Rose, age 14, wrote this chilling science-fiction story in our Upper KS3 Creative Writing tutorials.
In creative writing, one of the biggest challenges is often knowing how to help students get started. Students can be really enthusiastic to write, but the prospect of staring at a blank page can be really daunting for them.
To help overcome this, students were given a rough outline of a science-fiction story, (specially written by Tutor Dave), which included a typical narrative arc, suggestions for common sci-fi character types and a range of other tropes.
The story outline was broken into six sections and students developed and extended the outline of the story over the six tutorials in the topic, completing more in their own time if they wanted to.
“This is a brilliant piece of writing, Rose. It is rich in description and you have structured it in such a way as to clearly convey your protagonist’s sense of confusion by making them discover what is going on at the same pace as the reader. You have used a wide range of sophisticated vocabulary and techniques in your work, which adds a certain maturity to your writing. You might want to, in future pieces, consider the effect of similes a little more as there is sometimes a clash between the tone of your writing and the tone of the similes you have chosen. However, this is excellent overall, Rose – well done :)”
Feedback from Tutor Dave
To unleash your child’s creativity and help them to write like this, join our Upper/Lower KS3 English Tutorials.
A Science-Fiction Story
I wake with an urgency, every thought in high definition, as if sleeping has become a danger. I desperately need to move, to shake the numb, heavy sensation out of my body. I feel as though I haven’t moved since the last ice age, like a worm stuck in limbo. My brain is thick and slow but I am aware of thinking even though my head is as empty as a bird’s nest in December, and has been for the last millenia. Instinctively, I know that even the smallest movement will be exhausting to the extreme but at the same time, I don’t remember ever being this energised. The effort of breathing is immense, every breath draining me of the little strength I have like a sponge squeezed of water. I am magnetised to the floor, cold on my exposed back and I realise I am not wearing any clothes. For the first time, I notice the temperature. It’s freezing and my newly awakened brain springs into action, imagining all the cold things in the world:
As cold as ice. That’s a classic.
As cold as frozen water. Wait a minute, that is the same as ice!
As cold as snow.
As cold as cucumbers.
As cold as a snowball on a very cold winter morning. Wow, that one is terrible!
As cold as a frog. Frogs aren’t even that cold…
As cold as a dead man’s nose.
The last one is rather unsettling so I try to turn my thoughts to something a bit more positive but now all I can think of is a dead man, eyes staring blankly up at me, jaw slack and mouth slightly open, nose frighteningly blue.
Unable to turn my thoughts away from the face which I now realise to be my late father’s, I decide to try opening my eyes which, until now, I hadn’t been aware are closed. I take a minute to steel myself before attempting the seemingly gargantuan task. Sixty seconds pass. Then another twenty. Ten more. Five minutes…
After procrastinating for a while (a really long while), I finally open my eyes with surprisingly little effort. Blinding white light. Searing pain penetrates my skull, rickashaying around the inside of my head, confusing my thoughts, my mind, me. My brain is on fire. Flames burst from me in a piercing scream of pure agony. Everything goes suddenly black.
I slowly regain consciousness, memories coming to me in disorderly flashes. My mind is as tired as a worn out shoe but I try to work out the chronological sequence of events, piecing together the little snippets of information to form a beginning, a middle and an end. The details elude me but finally I have a storyline which, admittedly, isn’t comparable to the works of Shakespeare but it is something: waking up, the cold, the white light, then blackness. I begin to wonder what my story is, the story of my life, not just the last half hour. I have a name don’t I? And a family? How old am I? These are all things I should know but don’t seem to. It’s all so frustrating but I mean to find out the answers to these six questions:
Who am I?
What am I?
Where am I?
When is this?
Why am I here?
How did I get here?
Question 3 seems to be the most straightforward to answer so I decide to start with that one. I hesitate before opening my eyes again but this time it doesn’t hurt although it still isn’t exactly a pleasant sensation as I look around at my surroundings. Everything is white and I can’t quite distinguish the different features of the room I am in. I lift my arm, wanting to know how far I can reach. My hand quickly comes into contact with something clear, cold and hard that seems to be the sides of a container. My fingers, shocked by the intense numbness now creeping slowly up my arm, stumble drunkenly across the surface of the ‘solid air’. I feel desperately to each side in an attempt to determine if I am inside or outside of the container. I am inside. Trapped.
I push against the air, fear making me strong. I push and push and keep on pushing. The numbness is overwhelming, flowing down my arms and flooding my body with a terrifying sense of not feeling. But still I push with all my might. It could be my imagination but I think I feel it start to give. My heart throws itself painfully against my ribs, pumping energy through my weary body with a frantic rapidity. I push for what seems like forever. My arms begin to grow tired but my new found strength doesn’t fail me. Eventually, it shatters. The air splits into a million pieces, each shard hitting the floor with a faint tinkle. Breathing a deep sigh of relief, I let my arms fall back down to my sides.
…
I sit up, surprised when my body obeys the command. As I look around from this new perspective, I can just make out the details of my surroundings. All the white surfaces seem to blur into one before me but, as my eyes adjust to the intense lack of colour, I can almost see the faint outlines of blank windows, busy control panels and high-tech chairs slowly growing stronger. I seem to be inside a spaceship from a rather dull futuristic novel. Everywhere, there must be hundreds of bleeping monitors and flashing lights but it is utterly silent and white. Slowly, my eyes and ears begin to process all the colour and noise as if a filter has been lifted, letting everything in. My ears start to pick up the beeping and buzzing I had imagined there would be, conveying meaning and urgency to whoever can understand. As I look around with my colourful new lens, I see for the first time the amazing vibrance and variety of hues that cover every surface, each with a different significance and each as bright as the next. One light in particular catches my eye. It flashes red, danger, help. I try to stand, desperate to investigate. Swaying on the spot, I feel light headed but manage to remain upright. I take one shakey step, then another, and another until I reach the red light. I don’t know what it means but it definitely isn’t good. I call out. My voice is rough and faint, unaccustomed to shouting. I try again and this time the noise is stronger, more certain. It rebounds off the walls, repeating one word over and over again; ‘help’.
My discovery has somewhat dampened my satisfaction of answering Question 3 so I decide to try 5 and 6. I turn my back on the light as I try to banish the sense of foreboding that has settled in the pit of my stomach.
Mine isn’t the only pod. There are hundreds, thousands even. All in neat, orderly rows, with just enough space to walk between. I stagger over to the nearest pod, tripping over my feet like a newborn giraffe. I lean on the solid air in an attempt to stay upright as I peer into the pod. Inside, I see a woman. Her hair flows gracefully, as if underwater. She looks so peaceful but, deep down, I know she is dead. My heart quickens but I manage to stay calm. What if I am the only living person on this ship? I look into the next pod. A child lies as if asleep, also dead. I look into another and another. Everyone is dead. I am the only one left.
