“We had planned to stop the tutoring after the 11+ exam, but with the next lockdown and more disruption to her education, we quickly relented when she literally begged us to continue going! The sessions are adjusted to her needs and she describes them as ‘really fun’ and she likes it that the work is specific to her level and much more individualised than the class work at school.”Great Creative Writing
The Angel Fish by Finley aged 8
We loved this wonderful description of an Angel Fish by Finley aged 8. He loved writing it and felt really proud of what he had achieved so we thought we would share it.
‘The magestic Angel Fish was slicing through the water like a knife slicing through cucumber. The curved fins were like a machete with grey and silver stripes like a tabby cat. Eyes as red as a tomato stared at the colourful coral. The spinnaker shaped dorsal fin glided through the water as the fish swam along.’ Finley 8
Entrance Assessments for local Independent Schools
Here are the 11+ entrance assessment dates for independent schools in Portsmouth 2017.
One of the fastest growing areas of our business is children wanting to prepare for independent school entrance exams. I thought it might be a good idea to make sure everyone has the dates they need.
The entrance exams always cover maths and English to a high level. They also usually test something called verbal and non verbal reasoning. These are designed to be more difficult to prepare for as they are not taught in school. Verbal reasoning is concerned with language and words problems while non-verbal reasoning looks are logic, shape and number patterns.
Here is a testimonial we received earlier.
“We are so pleased that Mahera has got a FULL BURSARY for the local girl’s high school in Portsmouth. She has been to your centre before for tuition but we came back in November so she could get ready for the exams. She has worked so hard and Linda has really encouraged her in her writing! Thanks so much!”
Portsmouth High School
11+, 12+, 13+ or 14+
Saturday 21st January.
Portsmouth Grammar School
11+ and 13+ Entrance Assessment
Saturday 28th January
Mayville High School
All Candidates Sit Exam
Saturday 14th January
Boys Assessment Day
Wednesday 18th January
Girls Assessment Day
Thursday 19th January
St John’s College
11+ Entrance Assessment
Saturday 21st January
Call us if you want to find out how we can help for next year.
VACANCY-ADMIN ASSISTANT
ADMIN ASSISTANT VACANCY
Job title :P/T Admin Assistant
Closing date : 13/07/17
A part-time administrator is required to help support a thriving after-school tuition centre. Hours are flexible during daytime or early evening.
Enthusiasm and the desire to do a great job is more important than experience and qualifications. Candidates must be good communicators, flexible and enjoy working in a child friendly environment.
You will require a Criminal Records Bureau check. The job is dependent on suitable references.
The hours required are: 8 hrs per week min
The rate of pay is £9.50 p/hr
Please contact us on 023 93 968626 or email your CV to tutors@ilovetolearn.co.uk
www.ilovetolearn.co.uk
Tutor Profiles
Tutors at I Love to Learn
Howard Jones:
is the Centre Director. He is a secondary teacher with over 13 years experience and has now tutored 6 to 16 year olds for 12 years. Howard loves to teach all topics but especially senior Maths. He is passionate about education and seeing children reach their full potential. He enjoys politics, running and reading; but not at the same time! He is married to Linda and they have two fantastic children.
Linda Jones:
is the Co-Director with Howard. She has a huge amount of primary experience, having been a Literacy Coordinator in West Sussex, and Literacy Development teacher here in Portsmouth. Linda is now dedicated to perfecting students’ skills through tutoring. She finds working with children energising! She also enjoys cooking and playing Boggle.
Overcoming Challenges (like SATs)!
YOU CAN DO IT!
You may have noticed but SATs seem to have had a bad press recently. As parents, tutors and teachers, how should we respond to this? Are we setting kids up for failure and depression?
I spoke to someone who didn’t pass her 11+ exam many year ago. She said, “I failed when I was at that age, I was a failure because I didn’t pass the 11+.”
She still felt the pain of this many years later. Should we blame a system for damaging and hurtfully labelling children?
Prof M Seligman in ‘Learned Optimism’ says that we can teach our children to deal with challenges if we help them fight the worst bully of all, themselves. It’s that little voice that they hear when things go wrong. “You’re not good enough, you can’t do it, you never will.”
SOME SUGGESTIONS
- When things go wrong be a good model, don’t say ‘I’m such an idiot’ (which is permanent) but ‘I am having a bad day’(which is temporary).
- If, for example, your child gets shouted at by a teacher and feels down, explore with them what that experience makes them believe e.g. he hates me, the class thinks I am stupid.
Ex-Student Mary (Now and Accountant) Help them dispute this by making it less personal e.g. He shouts at everyone, the class knows this. You may want to go through some practice scenarios to help your child develop these skills.
- If they do something well, say something like, ‘because you practised hard you have become much better/faster/stronger.’(personal, they did it) ‘How do you feel? I would feel great if I could have done that at your age.’ (feeling good gives them energy)
- If they say ‘I hate maths’ (a permanent negative belief), say ‘You’re just finding it difficult right now but you can work at it.’ (temporary and they can change)
We can’t avoid difficult things in life, and the evidence is that responding with a positive optimistic style is the best way to overcome adversity. So, ‘Onwards and upwards’ as my mother used to say!
