Blog

Starting a tuition centre? Join the Association of Professional Tuition Centres.

5/7/2018

The Association of Professional Tuition Centres (APTC for short) is an excellent platform for independent tuition businesses across the UK because it comprises a network of teachers in business all doing more-or-less the same kind of work. Members share their discoveries of new resources, their experience of what works and what does not in marketing and advertising; they open their centres to exchange visits.

The cost of joining and belonging is small because the APTC is essentially run by its own members. It is probably no coincidence that the most enthusiastic and hard-working of the volunteers are also the most successful and contented in their businesses!

The 8th AGM of the APTC, took place this year at Stafford on Sunday 1 July.

As always it was a social reunion as well as a business meeting, with our members converging from the Essex coast at one end of the country and the Lancashire plains at the other.

The meeting has set itself an ambitious agenda for the year ahead: it wants to recruit more members to replace those who are retiring. Accordingly all enquiries are welcome whether they come from established, new or proposed, tuition centres. Email Peter Whisson, pswhisson@btinternet.com

Gain more marks in GCSE English: Answering questions on 'language and structure'.

3/4/2018

An examination question which asks for comment on a writer's use of 'language and structure' needs to be read as a two-questions-in-one instruction.

See it as two questions, and answer it in two parts, a language part and a structure part, and the likelihood is that you will gain more marks.

So what is the difference? Put simply, language is approached from the bottom up: it is everything that can be found within the unit of a sentence, the detailed tricks of the trade that writers exploit to shape, colour and give character to their sentences. So alliteration, use of simile and metaphor, repetition of words, use of second person etc. are all examples of language use.

Structure on the other hand is approached top-down, and can at first appear more difficult to grasp. But a good way in is to treat every reading passage consisting of more than one short paragraph as a 'story' with a beginning, a middle and an end. If you can answer how the writer begins the 'story' - with what topic and with what point of view - and do the same for the middle, and for the conclusion - then you will have focused on structure, and be rewarded for your effort. (Sub-headings, if provided, can be very helpful, as they highlight topics that form structure.)

There is, yes, a grey area or overlap between language and structure - but it won't matter if you regard, say, a the repetition of an image or idea that occurs at the beginning of the story and again at the end, as a feature of language or of structure. Just being acute enough to notice such a repetition should earn a high mark.

What does the Kent Test really test?

4/1/2018

When parents bring their Year 4 or Year 5 children along for an assessment they often have this question in mind. Aside from classroom measures of progress in English and Maths, stated in test scores and reported in levels, what are the broader signs of aptitude for a grammar school education? What does the Kent Test really test?

I would say there are four qualities or abilities that will underpin a high score in a grammar school selection test. Conveniently they begin with the same letter - or at least with the same hard 'c' sound: curiosity, quickness, conversion-readiness, and carefulness.

Curiosity is observable in the extent to which a child enjoys reading - stories, histories, discoveries - and tackling puzzles, crosswords, word searches, maths puzzles, puzzles of any kind. Children who are actively and conscientiously curious prepare themselves for the Test without realizing it. They practise the thinking skills they will need, and they acquire the breadth of vocabulary that will be necessary for assured answering.

Quickness of thinking is required in all the Tests, if children are going to complete them without resorting to blind guessing. Quickness in arithmetic is essential to success in the Maths test. If a child has to work out multiplications and divisions (up to 144, or 12 x 12) she or he simply will not finish a sufficient number of questions in the time (only 30 minutes). Quickness of perception is necessary for successful non-verbal or spacial reasoning - and luckily, is more-or-less automatically picked up with repeated exercise! Quick efficient reading is needed for the English comprehension, and a quick eye for patterns in spelling and codes for the verbal reasoning.

Conversion-readiness is a skill that is perhaps less obvious than the previous two. So what do I mean by this? In Maths, for example, it is the readiness to see and to relish the fact that many things are the same, but just take a different form, or use different terms. A half is 1/2 is 0.5 is 50% is 'something divided by 2'. It is all the same thing. A pound is 100 pence. A metre is 100 cm, a 1000 mm, a tenth of a kilometre. And so on.