I know its stupid but I am just really relieved that they aren’t gruesome corpses, that they look almost happy inside their pods. I should be thinking about escaping or something serious like that but all my thoughts are focused on living and being the only survivor. That is a horrible thing to think and I instantly regret it but I can’t help but skip a little as I make my way back towards the control panel and the flashing red light.
I run my hand over all the levers and dials, trying to resist pressing a button. All the colours are exciting and new, blinking back at me from all angles, reflecting off the different surfaces. Pressing just one button won’t hurt will it? My hand might slip and accidentally push that big purple one. It wouldn’t be my fault really. I might not even press it. My finger hovers over the button, wanting action after the never-ending nothing. The ship swerves just as my hand is about to accidentally slip, sending me flying to the floor.
I sit up, disorientated. The fall seems to have brought me to my senses. My head spins as the gravity of my situation hits me for the first time. Who is driving this thing?!
I have the strength to run now, so I do. Staring into the flashing red button, I notice a really, really tiny word written on its surface. My eyes struggle to focus, blurring the letters together. The first letter is very small – a ‘t’… or an ‘f’? The word definitely has four letters. I think it ends in ‘el’ but I can’t be sure. I curse my smudgy eyes. Maybe it is ‘ci’? The second letter could be ‘y’. ‘Tyel’ isn’t a word and nor is ‘fyci’. The ‘y’ might be a ‘u’ or possibly an ‘x’. I wrack my brain for a word that fits at least some of these requirements. I come up with nothing so I decide to continue eliminating possibilities through trial and error. It can’t be ‘fxel’ and ‘tuci’ doesn’t sound right. ‘Fxci’? Or ‘Tule’? Umm… fu- fue- fuel! It says fuel!! My heart begins to beat faster – the ship is running out of power and I am the only living person (as far as I know) who can do anything to avert the disaster.
Panic overwhelms me, drowning my rational thoughts in the murky waters of despair. Resurfacing briefly, I start to understand the answer to Question 5. Why am I here? I breathe deeply, dragging truth and fear into my lungs. I have been kept alive as a kind of ‘just incase’. The lack of fuel led to the demise of my fellow travellers as the machine became unable to sustain so many people without sufficient energy. It sensed the impending doom so woke me in the hope that I knew how to fly a spaceship without any fuel or an instruction manual. I don’t even know where the steering wheel is!
Brody, age 13, wrote this somewhat horrifying science-fiction story in our Upper KS3 Creative Writing tutorials.
In creative writing, one of the biggest challenges is often knowing how to help students get started. Students can be really enthusiastic to write, but the prospect of staring at a blank page can be really daunting for them.
To help overcome this, students were given a rough outline of a science-fiction story, (specially written by Tutor Dave), which included a typical narrative arc, suggestions for common sci-fi character types and a range of other tropes.
The story outline was broken into six sections and students developed and extended the outline of the story over the six tutorials in the topic, completing more in their own time if they wanted to.
“You have put a huge amount of effort in to creating tension and ensuring the advance of the alien upon its prey leaves your audience scared stiff! I especially like your use of structure to make us pay attention to the clicking of the alien and how that structure makes us wait, building tension before that awful moment when it pounces. I am pleased that you didn’t feel you had to rush through just to get to the end and that the quality of your writing was your priority. Well done, Brody :)”
Feedback from Tutor Dave
To unleash your child’s creativity and help them to write like this, join our Upper/Lower KS3 English Tutorials.
A Science-Fiction Story
As I woke a bright beam of light began to boil my sight. This light must have damaged my brain since I couldn’t remember where I was or even who I was, had I been in a tragic accident? Have I lost my ability to remember? Still unable to see I reached out my arms, however, they came to a sudden stop, some sort of barrier. My vision slowly returned but I was seeing double, I was in some kind… pod? Within a room, but it didn’t look home. Just like my vision my memories slowly came back, who I was, where I was and what I was doing here. Within a few seconds my claustrophobia kicked in . I started viciously panting and kicking my legs around to try to escape from this glass prison. After a while of squirming around like a scorched moth, a small puff of smoke was released from my chamber, then I was to follow.
Slowly I stumbled out of the pod, my legs violently shaking. Trying to grab onto the side of the pod, since my legs felt like half eaten jelly. I don’t know how long I had been in a slumber, but it hasn’t done my muscles any good. As I was holding onto my pod, I tried to scream for help but it was no use, there was nobody to receive my cries. Looking around to see hundreds of identical pods, however, one was empty as someone else was awake, only time could tell . Feeling as if I was going to faint, my head started spinning and my legs felt as if I was going to collapse, I blacked out for a second or two, as I started to regain consciousness I felt paralyzed, and a sense of despair. I tried to push up from the ground but like my legs, my arms had failed me. The only glimpse of hope I had was the ability to breath and move a pathetic little finger. But It was something. As I started to regain strength in my upper, I sat up to encounter red lights that looked to be sirens of distress, followed by a despared scream.
The screams eventually died out and with it the power. As I started to retrieve strengths within my legs, I stood up only to witness the others slowly wake up, but no pods were opening, they started squirming like a fish out of water, then gasping for air. I rushed to a pod. I tried everything I could think of to try to open it, with my petty remaining strength. It was no use. Every single one of them layed there, exhausted, pale, dead. Many questions were going through my head, but the one that really spooked me was the screaming coming from speakers. There was at least one thing I knew about this ship from hell is that I wasn’t alone. I stumbled to what looked to be an exit. From there it’s mainly just hallways cloaked in darkness. I walked for what felt like hours, until I saw a slight flicker of light. I didn’t know if it was just my mind playing games with me but, what other option did I have other than to start chasing it. Once I arrived I found a power box with torn wires and dents in the metal. Someone or something has hijacked the power. I sighed in despair, I had no idea how to fix the thing. My mind was focused on that until I heard a crash I viciously turned around only to catch a glimpse of a tale covered in scales. I went to investigate when I found a vent lid with blood stains bleached on it. It was watching me, I was its next target, its next prey.
I was alone, within a ship I have no memory of, trapped with a scaly bloodthirsty beats. Trembling with fear, I knew I wasn’t safe, so I decided to find a place to call camp. As I stumbled through the ship, cautious of any movement in sight, I discovered a desk accompanied by a tall chair isolated within darkness. I slowly approached it, only to find this creature’s work, sitting there torn apart from the legs up, ribs and other bones stuck out of his fleshy remains. Clicking, a continuous clicking noise.
It was approaching.
I hid under the desk.
Click
Blood dripped down forming a puddle beside me.
Click.
I was still horrified by what I had seen, but I had to keep silent… my life depended on it.
Click.
Shaking with fear, I could hear its every move, its every attempt to smell flesh and blood.
Silence.
Silence.
Silence? What had happened to it? I curled my trembling fingers around the desk, and peered around, looking around left to right, it was nowhere to be seen, my heart started racing and with it my breath. I felt stressed, but relieved somehow until I felt something drop on to my hand, blood? As I cautiously looked up to see where it came from, it lay there up on the ceiling, its jaw locked in place, preparing to pounce.
