Reading, writing and number fluency for children in Reception through Year 6, taught patiently and one-to-one. Short, focused sessions built around how young children actually concentrate.
Primary school is where the foundations either set properly or do not. A child who does not become genuinely fluent with times tables in Year 4 spends the next seven years doing arithmetic slowly, which means less of their attention is available for the actual problem in front of them. A child who never quite becomes a confident reader finds every subject harder, not just English.
These are not dramatic problems and they rarely trigger any alarm at school. They are quiet, cumulative, and completely fixable while the child is still young — which is exactly why this is worth doing now rather than in Year 9.
Honestly: differently from teenagers. A ten-year-old cannot sustain the same hour a fifteen-year-old can, so primary sessions are broken into shorter segments with clear changes of activity — a burst of teaching, then doing, then a game-like retrieval task, then something written. The hour still runs an hour, but it does not feel like one.
For KS1 in particular we ask that a parent stays nearby, at least at first. Not to teach — just to help with the technology and keep a five-year-old anchored to the chair. Most families find they can step away after a few weeks.
KS2 SATs at the end of Year 6 cover reading, SPaG and maths. They do not determine your child's future, whatever the atmosphere at school in May might suggest, but they do set the setting groups your child walks into at secondary school — and those groups have a way of becoming self-fulfilling. Steady preparation across the year is worth far more, and costs a child far less anxiety, than a panicked spring term.
Reception through Year 6, in maths and English.
| Stage | Maths | English |
|---|---|---|
| KS1 (Reception–Year 2) | Number bonds, place value, addition and subtraction, early multiplication, shape, simple measures | Phonics, blending, early reading fluency, letter formation, simple sentence writing |
| Lower KS2 (Years 3–4) | Times tables to fluency, formal written methods, fractions, measurement, the multiplication tables check | Reading comprehension, spelling patterns, punctuation, writing in paragraphs |
| Upper KS2 (Years 5–6) | Fractions, decimals and percentages, ratio, area and perimeter, multi-step word problems, arithmetic at speed | Inference and deduction in reading, SPaG terminology, varied sentence structure, extended narrative and non-fiction writing |
| Year 6 SATs | Arithmetic paper plus two reasoning papers — speed, accuracy and multi-step problems | Reading paper and SPaG paper, plus teacher-assessed writing across the year |
| Confidence | Removing the fear of being wrong in front of other children — the quiet benefit of one-to-one at this age | Reading aloud without embarrassment, and writing without freezing at the blank page |
If recall is not instant, working memory goes on the arithmetic instead of the problem. It is the highest-return thing to fix at primary.
Very common and easily missed — a child decodes every word aloud perfectly and takes in none of it. Inference has to be taught directly.
Usually a planning problem, not an imagination problem. A simple structure to hang ideas on unlocks it quickly.
In a class of thirty, a child who fears getting it wrong stops trying. One-to-one removes the audience entirely.
Children who can do the calculation stall when it is wrapped in a sentence. Translating words into maths is its own skill.
Not a flaw, just how young children work. Sessions are segmented to match, rather than fighting it.
| Plan | Sessions | Price | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | 3 × 1-hour sessions per week | £60 / month | Steady support in one subject alongside school |
| Intensive | 5 × 1-hour sessions per week | £100 / month | Exam years, catch-up, or two subjects at once |
Meet the tutor, watch them teach your child for a full hour, then decide. No payment up front and no contract.