One-to-one tuition · Ages 11–18
Steady, unhurried work on the parts that aren't clicking yet.
I teach maths, physics, chemistry and biology from Year 7 to A-level. Sessions are built around the student's own textbook, marked papers and deadlines — not a packaged course I sell to everyone.
- 55-minute sessions
- Online or in person
- Weekly or fortnightly
How it runs
Six steps from first email to a plan that holds.
Most families want to know what they are actually buying before they commit a term to it. This is the whole sequence, in order.
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01
A short conversation first
Twenty minutes, no charge, no obligation. We talk about what has been difficult, what has already been tried, and whether tutoring is even the right answer. Sometimes it isn't, and I will say so.
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02
A look at real work
I ask for two or three pieces of recent work — a marked test, a page of class notes, a homework sheet that went badly. Errors in context tell me far more than a diagnostic quiz does.
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03
A written plan for the first six sessions
One page: the topics in sequence, the specific gaps behind them, and what should look different by the end. You get it before the first paid session, so you can disagree with it.
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04
Weekly sessions with one focus each
We start by reworking one problem from the previous week, spend the middle on new ground, and finish with the student explaining the method back to me. If they can't explain it, we haven't finished.
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05
A short note after every session
Three or four lines by email: what we covered, what to practise before next week, and anything worth raising with the school. No portals to log into.
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06
A review at session six
We decide together whether to carry on weekly, move to fortnightly, hold a block for exam season, or stop. Stopping when the work is done is a good outcome, not a lost client.
Between sessions I set 25–40 minutes of practice, chosen to be finishable on a busy school night. Nothing is set over half term or in the week of a paper.
Subjects & levels
What I teach, and the gaps that usually sit underneath it.
Worth reading before you write: if the subject or level isn't listed, I will not take the booking, and I would rather say that now.
Mathematics
LevelsYear 7–11 · GCSE Foundation & Higher
Typical focusFractions and proportion that never fully bedded in, rearranging formulae, simultaneous equations, and reading multi-mark questions properly before writing anything.
Mathematics
LevelsYear 12–13 · A-level, pure and applied
Typical focusDifferentiation and integration techniques, trigonometric identities, binomial work, mechanics diagrams, and the step up in algebraic stamina after GCSE.
Physics
LevelsGCSE · A-level year 12
Typical focusUnits and rearrangement under time pressure, forces and motion graphs, circuits, and the written six-markers that students usually leave half-finished.
Chemistry
LevelsGCSE · A-level year 12
Typical focusMoles and concentration calculations, bonding explained rather than memorised, rates, and laying out required practical write-ups.
Biology
LevelsGCSE
Typical focusTurning a large body of content into usable recall, diagram-based questions, data and graph interpretation, and precise command-word answers.
Science reasoning
LevelsYear 7–9 · Key Stage 3
Typical focusWorking scientifically — variables, fair tests, drawing results tables, and the arithmetic confidence that GCSE science quietly assumes.
The working rule
A student who can explain the method out loud has learnt it. A student who can only reproduce it has borrowed it until the exam.
Apricot Isle Tutoring
Sessions & fees
Three ways to book, priced plainly.
Every fee below includes the planning before the session and the written note after it. There is no registration fee and no minimum term.
One-to-one
£48
The standard arrangement, and the right one for most students. A single focus each week, chosen from the written plan.
- Online or in person
- Same slot held each week in term time
- Practice set after each session
Paired session
£36 each
For two students genuinely at the same stage — siblings or classmates. They work through shared problem sets and mark each other's reasoning.
- Both students on the same syllabus
- Longer session, more worked practice
- One shared note to both families
Exam intensive
£185
Booked in the fortnight before a paper. Timed questions under exam conditions, then line-by-line marking of what the examiner would and wouldn't credit.
- Past papers for your exam board
- Mark-scheme walkthroughs
- One-page revision sheet at the end
Sessions are invoiced at the end of each month for the sessions actually taught. Cancellations more than 24 hours ahead are not charged and are rescheduled where there is a free slot.
About
I taught secondary maths for eleven years before tutoring full time.
Most of that was with mixed-ability classes of thirty, where the one thing I never had was time to sit with a single student and find the exact sentence where their understanding stopped. Tutoring is the version of the job where that is the whole task.
I keep the practice small on purpose: no more than nine students at a time, so every plan is written by the person teaching it. I hold a PGCE in secondary mathematics and an enhanced DBS check, and I'm happy to share both before a first session.
- —I don't set holiday workbooks.
- —I don't teach from a script that ignores the student's own class notes.
- —I don't promise grades. I'll tell you honestly what a term of work can move.
Questions
The eight things families ask first.
If your question isn't here, put it in the enquiry form — a straight answer by email costs nothing.
How do I know whether tutoring is the right call?
A useful test: can your child explain what specifically confuses them? If they can name it, tutoring will usually move quickly. If the answer is "all of it", we start by narrowing it down — that is what the first conversation and the look at marked work are for. If the real issue is organisation, missed sleep or a subject they have no interest in continuing, extra lessons rarely fix it, and I'll say so.
What happens between sessions?
I set 25–40 minutes of practice aimed at the exact method we worked on, not a general worksheet. It is deliberately short enough to finish on a school night. If it doesn't get done, we use the first ten minutes of the next session to do it together rather than treating it as a failure.
Do parents get updates?
Yes — a short email after every session covering what we did, what to practise, and anything the school should know. For students over sixteen I ask them first whether they would like the note sent to them, copied to a parent, or both.
What is needed for online sessions?
A quiet room, a laptop or tablet with a working camera, and a way to photograph written work — a phone is fine. We use a shared whiteboard in the browser, so there is nothing to install. Headphones help more than people expect.
Which exam boards do you work with?
AQA, Edexcel and OCR across maths and the sciences. Tell me the board and the tier or option modules when you enquire and I'll plan from that specification and its past papers rather than a generic scheme of work.
What is the cancellation notice?
Twenty-four hours. Cancel before then and the session isn't charged, and I'll offer a replacement slot that week if one is free. Inside twenty-four hours the session is charged, with the obvious exception of illness — I don't want a student working through a fever to protect a fee.
Can you help in the last few weeks before an exam?
Sometimes, through the exam intensive blocks, and it is honest work: timed papers, mark schemes and the handful of methods most likely to appear. What it cannot do is rebuild two years of foundations, so I'll be clear about the realistic gain before you book.
Do you work with students who are already doing well?
Often. That work looks different — harder problems, proof and reasoning, early A-level material for strong Year 11s, and interview-style questions that reward thinking out loud rather than recall.
Enquire
Tell me where the work has stalled.
A few details are enough to reply usefully. Nothing here commits you to booking anything.
- First conversationTwenty minutes, free, by video or phone — arranged by email once you have written.
- Where sessions happenOnline over a shared whiteboard, or in person at a quiet table arranged with you.
- Term timeSessions follow the local school calendar, with exam-season blocks booked separately.
- Current availabilityMidweek evening slots and two weekend morning slots held for exam-year students.