It was then that I saw a pipe sticking out of the wall disconnected from the others. I could hear a faint hissing sound coming from it and as I took one last breath, I made a dash for it. Once I got my hands around it I haled it facing creature. I needed it to come closer.
Click
It was my only chance to escape.
Click
It crawled closer.
Click
Closer.
Click
It viciously hurled its body towards whilst I slid to one side pulling the pipe with me, the steam blinded it which gave me just enough time to run, oh and I ran, I took every turn, every staircase, anything which looked promising.
Lottie, age 11, wrote this compelling speech in our 6-week Real-life Writing topic on speech writing. Thank you for letting us share this speech, Lottie!
Writing powerful speeches can be difficult. You need to not only be able to write well, but also really care about your subject matter. Lottie’s passion for her subject really shines through in this speech and it blew the group away when we read it out at the end of the topic.
Often, children have something to say about a subject they care about, but are unsure how to get their point across in a powerful way. So, before writing, we analysed some famous speeches such as those from Martin Luther King, Winston Churchill and Severn Cullis Suzuki and drew on the techniques in their speeches to help create our own.
All students in the class took part, and this is just one of many fantastic examples.
Tutor Dave (MA, PGCE)
“What an amazing speech, Lottie. You convey your passion for this topic with force and clarity; not always easy to get this balance right. I think you should be extremely proud of this work and you might have a career as a speech writer ahead if you wanted it! Next time, you could try including an anecdote to give a clear example of an issue affecting one person. This would help the audience connect even more emotionally with your subject matter and feel even more persuaded. Great work!”
Feedback from Tutor Dave
To unleash your child’s creativity and help them to write like this, join our Upper/Lower KS3 Real-life Writing Topics on Wednesdays.
The Mental Health Pandemic
Today I am here to try and raise awareness about mental health amongst young people in our school systems. Some people may think that mental health is something that can start to need help and attention when people are grown up, perhaps when they are working or trying to run a family and provide for many people, and of course, that is the case in half of these cases. But it is not the only time that we should be looking after our mental health in life.
Schools are supposed to be a safe space, a space where a young person can go to learn, but these days we know too well that too often school is the least safe place in a young person’s life.
Lottie, age 11
From being very young, as soon as we start to be aware of the world around us, we start to form a sense of self, of who we are, of where we fit into our family and our friend groups. For some people that comes easily and they manage to make their way through schools with little to no problems, but others find the pressures of trying to find where they fit into the groups around them at school harder than ever, or maybe they have a lot of pressures at home or are suffering from the pressures at school such as exams. All these pressures can build up inside a young person’s mind at any time during their lives .
Schools can give out a lot of pressure for young people, in a country where bullying is happening in every single school, it’s almost at pandemic levels, in the whole of Europe England has the highest rates of bullying in a school setting. THE HIGHEST RATES OF BULLYING IN EUROPE. If you are unfortunate enough to be at the receiving end of a bully or a group of bullies then this can have a seriously negative effect on your mental health. There is no end in sight for the young people suffering at the hands of bullies. No more going home to get away from it. It follows young people around, with attacks on social media, there seems to be no getting away from it. Schools are supposed to be a safe space, a space where a young person can go to learn, but these days we know too well that too often school is the least safe place in a young person’s life. Surrounded by teachers, who seem to be unable to stop the bullies. Parents who do not hold their children accountable for bullying. It is left to carry on until something very serious happens.
Social Media is a way of life for many young people in the country. Every day they are faced with looking at “perfect people” around them on lots of different platforms such as, snap chat, insta, facebook, they all show one way to look to be able to fit in with them, thin, slim, big bum if you are a girl and it is no better for boys, fit, masculine, muscley, not allowed to show emotions. All this does is build up an ideal in the mind of a young person that they are not good enough. If they do not look the way that is shown and praised all around them on social media this leaves them feeling that they are less than. A constant comparison to unrealistic body and beauty standard.Most of the images you see, have been edited multiple times, filters used and this goes to show that the people who do this to themselves before they post their photos online are also insecure about the way they look. It really is pandemic, most young people have felt the pressure to try and fit in, in how they look, or dress, or how outgoing, or chatty you are, even how many friends you have.
If you see a young person displaying any of these signs, you could try to get them to open up by simply speaking to them, explaining that you are there whenever they want to talk, or if they want to have someone to talk to at break.
Lottie, age 11
It’s easy to see why young people are constantly feeling bad about themselves. Knowing the signs to look for in a young person around you, to see if their mental health is suffering, could be that maybe they are quieter than usual, they might struggle to make eye contact with you, they might stay on the edges of groups of people, their school grades might start dropping from their usual levels. If you see a young person displaying any of these signs, you could try to get them to open up by simply speaking to them, explaining that you are there whenever they want to talk, or if they want to have someone to talk to at break.
Look after the young ones around you because you don’t know what’s going on inside their head or at home. They are our future generation. Let’s look after them to look after our world.
Amelia, age 12, produced this amazing writing in our 6-week Fantasy Writing Topic.
In creative writing, one of the biggest challenges is often knowing how to help students get started. Students can be really enthusiastic to write, but the prospect of staring at a blank page can be really daunting for them.
To help overcome this, students were given a rough outline of a fantasy story, (specially written by Tutor Dave), which included a typical narrative arc for a fantasy story, suggestions for common fantasy character types and a range of other fantasy tropes.
The story outline was broken into six sections and students developed and extended the outline of the story over the six tutorials in the topic, completing more in their own time if they wanted to. As you can see from this student’s work, giving a few of the right ideas early on can inspire a huge amount of creative writing!
All students in the class took part, and this is just one of many fantastic examples.
Tutor Dave (MA, PGCE)
“This is such a great story, Amelia. Loads of action and fantastic ideas. You have really embraced the fantasy genre, I think! I particularly like the part where you battle the villain for the first time – it’s really descriptive and that makes it feel tense. I do also like how you get revenge on your friends, although it is a little gruesome… even for me! In your next story, see if you can develop more description to go along with all the action. Describing location and atmosphere can really help readers imagine what’s happening in your stories, just as much as describing the action. Great work with this, Amelia – really well done :)”
Feedback from Tutor Dave
To unleash your child’s creativity and help them to write stories like these, join our Upper/Lower KS3 English Tutorials.
A Fantasy Story
Chapter 1: A Bad Day!
I have just finished English and now I’m in Geography, the worst subject. I hate it. I stare into space most of the lesson, not listening to what the teacher is saying. I start to fall asleep. Then all of a sudden a voice booms around the room. It says “Sit up straight Josie, and don’t dare start falling asleep in my lesson again.” I nod my head shocked to be shouted at. But when I turned around to see everyone staring at me and they were giggling. I felt embarrassed but didn’t show it.
