Thank you for all your support with our son, Thomas. His hand writing, spelling, maths and reading is progressing beautifully. I would highly recommend your setting to anyone who wishes to give their child a boost or to work on specific learning goals. It has been invaluable. All your tutors are warm, welcoming and professional and Thomas is always made to feel valued. Positive praise and lots of stickers, stamps, rewards, prizes and certificates give that extra special touch to reward and recognise the children’s efforts. Thomas is certainly always proud of his achievements from your centre.
Laura (Thomas’s mum)
She says “I Love to Learn Now!”
Mariana brought her daughter to us as she was having a few problems with maths at school. She liked it so much that now she comes for English as well! Mariana says that now “She is more confident with math now and she’s coming to I Love to Learn for pleasure. She is very happy with her teacher, she says she is very kind and patient.”
Howard JonesI Love to Learn
“The GCSE Maths Tutors Are Great.”
T’anna came to us as her mum had seen us on Facebook and decided to call. T’anna, now in year 10, had always struggled with her maths. In four short months however, she has improved so much that, the school want to put her up for the Higher GCSE paper!! Kerry, T’anna’s mum says ” She has come on leaps and bounds, I am so pleased with the progress. The tutors are great! It’s a convenient location and the assessment is easy to arrange.”
Kerry RobertsonParents
I would like to thank you for the enthusiastic way in which you have helped Vicky gain confidence in her abilities to learn. She has been a different child since coming to you and has a more positive view now!
Vicky's Parents
Thank you for your lovely card. You have helped with my creative writing and vocabulary. I have grown in confidence and I appreciate your help.
Naomi
Albie had been diagnosed with mild dyslexia and his reading age was around 2 years behind! The standard in private school is often higher, so we were worried about the Entrance Exams. Soon after he enrolled he started making rapid progress. The school say he is now Level 5 in literacy and the teacher can see a lot of difference. His reading age has shot up and the gaps in maths have been filled in and he has caught up amazingly quickly.
It has definitely, definitely made a difference and I have recommended the centre to my friends.
Jilly (Albie’s Mum)
“Joshua got his GCSE results today and I just wanted to let you know how he got on. He got an 8 in English Language and a 7 in English Literature, he has always struggled with English and wouldn’t of been able to achieve these amazing grades without yours and Adam’s help, if you could please let him know how Joshua done. So once again thank you for all the work you did with him.” Emily (parent) 2021
Emily EvansparentI Love to Learn Portsmouth
She is a quiet girl and I was concerned that her poor spelling was not being corrected. When she saw the progress Bella was making in such a short time, I enrolled her for Maths as well! It has transformed her thinking and she now has the self-esteem to ask questions in both numeracy and literacy.
Ms R Temple
I would like to thank you for everything that you have done, and also pass on my gratitude from Lottie because she has learnt she has really benefited from and her confidence in maths has vastly improve, so much so that she now tells me that she looks forward to maths class at school!
Charlotte's parents
“We also had a parent’s meeting at his school earlier this week. I am pleased to say that his maths teacher was very impressed with not only his work, but also his attitude toward it. I can only say that this is because of the wonderful service you and your colleagues have given. Thank you so much for this. Ellis is really enjoying his time with you and also seeing how well he is doing and this has resulted in a positive attitude towards learning.” James (parent) 2021
James Hannon
Tutor Profiles
Tutors at I Love to Learn
Howard Jones:
A zest for learning!
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:
Helps children perfect their work!
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.
Transition to a New School
Blasting Though to the Next Level!
Many of our little superheroes will soon be pushing through to the next level at school. This may be a transition between Infant to Junior or Junior to Senior. Even changing year groups can be a lot for younger children.
Do you remember the feeling of excitement and fear of going up to a new class or school?
Now is a good time to talk to your kids about these changes. Fear of the unknown is the worst thing
especially for imaginative young minds.
It is a good idea to ask your child to write a list of questions themselves. You never know what their concerns might be.
Talk to the Teacher
Always talk to the new teacher or school about your child’s special needs, personality, strengths and weaknesses. Understanding a child is usually a great way to help teach that child.
Practical preparations are important also to help the child get ready mentally. A new uniform or bag might seem a small thing, but it might help your little superhero think themselves into a new role.
If you do have any concerns about your child’s progress in reading, writing, spelling and maths please do not hesitate to call Howard and Linda on 023 93 968 626 or click on the Assessment Request button!
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). As my mum used to say, “You can’t win them all.”
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!
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.
Summer School Student
Please fill out the form to enquire
General Enquiry
Why is there a new National Curriculum and what does it mean?
We focus on core skills
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
Stronger emphasis on vocabulary development, grammar, punctuation and spelling (for example, the use of commas and apostrophes will be taught in KS1)
Handwriting – not currently assessed under the national curriculum – is expected to be fluent, legible and speedy
Spoken English has a greater emphasis, with children to be taught debating and presenting skills
Maths
Five-year-olds will be expected to learn to count up to 100 (compared to 20 under the current curriculum) and learn number bonds to 20 (currently up to 10)
Simple fractions (1/4 and 1/2) will be taught from KS1, and by the end of primary school, children should be able to convert decimal fractions to simple fractions (e.g. 0.375 = 3/8)
By the age of nine, children will be expected to know times tables up to 12×12 (currently 10×10 by the end of primary school)
Calculators will not be used at all in primary schools, to encourage mental arithmetic
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.
FREE Assessment
Simply complete our form to book your FREE assessment.
