We do not start at the chapter the school is on.

Find the gap

A child who ‘cannot do Class 6 ratio’ often cannot do equivalent fractions. Teaching more ratio on top is how six months disappear. The first session exists to stop that. It is not a full inventory — but it is honest enough to name a starting point, which is more than a sales form does.

Rebuild the picture

We teach with a picture the child can point to (a number line, an array, a bar model, a balance), then the language, then the compact written method. If they can only do the compact method, we have taught a trick and it will fail on Thursday’s paper.

See the thinking

The parent note after a session is not a mark out of 10. It is a few sentences about how the child reasoned, where they turned, and what not to drill at the kitchen table. If tutoring is working, you should be able to hear a different explanation from the child within a handful of lessons. Marks at school lag.

Check transfer

The last minutes of a lesson are a problem they have not seen. Same idea, new costume. If they can only do the worksheet we just rehearsed, we have not finished. We do not move on because the clock or the syllabus is embarrassed.

What we refuse

Homework completion as the product. Speed as a personality. Anonymous tutors. Scarcity theatre. Promising a board percentage. An AI chat widget that pretends to replace the human we are asking you to pay for.