Then out of the corner of my eye, I caught my friends pointing, sniggering and whispering to each other. I felt a bit hurt but I told myself they were probably just talking about something funny. Then the end of class came and I walked past their desk and I heard them saying “She is such a loser, look at her falling asleep in class, Pathetic!” I ran as fast as I could out of school trying to hide my tears, but then as soon as I left the school grounds, my tears dried up and turned into anger. I was furious at my “Friends.” but instead of doing anything about it I walked home depressed and angry. I wasn’t sure what to do at all. I was lost. As I was walking home, I was furious. It felt like steam was coming out of my ears. As I walked down the street I realised that all the street lights had gone off as I walked underneath them. I was extremely confused, but decided to ignore it.
Finally, when I got home. It felt like I had been walking forever. I threw my school bag on the floor and stormed into the front room. My parents were just standing there talking. I started telling them about my day and how my friends were so mean to me but they didn’t listen, they just started talking over the top of me. I was so furious at them too. Then my mum spoke and said “Oh, you will be fine” I gave her the look and all she did was roll her eyes and start talking again.
All of a sudden I felt this power come over me, like a lighting strike. The feeling told me to scream as loud as I could so I did. My first scream was small, the walls started shaking and the paintings were falling off them smashing. The power told me to scream louder, so I did this time the walls were still shaking my mum and dad were screaming and grasping their heads. The power was still there. I got angrier and shouted “WHY DON’T YOU EVER LISTEN TO ME.” As I was screaming the whole house shuck and my parents covered their ears and their eyes started to bleed I automatically stopped. I ran out of the house with my shoes on, and just kept running, running and running…
Eventually, I ran out of breath and stopped in a forest, I bent down and sat on a tree stump. I was still trying to figure out what had happened at the house; it was all a mystery to me. I really didn’t know what happened. I had never felt that much power in my LIFE. hearing rustling in the bushes, I stood up slowly backing away from the tree stump, trying to figure out an escape but just as I was about to run. A massive dog thing came out of the bushes in front of me. I felt the same power come over me again but when I looked back up at the dog thing it was no longer a dog it was a human. Without even thinking I said the word “Incendia” and my hands shot forward and the human set on fire. I started screaming like I did back at the house. The human covered their ears and was spinning their head around in the air. Then all of a sudden they fell to the ground all burnt and blood coming out of their eyes, ears, nose and mouth. I ran over to the body but they were dead. I could still feel the power in me and then the bushes around me set on fire and I was stuck in a ring of fire, trying to figure out how I knew the word “Incendia”…
I was still thinking when the fire started spreading out deeper into the forest around me. I didn’t know what to do. The power within me had stopped; it seemed like I didn’t have powers anymore. So all I did instead was scream “PLEASE STOP SPREADING YOUR GOING TO KILL PEOPLE PLEASE” I broke down into tears but then all of a sudden I heard a noise a portal type noise I looked up to see a furry yellow creature standing up of the floor brushing itself down. I stared at it in shock, standing up myself, I was stuck for words until I sputtered out “Can you talk?” I didn’t get a reply till a couple of minutes later the fluffy creature histed “Yes I can.” I jumped at the sound of its voice. It was crocky, hisy and loud. I didn’t know what to say back but then it started talking again.
“You have passed the test!”
“What do you mean test?” I replied confused.
“You heard what I said that was a test”
“So that wolf human thing was a test? You put me all through that for a test” I said annoyed.
“Well yes but I didn’t personally, Anyway now you have shown you are worthy you have to come with me to my world”
“What do you mean your world? Is it like a different universe or some sort of mythical place?” I replied questionably.
“You belong in my world, full of witchcraft, mystery and mayhem” it said confidently.
“But I have lived here my whole life and why do you need me so much?” I replied with a question again.
“You are meant to live in our world in New Orleans, America, and we need you because you have 3000 magic, you’re the strongest witch that has ever lived!”
I find it hard to respond, so instead the furry thing continues.
“New Orleans need you because we need you to help fight the vampires and wolves”
Still shocked because of all the info getting thrown at me I don’t say anything. Were left in silence for 2 minutes flat until I said.
“Don’t you have someone that can help instead of me because surely there has got to be someone?”
“NO, WE NEED YOU!”
I stop for a second and zone out quing into my head. I listen to the voices in my head saying “DON’T LISTEN TO THE FLUFFY CREATURE IT’S TRICKING YOUUUUUUU!” I begin to thing if my head is telling the truth and if it was whose side am I on but my thinking was broken by the creature It says;
“New Orleans really needs you to fight with us and also to Answer your question. We do have someone nearly as powerful as you.”
“What is its name and what creature is she?” I asked questionably.
“IT A HER and she is a Tribrid and her names hope”
“So why do you need me if you have The Tribrid?” “BECAUSE YOU CAN DO SPELLS NO ONE ELSE CAN DO!!!!”
I stay silent….
The voices in my head were screaming at me now, I covered my ears as if they were attacking me. They said “DON’T LISTEN TO IT, IT’S LYING TO YOU, THEY WANT TO USE YOU AS A WEAPON!” I had, had enough by this point and I shouted at the fluffy creature “I AM NOT GOING WITH YOU”
The creature got angry and grabbed my arm. It started dragging me towards the portal saying “YOU WILL COME WITH ME.” I tried my best to stand my ground but the creature was too strong. All I could do was scream “LET GO OF ME, I WON’T LET YOU TAKE ME!”
My screams didn’t help the creature just kept pulling me. I went silent for a moment because I felt the power again I tuned into my mind I heard a spell get spoken so I shouted it out loud “Delfen da ossox” my left arm lifted up and I started floating the fluffy creatures head flew off it’s shoulders and the other half of its body got sucked back into the portal and something else came flying out of it with a dog figure and then it disappeared. I then felt really tired and I fell to the ground hitting it hard becoming unconscious and after that all I heard were the voices saying “THEY WILL RETURN BEWARE” I then fell into deep sleep….
Chapter 3: The scary dream about the future.
When I woke up, I stood up slowly with my legs acting like jelly and my head felt like it was being pounded on, but when I looked up I was outside my school. I was very confused. I had fallen asleep in the woods, after killing the fluffy creature. I started walking up to the school a bit unsteady and when I walked through the door it looked like the school, I don’t know why but I thought it would look different. Walking through the corridor I came across my “friends” . I walked up to them calmly and they welcomed me like nothing happened. I was shocked but didn’t say anything about it in case they then turned on me. We chatted for a while then we had to go to class nothing much happened except the urge to set fire to my friends but I made it through the day, then it came to going home time.
