A tutor leaves in March
One of your best tutors is moving away in March. She teaches eight students, several of them in Year 11 with GCSEs in May. The owner finds new tutors for each. The new tutors ask the obvious question: where are they up to? The departing tutor writes a few lines about each from memory in her last week. Some of it is detailed, some is 'doing well, working on algebra'.
The new tutors spend the first two or three lessons finding out what the student knows. Parents, who were told the handover would be smooth, notice that the first lessons repeat things their child has already done.
Why handovers lose so much
- What a student has covered lives in the tutor's head or their personal notes.
- Lesson notes, if any, are written for the tutor, not for someone else to read.
- Scores on practice papers are kept by tutors, or not kept.
- Resources and past papers used are not recorded, so they are repeated.
- The handover happens in the tutor's last week, when they are busy.
What a poor handover costs
Lessons spent on catching up that parents pay for. Parents' confidence dropping, especially close to exams. Students frustrated at repeating work. Some families leave at a tutor change, and a poor handover makes that more likely. It also makes the agency depend on individual tutors, because the knowledge of each student leaves with them.
The student record we build
- After each lesson, the tutor records a short note: topics covered, and a quick rating of how secure the student is on each, from a simple scale.
- Topics are chosen from a list for the subject, level and exam board, so every tutor records them the same way.
- Scores on practice questions, past papers and mocks are recorded with the paper used.
- Resources used, such as specific past papers, are logged so they are not repeated.
- The record builds up into a picture of the student: topics covered and how secure, scores over time and what was planned next.
- When a new tutor takes over, they get the record, and a short summary is drafted from it for them to read before their first lesson.
| What the new tutor needs | Where it comes from |
|---|---|
| Topics covered and how secure | Topic list and ratings from each lesson |
| Scores and trends | Practice and mock results |
| Papers already used | Resource log |
| What was planned next | Last few lesson notes |
The record is built by tutors as they teach. It does not replace their judgement, and the new tutor will still get to know the student in their own way.
A tutor change, afterwards
The departing tutor does not write handover notes in her last week, because the record already exists. Each new tutor reads their student's record: topics covered with a clear mark on which ones are shaky, three mock scores, the papers already used and the plan for the next few weeks. The first lesson picks up from there.
Parents see that the change went smoothly. The owner is less dependent on any single tutor.
The same record helps when nothing changes, too. A tutor planning the run-up to exams can see at a glance which topics have not been revisited for weeks, without flicking back through a notebook.
The topic list is the part to get right first. We agree it with you for your main subjects and boards, so tutors pick from the same list and the record means the same thing whoever wrote it. After that, adding a subject is a matter of adding its list.
Signs your handovers need work
- New tutors start by working out where the student is.
- Handover notes are written from memory at the last minute.
- Practice paper scores are not recorded centrally.
- Students repeat past papers they have already done.
- Families leave when their tutor changes.