But it is not only in Maths that the readiness to convert is an advantage. In English and verbal reasoning it applies too, where conversion takes the guise of recognizing synonyms and equivalent meanings. Dark colours are sombre tones. Fighting strongly is resisting vigorously. To be able to express similar things in different ways is a higher order language skill not expected of 10-year-olds, but the ability to recognize how a word or phrase 'converts' or is equivalent to another, is an integral part of the grammar school test.

The fourth quality is care or carefulness, and this one may seem to go without saying, but it is worth dwelling upon and expanding with the help of a few more 'c's' - checking and correcting and being self-critical. In the feverish haste of the Kent Test examination, there will be almost no time for deliberate and painstaking checking of work - so the practices need to be internal and habitual rather than specially turned on for the occasion. Reading attentively so as not to answer inappropriately, checking that the sign in a calculation is a ' - ' and not a ' + ', and getting used to looking for correctable errors, misspellings or mistakes of grammar and punctuation - such are instances of the care or carefulness tested in the grammar school selection.

Few children at the age of 9 or 10 are naturally adept in all four qualities and skills: curiosity, quickness in working, carefulness in working, and skill in converting. All are capable of improving in them; some will always find the going hard. Grammar schools select those who, on the day, emerge most proficient in them on the evidence of the Test.

Autumn and Christmas 2017

15/12/2017

A whole term has gone by since my last post.

A term that began with final preparations for the Kent Test at the beginning of September.

Towards the end of October some schools took a fortnight's break.

November saw peak activity here, with mock-GCSE's looming for more senior students.

As I write this at, or almost at, the very end of term, the traffic has eased.

Late December and the first few days of January are invariably the quietest of the year.

Which means for me, apart from enjoying festive things, a chance to read and practise some of the new topics that have made their way onto the GCSE Maths and Science syllabuses recently; and to write or finish writing new exercises for Paradise Academy, New Zealand (who are my main provider of Maths and English programs). The Paradise team are shown here:

And finally, a chance to greet counterparts in the UK tuition centre world (members of the Association of Professional Tuition Centres).

I had an unexpected visit from one such person last weekend - Iain McKenzie (Colchester and Clacton) - which made occasion for a drink in the Old City Bar (approximately 90 seconds' walk from the Tuition Canterbury front door). We shared experiences and compared perspectives. It was June that we last met - at our AGM in Stafford.

Will we be welcoming new members to the Association next year? It seems possible.

With an overall economic outlook getting ever tighter, independent centres make the best business sense, and the APTC, as a non-profit organisation, can supply independent business owners with that little bit of know-how and company that can make all the difference to confidence when setting out.

Meanwhile, to quote Charles Dickens:

A merry Christmas to everybody! A happy New Year to all the world.

Summer days

24/8/2017

August is markedly different from other working months.
For a start, one gets away for a bit ... this time to France ...
and when one is back, the working day rarely extends into the evening: students, being on holiday from school, mostly attend in morning or afternoon hours.
Then, the traffic is somewhat less. With the Kent Test looming in early September many households schedule tuition through July and August: for the majority an hour or two's practice a week suffices. Consequently, the Centre is in fairly light use, the children are relaxed, and the holiday feeling prevails.
August can provide an opportunity for getting on with maintenance tasks which at other times of the year can't be conveniently fitted in. This August I had the assistance of a post-16 student to undertake a massive sorting and filing task of unused, re-usable worksheets. The piles had been accumulating for months - or years I should say. Now the sheets are in sets, in labelled pockets and folders - which will save time and unnecessary photocopying for the future.
New posters are up on the wall - August is a good month for hanging them.
And then in August new exercises and activities on the computer can be written. The majority are being produced (all the year round) by Phil Scowen of PARadise Academy, New Zealand, the world's leading provider of tuition centre programs, but licensees such as myself do also contribute material when we have time. Verbal Reasoning has been a recent focus of mine: exercises on compound words, codes and jumbled sentences etc.
The month has just ended with the Bank Holiday - and this was a sunny one - ideal for a festival day out at Greenbelt in Northamptonshire: thanks to complimentary tickets from a performer. Greenbelt is a smaller and more relaxed event than Glastonbury: more tented village than tented city, but just as absorbing.

The Association of Professional Tuition Centres (APTC) meets in Stafford

22/6/2017

Members from Darlington, Ipswich and Swansea and numerous other locations nationwide gathered at the Moat House near Stafford on Sunday 11 June 2017 for the APTC's sixth annual meeting.