I walked up to my friends to say goodbye and see them tomorrow but I heard them saying “I can’t believe she was so chill, I thought she would get angry or hit one of us” another one said “She is such a rat she definitely has problems like mager ones.” The last sentence they said pushed me over the edge. I closed my eyes and when I opened them back up, my friends started screaming “WHY ARE HER EYES BLACK AND WHY IS SHE WEARING A RED AND BLACK DRESS” I smiled and tilted my head to one side, I look down at myself and said “Don’t you like my new outfit it’s different isn’t it” silence fills the room. One of my friends started trying to leave the school by going around me carefully. I spun round and threw my arms forward saying “Vis se portus” the doors to the school flew shut. I turned back around saying “well that’s better now isn’t it. NO ONE LEAVES.” My friends started cowering behind each other. I started walking towards them saying “That’s not going to save you, sillys” I laughed at their stupidity. I clicked my finger and said “Incendia” I pointed my finger at them and fire flew out of it setting them ablaze. Everyone else who was still in the school was petrified, them being scared made me happy. I started walking towards the door. I said “ignis probationem” waving my hands down my dress. I flicked my hair and shouted “SCHOLA” school I went tumbling to the ground. Eyes closed and in total darkness I heard a voice boom saying “IF YOU DON’T CONTROL YOUR POWER THAT IS WHAT WILL BECOME OF YOU” INCENDUNT” I walked out the school with fire blazing behind me, as soon as I exited the that’s when I realised it was a dream…
Chapter 4: The Mentor.
I shot up and petrified the trees going everywhere but then I , Lifting myself up with magic, flew across the ground and went straight into a tree, I then calmed down. but It really hurt. I stood up brushing myself off because I was covered in leaves, I stood there thinking about what happened yesterday. I was still mind boggled and I had to process it alone because If I went around telling people I had powers they would think I was crazy and I can’t go back to my parents because I am not sure if they are even alive after what had happened which meant I had no were to go at all. As I was still thinking I heard rustling in the bushes behind me I spun round nearly falling over my feet because of how fast I did it. I started looking more deeply at the bushes and a dog-like thing came out of them. I started walking backwards looking for an exit as I went. Staring at the dog I realise that It has pearly white fur and the same shape as the other dog I killed. I still felt so guilty. Then the silence broke and something spoke to me saying “Hello Josie, I am here to help you control your powers. I also am here to help you to stay on the good path and not vear into the dark like many others have before you. I can tell you are a good person.” It said kindly, I was very confused. I was trying to figure out if the dog had just spoken to me or it was my head. The dog then spoke kindly saying “If you’re confused it’s me talking to you the dog.” well I have figured that mystery out then haven’t I. I began to speak “What are you, what’s your name and where are you from?” I said curiously,
“I am a werewitch, my name is Freya and I am from New Orleans.”
“Wait but the other creature was from New Orleans too and it was possibly evil.” I said questionaly.
“Yes it was, I am from a New part of New Orleans. I am on the good side with the werewolves and the vampires even though I am a witch wolf but I left the witches because they tried using me and my sister as weapons.”
“Who’s your sister?” I said gently,
“My sister is one of the Tribrids to ever live. Her name is Hope but she didn’t escape with me after she turned because she turned her humanity off so she stayed with the bad side and she is now their only weapon.”
“The fluffy creature mentioned a Tribrid to me called hope. What do you mean one of the Tribrids is there another?” I said questionably.
“There will be another Tribrid but they would have to turn.”
“Who’s the other Tribrid?”
“I am but I don’t ever want to become one because I have seen how it ruined my sister so I am staying a werewitch.” “Oh, okay.” That was some shocking news here.
“Anyway I wanted to tell you that you have passed the test.”
“What test”
“You said no to the other creature, and I saw how you fought, I can see that you have potential in you and I have been waiting for someone like you, I was watching you from the otherside of the portal and I jumped through when I saw you kill the creature. The other person that appeared was evil it was trying to get you to become a weapon to fight me and my people, it was saying we were the bad guys and they were good but actually it’s the other way around”
I was lost for words. She was throwing so much information at me and she kept going on.
“Do you want me to teach you how to control your power so you may help me and people defeat the villains but it’s okay if you don’t want to?”
I think about Freya’s offer and I wondered if she was lying like the villain but she seemed to nice to be the villain and also I could really do with been taught how to control my power because I don’t want to end up like my dream said I would, So after a long though and mixed decision I say “Yes I would love to come with you as long as you tell me what a werewitch is” “Deal made, come on it’s time to go they will be expecting me and you any minute now.” Freya leads me through the bushes to a portal..
I walked into the compound all happy and proud of myself because finally after 5 month I was in control of my powers. I was welcomed with open arms and everyone was crowding around me saying “Why don’t you show us some of your new powers” I agreed after a while and I closed my eyes and said “Homines missi tum ad areæ” Everyone floated very high and then I carefully sent them back down to the floor, I felt very tired after that, it took a lot of power because I had to concentrate so much. I then went to go talk to Freya I said “Hi Freya, I am going to be now I am really tired.”
She replied “Okay, that’s fine, see you in the morning.” I left walking slowly, wondering to myself.
In the morning I woke up and went down for breakfast that is when Freya slowly walked over to me and said “I have some bad news”
I was shocked I replied “What do you mean, what’s wrong”
“You have to go into the enchanted forest and deffet 3 different creatures with your powers and then you can emerge on the other side of the forest”
“mhm, do I really have to go I mean haven’t I shown you enough?”
“No I am sorry but it’s not my rule every warrior has to pass this test or they will be thrown
out.”
“Okay…. Then I will do it” I sighed.
Heading into the forest I clutch my arms really nervous about what was about to happen, I stood there for 5 to 10 minutes waiting for something to happen. I was so paranoid I kept spinning round in circles every time I heard a little rustle. I start walking into the forest and as I get deeper in nothing happens. I was very confused. I knew something was really wrong, I started to turn back when.. I came across a bush-like door. I thought yes that’s what I was supposed to be looking for a door the fights threw there. I shuffled threw and when I actually looked around me I saw THE VILLAIN. I spun round and tried to go back through the bush door but I walked into a barrier falling backwards. The villain burst out laughing, that made me very angry. I stood up throwing my hand forward shouting “IGNIS” a fire ball flew out of my hand and a water ball flew out of the villains. Both of the balls met fighting each other but the water won. It came flying towards me. I threw myself on the floor and rolled out of the way. The villain shot a line of fire at me and I healed it with my hand and forced it back towards the villain. It doges and then sets a tree behind it on fire. I didn’t know what to do anymore. I had plenty of spells but they had all gone out of my head. I thought really hard but nothing came. All I could do was defend myself. Then I had a light bulb. I lifted my arms up and screamed once it set the trees on fire around us. I screamed ago and sucked up all the fire from the trees. I screamed again a long one this time and the villain floated up into the air. As I screamed, the fire I collected came out of my mouth going straight towards the villain. I floated with the villain but after I stopped screaming I fell to the floor exhausted with black marks coming up my face. All the villain did was stand back up and shouted “IS THAT THE BEST YOU GOT” I closed my eyes tilting my head to the side Until…. I heard a voice I recognised it was Freya’s she had come to save me.
