Online Maths Tutoring Frequently Asked Questions
This week I’m going to answer questions about my online maths tutoring. If your child is going into a GCSE year or year 9 and needs some extra support now is the time to get your space.
1. How can you know what my child is writing?
Within the session I don’t! But I do ask them questions and understand what they are doing. They learn to read it out and I write it down. I find this works really well and the act of reading as well as writing helps embed it into their memory, as they are using a multi learning style approach.
If one of my students wants me to look at their working then they have a google drive folder that they can upload pictures to, and sometimes they will just hold it up to the screen.
2. How can online maths tutoring be as good as face to face?
This is a great question! It’s one of those things which until you’ve tried it you don’t know. I see a lot of people asking for face-to-face only tutoring, but I wouldn’t go back to doing it myself, and those who’ve had sessions with me, haven’t complained.
I’ve designed my set-up so that your child can see what I’m writing but can also see me, so that it’s a good experience for them.
The great thing about being online too is that I can reach those people who need my skills and specialism, in particular building confidence and working with nero diversities
3. How do you know what to teach?
That depends! I have two packages which support students in KS3 or GCSE, and I also do bespoke sessions.
‘12 Week Fill the Gaps’ is a tailored tutoring package that through work completed before a session assess gaps and weaknesses and then we fill in those gaps. I’ve had a lot of success with this, and I would recommend starting it before year 11, as some young people prefer to have the sessions spaced out over 24 weeks to enable them to have 2 weeks to do the work in between.
‘12 Weeks to GCSE Success – Exam Preparation Package’ has a series of GCSE exam papers that are completed, one a week, and then we go through the questions they couldn’t complete correctly. If this highlights areas for practice I then set them work to complete. Some students do this early on in year 11 to build their confidence before further tutoring, and others do it 12 weeks before the exams start.
With bespoke sessions it can really vary. Skills4Parents core value is individuality, and so what I do is dependent on the student.
The student might bring a topic to the session that they want support on, or I contact the teacher and work on the same topics that they do in school. Some don’t want the ‘12 weeks fill the gaps’ package as they can’t guarantee doing the work between, and so instead we work through the work and fill the spreadsheet in during sessions.
Find out more about the online maths tutoring packages and bespoke tutoring here:
4. Why are you more expensive than a lot of other tutors?
There are a lot of different options for people who want maths tutoring, from university students to teachers,
I have 20 years experience, including 16 years for 11 of those I was head of maths, so you are in good hands!
My speciality is building the confidence of young people who lack confidence in maths
The experience that you get is holistic and very targeted to the needs and skills of your child.
Parents get an e-mail from me after every session, and I am flexible in my approach.
On top of tutoring you get:
- If needed I will set extra practice
- I will communicate with the school
- Parents can book 15 minute update zoom calls with me
My testimonials and results speak for themselves. You can read my testimonials here:
5. What happens if we think we might want online maths tutoring with you?
The first thing to do is to book a call with me (no obligation, no charge) which you can do by filling out the form below.
Once the form is filled out, my system will ask you to choose a time that suits you, and you get a zoom link.
At that meeting we will discuss your child, they may decide to join you to see if they like me, and you get to ask any questions that you have.
If you decide to go ahead we then set up the tutoring.
You get an e-mail with all of the information that you need and including personalised zoom link, google drive link, login details to the parent portal and more.
6. Do we have to pay in advance?
If you are buying one of the packages, then I do prefer a pay in advance option, but this can be by installments, with just the first installment in advance.
If you are having bespoke tutoring then I will send an invoice after the session.
7. What methods of payments do you take?
All invoices have a link to pay by card, I use a system called stripe and you can use most cards. The invoices also have bank details on them, so that if you prefer you can pay by bank transfer.
8. What if my child has their first session and doesn’t think it’s working
I’ve never had that happen before, but you never know, sometimes people don’t gel! At the end of a first session I always ask ‘how was that? Is there anything you’d like me to do differently?’ and then parents get an e-mail from me, about the session and asking if everything is okay from their perspective. If there is something that you’d like changed then let me know. If I’ve misinterpreted something, then tell me. Open communication will help us to get it right.
If that doesn’t help, and you’ve tried a few sessions feeding back to me, then we’d cancel the sessions, and if you had paid for a package give a refund for the proportion left plus an admin fee of £10.
9. What if I can’t make a session?
I always ask for 24 hours notice, otherwise I still need paying. However, I make it easy for you to rearrange a session. Within the parent portal are a list of ‘appointments’ for your sessions and you can cancel, reschedule and book extra sessions.
10. Do sessions have to be every week at a regular time?
No! Most people prefer to have a regular time slot, and that’s great, although occasionally I might need to move it for them (or for me).
If you want to just book sessions when you want them, then that is possible too. I’ve had students who either do that because their life changes, or because they aren’t going to want regular sessions.
Some students have sessions fortnightly, and some just book a session with me when there has been a topic at school that they want some extra support with.
If you’ve got any other questions then use the contact us form and get in touch.