APTC get-togethers being social as well as business occasions, events got under way the evening before with dinner at the Pastiche Bistro in town. This was attended by about half of the eventual Sunday gathering. No speeches or quizzes or awards or lucky draws - just food, drink and conversation. Some were with us for their last time - others appearing for the first. The Association has gradually evolved from its breakaway origins (from Kip McGrath) when revolution and survival issues were most at heart, to a more consolidating and networking function - a forum for identifying and sharing ideas and experience.

I always make it my purpose to come away from the annual meeting with at least one new discovery, perhaps of some teaching resource or of a more efficient way of doing things, to try out in Canterbury. This year for me it was new software for teaching Primary Maths. Because it would be quite expensive, it was important to be confident that the purchase was going to be right. The experience of the 30 or so members of the Association provides this sort of confidence; and I am happy to say I am so far pleased with the new product I installed last week.

That is one reason why I value my APTC contacts, and renew each year my £60 membership. For the independent tuition centre owner, belonging to the APTC makes sense.

The annual get-together of the Association of Professional Tuition Centres 2017 ...

3/3/2017

The annual meeting this year is going to be in Stafford on June 11. Apart from the social aspect, which is important, as our 30 or so members are far-flung, and only get a chance to meet up for dinner once a year, the main focus will be on our teaching resources: what's good, what's over-looked, what's new.

There is no shortage of excellent tutoring materials available at low cost to independent Centres. We all make use of such. Each of us has favourites, and we also have a special relationship with certain providers, such as the New Zealand-based PAR Academy, and OutLearn, who equip similar tuition centres in the southern hemisphere.

But there are always new programs and publications coming out; and even if it were possible for any one person to be aware of them all, time would be limited to investigate and judge of their merits. Hence the value of a meeting once in a while, where new materials which have established themselves by proving useful to individual Centres can be referred to the broader membership.

So we learn not only of some excellent activities and worksheets etc, but also of possible bargains: the Association is often able to negotiate for discount with suppliers. This review of resources itself repays the annual APTC subscription (less than £100), never mind the other benefits of an APTC national network.

What is the Association of Professional Tuition Centres (APTC)?

15/2/2017

An association founded in 2011 by group of about 25 UK tuition centre owners, previously franchisees of Kip McGrath Education Centres (KMEC).

Its original aim was to coordinate a leaving strategy, source new materials (using the buying power of the group), and act as a channel of mutual support.

Six years on, the association remains about the same size - but its functions have adjusted with maturity.

Transitioning (leaving the franchise and surviving without it) is no longer such a binding concern - there is now a shift towards encouraging and recruiting new starters, and successors to retiring owners.

Association members advise prospective joiners; introduce them to others; and help facilitate the road to success by sharing their experience. However the APTC doesn't formally offer training.

The APTC has no physical headquarters and employs no officers - its committee members are volunteers who believe in the value of the organization. The major event of the year is the annual gathering, usually in May, at an attractive venue in the Midlands; dinner on Saturday night, followed by the AGM on Sunday.

The subscription is, at the time of writing, £60 per annum. These proceeds are invested in educational licences, the maintenance of the APTC website, and the AGM.

Finally, should you wish to follow this up, the committee (February 2017) is as follows:

  Chair: Shola Alabi (Thurrock)
  Secretary: Iain McKenzie (Colchester)
  Treasurer:                                Jan Webster (Lancaster)
  Curriculum and resources:       Peter Whisson (Canterbury)
    New member applications:   Rachel Callaby & Richard Bloomfield (Dereham)
  Website: Christine McLaughlin (Urmston)

The tuition business - to buy or not to buy

26/9/2016

What does it take to own and run a viable independent tuition business?

Teachers thinking of a career change, and asking themselves this question, may then have a further thought: would it be better to start up such a business, or take over one that is established?

Starting up ...
Starting can be attractive. You have a clean sheet. You have freedom to choose your location and your premises - and all that follows, decor, furnishings, mode of operation and so forth. The thrill of enrolling the first student and the sense of achievement at every subsequent milestone, ten students, twenty, thirty, is not to be under-estimated, so long as the targets are steadily achieved.