I opened my eyes to see her standing in the middle of the bubble. She shouted “EXTERNAL CANADAS” , a massive blue beam shouting out from her sending me and the villain flying backwards hitting the barrier around us. I tried rolling over to move away from the barrier but all my bones ached. I couldn’t move, Freya came rushing over to me picking me up in her arms. She spoke softly to me and said “If I die I want you to promise you will help my people deffete the Villain, and you need to destroy its main power sauce, Kill my sister use red oak ash and stab it in her heart I have left a map to the tree under my bed go there as soon as you escape and also you need to burn the witches with the power that killing my sister will relash you need to consume it but be careful It may consume you. Burning them is the only way to get rid of them.”
I was shocked, all I could say was “Why are you telling me this?”
She didn’t have time to respond because her sister Hope came up behind her at full speed. She said “Hello sister, Goodbye sister” and ripped her heart out. I fell to the ground tumbling out of Freya’s arms. I looked over to Freya’s body and lifted myself up with the strength I had gained whilst Freya was talking to me and stumbled over to her body. As I held her in my arms I cried and then all of a sudden her body turned into ash and blew away in the wind. I was angry. Standing up, I watched Hope speed over to the Villain and pick him up in her arms like Freya did to me I whipped the tears away from my eyes and shouted “WE WILL WIN THIS WAR AND YOU AND YOUR TEAMMATES WILL BE DEAD, YOU HERE ME THEY WILL BE DEAD, YOU WILL BE DEAD.”
Hope replied shouting back “WE WILL SEE ABOUT THAT” and sped off through a gap in the bubble with the Villain in her arms.
Leaving the bubble, I went back to the compound with tears dropping down my face as I went and as I entered I told them the bad news..
Chapter 6: The secret!
After I told the people in the compound what happened to Freya they all cried and hugged me. I felt guilty for some reason like it was my fault she had died. I thought to myself maybe if I can defeat the villain it will avenge her. With this thought still spinning around my head I went to my room and packed my things I thought I might need. Then I had to go to Freya’s room to try and find the map to this tree called ‘Red oak tree’. I rummaged through her bedroom until I came across a very small box under her bed. I opened it and I found a little rolled up map with the coordinates of ‘The red oak tree.’ I left her room and set off on my journey out of the compound with my head held high. I couldn’t get out of my mind what Freya had said, I kept looking at the map. My first destination was the whitchery, I went and got some frog bones they skunk really badly, I put them in 1 of my pots I had brought with me.
My next stop was the dark forest. I was so scared to enter it, I had heard some really terrible stuff about it. I sneaked in hoping no monster would come after me but low and behold 10 minutes in I came across a forest leopard. It ran at me with full pealt I pulled out my hand and said “Ventus!” The leopard flew back again and hit one of the trees, snapping one of the branches. The branch landed on the leopard, I felt very bad that I had just killed a leopard but I had to keep going. Listening carefully, I heard a growling noise in my ears. Turning around slowly, slobber came dribbling down my face. I was disgusted. Looking up I saw a 6 headed dog. I spun around and started running, but this was a game to the dog. It started running after me, but it all felt like slow motion to me like time had started slowing down. Then time speed up, the dog scratched my left arm, I went tumbling to the ground, rolling around clenching my arm. The dog started running at me again. I shouted “praesidium bulla” . The dog ran into the protection bubble around me and fell to the floor with a massive thud. I knew it wasn’t dead but I couldn’t risk staying around any longer, I started running trying to find the end of the forest. I was running around for over 20 minutes until I found a clearing in the forest. I touched my change and ran for it. Once I got out, my left arm was healed. I had no idea why though, I stepped back in my arm and started bleeding again, I stepped out, it stopped and healed. I was extremely confused, so I decided to continue on.
I saw the Tree in the distance but It was surrounded by guards. My last fight I had to use magic. I got over to them, they were all witches obviously I threw everything I had at them. It took ages to get through them all; they just kept reappearing. I finally got through them all and walked towards the tree. Once I got there I muttered under my breath “Incendia” The tree set alight and turned to ash. I collected the ash in a little pot I had found in my room. As I started walking away I heard rustling in the bushes so I stayed close to the ground and made the powerful weapon right then and there I muttered “Forma pugionem” pot and frog bones started flottin and created a dagger. I grasped it in my hand and stood up. Hope came flying out of the bushes heading straight for me. She came and tried to rip my heart out. I spun out of the way and struck her in the heart with the dagger. She fell to the ground and I flew backwards. Stuck to the ground I couldn’t move b;ack, smoke was coming out of hope into me. Once the black smoke had stopped I could move again. I stood up and so did hope. Hope shouted “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE” I didn’t have an Idea about what had just happened. She tried to speed up to me but she could only run like a human and that’s when I released Freya was wrong it didn’t kill hope it turned her human. I was shocked and when I looked at my magic metre I had 10,000 magic. I was the most powerful witch that had ever lived. I started walking away from the dagger my magic drained nearly my whole body did to. I crawled back to the dagger and I was filled again and so did my magic metre. That when I became horrified the dagger was now the only thing keeping alive if I went a certain amount of metres away from it. It would kill me. I picked it up and started walking home avoiding the dark forest at all costs…
When I returned home I ran in to tell my people the good news but when I entered I saw the compound had been destroyed. My people were all over the floor dead I must say and the Villains underlings were there standing around laughing together and chatting. I clenched my chest, I stepped to the side out of the way so the villain’s underlings didn’t see me. That’s when I broke down, all my people were dead. I was left alone once again but that’s when my pain turned into strength. I was so angry I walked into the compound I said “YOU WILL REGRET DOING THAT!” I lifted my hands up in the air and clicked them mutterling “Invisique” I turned invisible and walked towards the villains underlings and through my hands forward whispering “Vola ergo mori” They floated in the air and dropped to the floor dead I checked my power metre and it was at 8,000 I was running low ish I went to go to my room but it was destroyed too at this point. I felt my heart thumping very, very loudly and that’s when I felt a flush of anger hit me in the face. I waited in the compound for an hour or two hoping the Villain would stop being a wuse and come out and fight he didn’t. I decided it was going to be on my terms now I stormed out. The whole time I was storming around and waiting around the song ‘Run boy Run’ was going around my head. I said “proferet portal” I jumped through the portal and landed at the otherside in a classic superhero stance and started walking towards the villain’s fortress In slow motion. As I started to enter the fortrose I checked my metre and it was at 12,000 I was very confused. I only used to have 10,000. I looked past the metre and realised there were black veins all up my arms and I was in a black dress. My nightmare had come true. I kept walking through the walls into the fortress and as I stood in the middle an electric bolt stuck me in my back. I stood back up to see the villain stood behind me dressed in all black he looked a bit like a dark blob. I struck him back quickly. He stood back up a lot slower than I did. I tried striking him again but I was too slow. He hit me with a big beam of water. Spinning in the air, I land on the floor with a massive thud. I could feel the rage building up inside me, I get up and stood my ground. I through my hand forward holding fire in my hand, I forced my hand forward as It fell towards the villain it set him ear on fire. I bursted out laughing as the villain was hitting himself viciously. Then something I was not expecting happened I started floating but I was not doing it myself, I turned my head and saw a coven of witches holding their hands in the air, I was so shocked. Then all of a sudden they dropped me. Catching myself before I hit the floor I got so angry, I lift my hands in the air and swap them around muttering under my breath “rapit speculum e fenestra” all the glass from the windows around me gathered and formed a circle around me i shouted “Explodere levi” The glass shot out from around me sent it flying everywhere and a massive blinding light same from me. All I heard was screaming coming from around me. I had killed nearly every witch/wizard in the fortruss. I felt a tad bit faint but kept stumbling through the glass all over the floor and removed the hood of the villain and the most shocking thing about it was the villain was a human/chipmunk with magical abilities. I stood back up and started walking out of the fortruss in slow motion and I said “ignis probationem” just like in my dream. I strutted out and leapt into the portal…
As I landed back on the other side of the portal back in the compound I could see the destruction that my power had made in the distance I was scared of myself. I decided that the only thing I could do was put the object away forever maybe. Before I head back to my original world I decide to spend my last hours in the compound trying to search for a spell to put all of my power back into the dagger. Then all of a sudden I found out that the spell was “Magia in pugionem” . I decided to keep the spell in my mind but not use it yet because I had something to do before I put my magic away. When I got back to the real world through my portal I sealed it up by saying “signare foraminis” as I started walking away I heard rustling in the bushes but decided to ignore it because there was nothing to worry about anymore I didn’t think. I walked home and when I got home my mum and dad were still lying there on the floor still exactly like when I had left. That’s when I realised time hadn’t moved since I had left. I lifted my parents up and placed them on the couch. I said to them “obliviscere omnia” I made them forget what had happened so when they woke up the next morning they would only remember my coming home and going to bed.
