After another academic year comes to a close, it’s definitely the right time to take a break and make sure your children get some time away from academic study. But September has a funny way of appearing much faster than we expected, leaving parents with a mad rush to have everything organised for the new school year!

This can be even more stressful if you have more than one child. And what if one, if not all of your children, are entering a school year that is more important than others, like the year they take their 11+ exam to get into a select grammar school, or their GCSEs or A-Levels which determine what degrees and universities they can attend?

You might have already thought about getting a tutor for one of your children’s subjects. This will most likely be the subject or subjects they are struggling in and will often be the difference between a student achieving their overall goals or not. But don’t make the mistake of getting a tutor during the mad rush in September when every parent is thinking the same thing! What often happens is that if you wait until September, by the time a tutor is assigned for your child, your child will already be in the middle of a new school year and doing their best to keep on top of homework and coursework which they will want help from their tutor with.

While that is not a bad thing, the added value of a tutor is to get your child AHEAD of the class, not keeping up with it! That is why we at Manchester Tutors recommend getting your tutor in August, even for just one hour a week, to give both the tutor and your child a chance to settle into a tutor/tutee pattern without the stress and time demands of homework and coursework that will be inevitable in September. That way, by the time September comes around, you are not running around trying to find a tutor, leaving you ahead and satisfied that it has already been taken care of.

Getting your tutor in August will also allow the tutor a chance to find out the strengths and areas of improvement for your child without having to focus only on exams. For example, if your son or daughter needs help with the English section of their 11+ exam, before the tutor gives them exam papers to practice, the tutor can hone in and develop your child’s English before they give them exam papers, which is often not the case when we reach autumn and the exam is only around the corner.

If you wish you speak to one of our tutor support consultants for more information on this and to find a tutor, you can visit us at www.manchester-tutors.co.uk or call 0161 509 2398 and one of our tuition support consultants can take you through the process.

Best wishes,

Manchester Tutors