Take a look at this great video. https://youtu.be/2hHNq45rEnU
Find out more about SATS and get SATS resources….
SUMMER SCHOOL PROGRAMME 2016
Summer School- 22nd -26th August
Maths and English Tuition
Every year we have put on a fun and popular summer school for children aged 6-16. Everyone gets a full 10 hours of expert tuition during the week. We are able to concentrate on any areas of weakness, and really boost each child’s confidence.
Tuition takes place for 2 hours a day for 5 days, 9-11am or 12-2pm and costs £195. Individual plans and all abilities catered for.
- Primary Maths and English Catch-up.
A great way to reinforce learning during the long holiday.
- Getting Ready for Secondary School.
Make sure your child enters secondary school with the most skills and confidence possible.
- GCSE Revision Programme
Excellent for GCSE Maths & English students to focus on key skills and areas or weakness.
Sport and Tuition All Day Programme
We also have a joint programme with Portsmouth Schools Trampolining to provide trampolining, tennis and gymnastics every afternoon until 3pm. This takes place at Priory Tennis, the children will learn new skills, and achieve a badge and certificate in Gymnastics at the end of the week.
You can book both Sport and Tuition for the special price of £270 £240 for 5 days 9am-3pm. The children are supervised over lunch and just a packed lunch is needed. Suitable for 6-12 year olds.
Childcare Vouchers Accepted
Child care vouchers accepted. If you receive Working Families Tax Credit you may receive up to 70% of the fees.
Please fill out the form to enquire
General Enquiry
Excellent Tutors Wanted!
Can You Be an Enthusiastic Maths or English Tutor?
Come and join our growing staff! I Love To Learn have vacancies for fully qualified teachers to become tutors in our busy education centre.
We are tuition experts covering Portsmouth, Fareham & Havant and we only employ fully qualified teaching staff. Since 2005 we have successfully tutored hundred of children and improved their skills. We can do this as we have the best and most well resourced tuition system, and we employ the best tutors.
Tutors Wanted
At I Love to Learn Professional Tuition we help children from 6-16 in reading, writing, spelling and maths.
All resources are provided so you do not necessarily have to be an English or maths specialist. We know that great teachers can learn new things so we are happy to train you with the new material.
Become A Private Tutor
If you are an enthusiastic and skilled teacher, either Primary or Secondary, please do get in touch.
You can do one or more sessions a week to suit your availability and pay is up to £33 p/h.
Understanding Learning Difficulties
Here Are Some Common Term Explained by our Expert Tutors
The term ‘Learning Difficulties’ tends to strike terror into parent’s hearts. It can bring up all kinds of worry and guilt about how they ‘got it’. The truth is that everyone is different, and everyone learns in different ways.
Here is a quick guide some of the jargon.
Dyslexia
Dyslexia is the most well know, and is difficulty with reading. Everyone finds reading difficult to some extent at first, so really it is about degree. Many children have some problems with ‘acquiring language at the word level’ as it is defined. Most children overcome this quickly, but some children get stuck and find it difficult to make progress.
Dysgraphia
Not to be confused with this is Dysgraphia. This would be a broad range of problem, everything from handwriting and forming letters, to organizing and making sentences make sense when writing.
Dyspraxia
If your child tends to fall over, has trouble balancing or buttoning a shirt and other practical skills; this may be described as Dyspraxia. They may have problems holding a pencil or with handwriting, but it can be a more global problem with how the brain coordinates the body.
Dyscalculia
More recognized now than it used to be is Dyscalculia. This is a kind of ‘number blindness’. Some children find it hard to memorise number facts (2+2 =4) or have terrible problems with money or time.
Aphasia
Dysphasia or aphasia is difficulty with the spoken language. How we convey information through language is very complicated, but some children find it hard to tell a story or understand directions and instructions.
| Dyslexia | Problems reading, writing, spelling. |
|---|---|
| Dyscalculia | Problems doing math problems, understanding time, using money |
| Dysgraphia | Problems with handwriting, spelling, organizing ideas |
| Dyspraxia (Sensory Integration Disorder) | Problems with hand–eye coordination, balance, manual dexterity |
| Dysphasia/Aphasia | Problems understanding spoken language, poor reading comprehension |
The good news about all learning difficulties is that people who study the brain now believe that it is much more ‘plastic’, or able to change, than they previously thought. Therefore it is great to identify issues early and start helping your child to overcome them as soon as possible.
Why is there a new National Curriculum and what does it mean?
What’s new in the National Curriculum?
Mainly it means that the government wants to raise standards and put a greater emphasis on core subjects like numeracy and literacy. Although the new curriculum is intended to be more challenging, the content is actually slimmer than the previous curriculum, focusing on essential core subject knowledge and skills such as essay writing and computer programming.
| Subject | What’s new in the Maths & English Curriculum |
|---|---|
| English |
|
| Maths |
|
What does this mean for our tuition?
Our tutors have always had a strong emphasis on handwriting, grammar and spelling in English; as well as times tables and other mental maths skills. We hardly ever let children use calculators! We have also sourced a new set of English and maths activities which support your child’s leaning and, as a result, we will be trading under a new name. From Mon 11th April we are delighted to announce that we will be known as I Love to Learn Professional Tuition.