... or taking over?
But taking-over can be as attractive and involve less financial risk. If the business has been running soundly - ie. meeting its yearly costs with a little to spare - the new owner need not face that anxious period of unprofitability while the clientele and good-will are building up. Investment may go into improvement or expansion rather than into basic setting up.

Starting out
The biggest difficulty with starting from scratch is probably going to be psychological: actually committing - taking the plunge. Because many steps, much thought and some cost are required before the business can even open for its first client, there are likely to be plenty of occasions for second thoughts to dampen the initial zeal.

Go for a franchise?
Many new business owners will not want to feel all on their own, so it is natural that some will consider joining a franchise company. A franchise can provide a mould of ready-made materials and procedures - and will probably offer some encouraging examples of business success in the form of well-run centres, open to inspection, which the newcomer may hope in time to emulate and equal.

A new franchise purchase however can be quite costly - both in the immediate and the long-term - and there is no guarantee that success will follow. The recurring franchise fees will sooner or later put the owner(s) under pressure - not necessarily a bad thing - but such pressure can equally (and not uncommonly does) lead to disillusionment and closure.

Taking over
The buying or taking-over of an established centre - is the other way into the tuition business. (Franchises sometimes have a system to help franchisees sell their businesses on; but there will be cost-saving advantages for the new owner who takes over a centre which has no franchise affiliation. For the remainder of this piece I am thinking of the independent or non-franchise business.)

For the succession to go smoothly, it is vital that a good working relationship between outgoing and incoming owners is established well in advance of a potential final transfer. A small tuition business is not a piece of property like a house or a car - not the sum of the parts of an inventory - it is an identity, a reputation, and a complex of other intangibles - practices, resources, knowledge, relationships with staff and customers.

For the incoming party an early involvement in the business to be bought, and which can then develop over a period of months, is the ideal scenario, and should work for the benefit of the outgoing party too. Such an arrangement, however, has to be well-understood and carefully agreed - and at first sight terms may appear tricky to work out.

Valuation
To begin with, what value in monetary terms is to be put on the intangible or goodwill part of the business that is to be transferred along with the tangible? Since in the tuition sector there is no broad market that can be tracked (comparable to a housing or commodity market), parties will have to go by 'feel'. The onus, of course, is on the would-be seller to state a price - and in my limited experience of investigating advertised asking prices for established tuition centres, I have often thought them to be high - e.g. £50 000 and above.

The vendor may arrive at a figure in that order by taking in some of the expense of the lean early years when establishing costs were high (think of the fortune spent on advertising!) and custom was relatively light. 'Why not try and recover from the sale some of that sacrifice?' the seller may ask as retirement nears.

But the buyer(s) may ask in turn, 'Why should that legacy be imposed on us? Won't we in due course have our own improvements to finance and risks to take?'

If the seller is prepared to subtract a few thousand pounds of self-compensation, the chances are that both parties will gain - the vendor from a sale that goes through, the purchaser from a takeover that does not land them with a heavy debt.

Shared success
For a year (or whatever transition period is agreeable) let the incoming party take on running costs and wages (including the services of the outgoing owner) and confidently plan to see the business return a profit in line with previous years. Let the outgoing party help to achieve that profit for the business through provision of their expertise and continuity of teaching.

Something like this, anyway, is the proposal I would consider in the hope of passing on an independent tuition business as a going concern.

Ofsted Inspection

18/7/2016

I know that two APTC members of us have had inspections - Juliet (Erith) last year, and now myself, June 2016.
If you are Ofsted registered and have not had one, this was how mine went:
The inspection was carried out on behalf of Ofsted by an agency called Tribal (they have a website).
I received a phone call on a Thursday evening (from Private number: of whom I am always suspicious) to arrange a visit the following week. I provisionally agreed, took the details and looked up the website shortly after.
The inspection lasted about 45 minutes (an early morning - there were no students present) and was mainly about checking compliance with the Ofsted requirements: up-to-date DBS certificate, First Aid certificate and public liability insurance. I was quizzed about my complaints procedure and safe-guarding.
The follow-up report arrived by registered post very promptly. It was brief and confirmed that I was meeting the essential conditions for registration on the Voluntary Register.
Tribal were keen to have feedback on the conduct of their inspector - I couldn't fault mine for her method or manner.