The next morning, I woke up and packed my things to go to school, Including the dagger. I ended up at school and saw my ‘Friends’ . I Walked up to them and started talking to them. They kept glaring at me and sniguring I had had enough of them. So I said to them “Follow me I have something to show you” They followed me outside I muttered under my breath “quattuor homines Invisble” We all went invisible but they didn’t notice, because there daft. One of my ‘Friends’ said “What are we looking at” I signed and whispered “profer IIT” I brought my dark side forward because what I was about to do needed a lot of power. I started lifting my hand up carefully as it was twitching. I said as quietly as possible “Decacare et supernatet” They all started floating in the air. They all said at the same time “What are you doing to use Josie?” I didn’t respond because I was concentrating. I forced my hand forward with such speed and their necks left their bodys. I smiled pleased with myself, I then let them float there with no head. I Then got some of their blood and wrote across the top of the school wall It said “Fake friends, deserve what they get when Karma bites them in the backside.” I made them uninvisible and walked behind the back of the school. I was now ready to put my magic away. I held the dagger in one hand and I was ready to do the spell, chanting “Magia tergum pugione” black smoke started coming out of me and gathering into the dagger. Then all of a sudden some kicked me, I fell to the floor, dagger dropping out my hand landing into the grass. I turned to get up but when I looked over where the dagger had fallen out of my hand, Hope was there, I shouted “No” but I was too slow. She took the dagger and ran. In a way I was happy that she had taken it, I could live a normal life but It meant I could never get back to my real home ever again. I stood up and walked home in the middle of the day, and when I got home I started searching on how to find someone without magic I tried for ages.
Chapter 8: 10 years later.
After 10 years I gave up looking for Hope because whenever I got close to finding her she seemed to disappear off the face of the earth. So now I am still in school and I am filling out the rest of my life as a normal human but I can still feel a whole in my heart for the people that have died and my real home. I will always feel hurt but I have managed to get through it and have made real good friends but I will never really stop looking for my magic because it’s a part of me that I have lost.
Whilst many learners use their cameras in our tutorials, some don’t. At Tutor Led Learning, we believe that the best learning relationships happen when learners and tutors can see one another and they know their interactions are not being recorded. Using cameras is not compulsory at KS3 level, but Tutor Dave shares why he thinks learners having their cameras on is so valuable.
One of the best things about teaching is the look on a student’s face when they grasp a new concept or realise that they have finally mastered a challenging skill. It’s an expression that mixes pride, happiness and a dawning realisation that they can develop new skills, acquire new knowledge and shape the kind of person they want their future self to be. It’s what makes teaching special and it’s why we become teachers in the first place: to help young people be the best they can be.
…there is something that can be lost in an online environment: actually seeing our students, and students seeing each other.
Tutor Dave
I saw this expression a lot as I travelled around different homes, tutoring small groups after I first left my job in a secondary school. And in the early stages of finding my feet as a tutor, seeing the difference I could make was what motivated me to keep going.
The educational landscape is changing, though. I no longer travel to students’ homes and instead teach students all over the UK and in different countries online. Many home-educating families know that learning online is a great way to find the right tutor because geography need not be a barrier. If a tutor is in roughly the right time zone, then there’s no reason not to give them a try!
But whilst there are many advantages to working online (being able to give live feedback on shared documents, keep all our work safe and secure in online classrooms and easily share useful links to articles and videos to name just a few) there is something that can be lost in an online environment: actually seeing our students, and students seeing each other.
From what I have seen, having their camera on really enhances a students’ experience. Here’s why I think those students who don’t use their cameras should consider it…
It may seem unlikely online, but after a while, a real sense of community starts to develop and students feel like they know one another properly
Tutor Dave
In my English tutorials, I find that when students can see each other, they are far more likely to interact with one another verbally or via the chat box. This is great for students because they can build relationships over long distances and I even know of students who have met in lessons and then travelled to meet up face-to-face; it’s hard to imagine this happening without them having seen one another.
It may seem unlikely online, but after a while, a real sense of community starts to develop and students feel like they know one another properly (rather than just being faceless names on a video call). They love to share stories about their pets, holidays, birthdays and sympathise with one another if they have been off ill. Despite being online, having cameras on makes our lessons a highly sociable and friendly environment that just isn’t the same if students can’t see each other.
When students have cameras on, it far more closely recreates the atmosphere of a small group learning together in one location, just like being back around the kitchen table at one of my early home-educating families. Conversation flows more naturally and younger students, who are often really eager to share ideas, learn to respond to visual cues from others in the group to know when the time is right to jump in with their ideas; a key skill for later life, which some adults have yet to master!
Often in English, we need to talk in a thoughtful way about a character’s motives or an author’s intentions. Opinions often vary about these things and it is great for students to hash out their ideas with one another. Seeing how other students react to what they are saying and learning how to respond to those reactions is, in my view, a hugely important part of learning to be a successful communicator when they grow up.
Aside from the somewhat selfish reason of loving to see that expression that says ‘I learnt something new!’ on a student’s face, there are some clear positives for a tutor of being able to see their student.
