I do not tutor children Year 3 or younger. I care very much about children and in my opinion it is not a good idea for very young children already attending school to be tutored privately as well unless they have been professionally diagnosed as having a specific learning difficulty and their tutor is professionally qualified as a teacher of children of this age with this condition. I am aware that there are many other people who do not agree with me, but I would urge parents to think about this very carefully.
I only take students who can speak and understand English reasonably well because I have no training or qualification in teaching English as a second language; however if a member of your family or a friend is having problems with learning English as a second language please e-mail me with your telephone number and I will try to help you find a suitable tutor.
Because I do voluntary work at a local Junior School and help with the children at the Church my wife and I attend we have both been checked by the Criminal Records Bureau which is the organisation which investigates the background of people who work with children. We also never have students in our house unless my wife is here.
We live in Central Gillingham and we choose not to own a car, so I tutor mainly students who come to our house. This has the advantage that we have access to a wider range of text books, dictionaries and thesauri, and other teaching aids and reading and reference books, than I could take with me, and also to our computers. We live in a restricted parking area but have a Visitor’s Parking Permit.
For the reasons why we do not own a car please click here 
Sessions are usually one hour, and usually once a week. All tutoring is normally one-to-one, except when parents have specifically asked me to teach two students at a time, for example twins or two friends in the same Class at school.
For purely educational reasons I do not think it is usually a good idea for parents or other people to stay with a child being tutored, except perhaps as a chaperone for a female student where this is required for religious or cultural reasons, but we are very close to Aldi’s supermarket and other shops and cafés if parents wish to stay locally.
I am usually quite happy to tutor students who are being Home Educated or excluded from school, but only after I have met them and their families and talked things through with them. However we have only very limited facilities for experimental work in science, and I am unable to help students with their science course-work.
Students at Junior School do not need a pocket calculator but if they do have one they should always bring it with them; students at Secondary School really do need their own (scientific) calculator and should always bring it with them. I say this only because it is important that you always use the same calculator so that you become completely familiar with its use. I provide all other books and materials.
Here is some background information about myself.
When I came down from University I went into industry and then into computer consultancy, but later retrained as a teacher. I was a teacher of maths, IT, science and general subjects for more than twenty years, until I took early retirement following heart surgery. Since then I have been doing voluntary work (on Ancient Egypt and Control Technology) at a local Junior School, and also private tutoring.
You can read about my family and other interests on other Pages of my Web Site: click on the hieroglyph for the Eye of Horus at the top of this Page or the Adoring Man at the bottom to get to the Main Index. This Page is printed on papyrus, so by now you should have realised that Ancient Egypt is one of my interests!
To make further enquiries about my tutoring please e-mail me with your address or telephone number and I will contact you. (You will understand that most people think it unwise to put personal addresses or telephone numbers on non-commercial web sites.)
