.

Furnished accommodation will be available for the Tutors in all locations. This may be an apartment, house, or guesthouse at the Client’s properties.

The ideal applicant will have plenty of experience, enthusiasm and energy. He or she will need a track record of preparing students for excellence and must be capable of adapting their working style to fit the variable circumstances of working with two children at home or while travelling.

The Tutor must be a non-smoker, physically fit, imaginative and inventive. They must be a competent driver.

The family are close and are keen for a friendly and fun learning environment to continue for their children. A willingness to participate and be a pleasant companion for the whole family outside the classroom such as invitations to family events and extra-curricular activities is therefore important; this is not to be confused with the tutor relying on the family for their social life.