Seeing a student allows us to identify when they need help more easily, to gauge their reaction to a new idea or concept, and to see if they have found our (probably terrible) jokes amusing. We get to know them as people and this is surely the essence of great tutoring: understanding another human being enough to be able to work out what the right thing to say or do is that helps them progress.
It’s knowing when to say something to offer support, and knowing when to stay silent because you can see the concentration in their faces. It’s knowing which students enjoy a little banter, and which students feel a bit embarrassed.
All students are different, and so being able to see how they react differently in lessons allows tutors to adapt our teaching to respond to what the students need.
Tutor Dave
All students are different, and so being able to see how they react differently in lessons allows tutors to adapt our teaching to respond to what the students need. Young people don’t always say if they are unsure about something, so being able to read their expressions allows us to try another explanation or clarify key information without them having to say they don’t understand.
It’s also important for us to be able to judge the mood of our students. We like to make our students feel welcome and happy in our lessons and it’s important for us to respond sensitively to their emotions. If a student has their camera on, we can often see what sort of mood they are in and then adjust the tone of our voice, the questions we ask and the praise we give to help put them in the best frame of mind possible. It means that we can respond in an emotionally intelligent way to our students more easily and try to ensure that their experience of education is as positive as it can be.
Reasons why a student might not want their camera on
Although I am clearly a fan of having cameras on, that’s not to say that I don’t understand there are reasons why some students prefer not to use them.
Perhaps a student has low self-esteem, has been subjected to bullying in the past, or believes that the way they dress will affect the opinion others in the group have of them. These are reasonable concerns for a young person to have and, for that reason we do not insist on having cameras on in our KS3 group tutorials, but encourage the use of them.
It’s a little different at KS4. When we are taking students through a GCSE, it really is essential that we can see them in order to teach effectively, so we do insist on cameras being on at this level.
Encourage camera use if you can
If you have a child learning online, experience tells me they will get the most from their lessons with their camera turned on. Have a chat with your child about whether they use their camera or not and, if they don’t, encourage them to give it a go. Most students who start using them leave them on in subsequent lessons even if they were nervous at first. Our groups are friendly places so they are a great opportunity to start building up camera confidence.
Many Home Educators choose to engage the services of a professional tutor to help them deliver aspects of their Home Ed programme. Here are 5 tips to help you find the best…
Reasons for engaging a professional tutor vary but are likely to include access to specialist subject knowledge, experience in preparing engaging lessons, expert assessment/feedback or perhaps just a need to free up a bit of time!
Online technologies make it relatively easy to find tutors and have them deliver live sessions in the comfort of your home. However this is an unregulated sector so how can you be confident you are choosing the right tutor for you and your child?
What should you consider when looking for a tutor? What questions should you ask?
Here are Tutor Led Learning’s Top Five tips on appointing a professional tutor:
Safeguarding
Safeguarding is a term used to cover the health, wellbeing and human rights of individuals. Safeguarding is of particular importance to vulnerable people including children. Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) Certificates (previous CRBs) will be held by professional tutors to prove that they are not disqualified from working with young people.
A professional tutor will have had safeguarding training and will be able to explain to you the steps they have taken to promote the safety of your child during any tutoring sessions. Areas to consider include the use of webcams, recording of sessions, maintaining appropriate professional boundaries and discouraging/dealing with inappropriate behaviour.
All contact regarding the tuition should be arranged via the parent/carer and a child’s personal contact details (email address, phone number, social media details) should neither be requested nor offered.
Covid-19 presents a particular set of risks for any face to face tuition, particularly if tutors are frequently moving between households. If face to face tuition is permitted to take place it would be sensible to discuss your specific situation with the tutor. You should consider asking for a written risk assessment covering what they will do to minimise the risk of any viral transmission; Government guidance should always be followed.
Effective teaching is not just about knowledge transfer from the tutor to the student. A professional tutor will have learnt a range of different teaching techniques (pedagogy) so they can effectively educate young people with a broad range of learning styles. In the UK many teachers undertake a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) and then a year ‘on the job’ training before gaining Qualified Teacher Status (QTS). Other routes to QTS are available; your tutor should be able to explain what pedagogical training they have had.
Subject knowledge can be developed either formally or informally. A university degree is perhaps the most common way of demonstrating proficiency in a given subject and is likely to be essential if tutoring at Key Stage 5 (A-Level or equivalent). For learning up to Key Stage 4 (GCSE or equivalent) or for non-academic subjects, a tutor may have developed adequate subject knowledge through other means such as through a previous career. Being an expert in a given subject doesn’t necessarily make for a great tutor; for that you usually need experience.
3. Experience
Teaching is sometimes compared to cooking: a set of skills that are best learnt by doing. An effective professional tutor is likely to have considerable experience of either home tutoring, teaching in a classroom or working in another educational setting such as a museum or library. Experience means a tutor will be more able to vary how they teach, respond to the individual needs of your child, explain things in different ways and bring a subject to life with stories, anecdotes and links to everyday life.
Expert assistance around preparation for exams requires a tutor to have detailed knowledge of an Exam Board’s subject specification (a list of what needs to be taught for a given exam). Experience of setting and marking exam questions from that exam board is essential. If your tutor has been an Examiner (involving the paid marking of exam scripts) then they are likely to have an even deeper insight into how to avoid common pitfalls and bag those extra marks.
Online tutoring requires many of the same skills as face to face teaching/tutoring and a few new ones as well. Initially it can be difficult to make online lessons interactive and engaging – how is your potential tutor proposing to tackle this? Using several different platforms at once requires some technical skills – which platforms is your tutor comfortable with?
4. Rapport
For many students rapport is perhaps the most important way they will assess if a tutor is ‘any good’. Building rapport takes time and will depend on frequency of lessons, whether they are face to face or online and the personalities involved.
A professional tutor will carefully pitch the content of the lesson, Goldilocks style, so it is neither too hard nor too easy, however don’t expect them to get this right straight away. Enthusiasm about a subject is a good way to build rapport with a student as is the appropriate use of humour and sharing of anecdotes.
You might be surprised at the amount of praise you hear a professional tutor giving during a lesson. The process of learning can be rather bruising at times and praise helps keep the focus on what is going well rather than what is not. You may learn a few tricks to improve your own Home Educating by listening in to some or all of the lessons.
5. Terms and conditions
You should expect a tutor to be upfront and clear about their terms of business. Typically tutors will charge at least £25ph, this may sound a lot but if you factor in time for lesson preparation, feedback, administration, taxes, holiday and sick pay it’s not the pathway to great riches it may seem!
As well as discussing fees you may wish to consider a discussion about cancellation policies (in case of illness etc), notice for holidays, setting and marking of homework and assessment/feedback.
There’s not one way to approach the Ts and Cs but it’s generally better to discuss all this up front and make sure both parties are clear with what’s agreed, in writing.
These tips are not intended to be extensive guidance on how to choose the right tutor and should not be taken as definitive. If you have any further specific questions or think one of our professional tutors might be able to help you please get in touch.
