Short answer: ask who will teach your child, what experience they have, how the starting point is identified, what happens in a lesson, how progress is reviewed, what the full cost is and what happens if the approach is not helping.
A confident provider should answer clearly. You should not need to decode vague promises about “unlocking potential” before understanding the practical offer.
1. Who will actually teach my child?
Ask whether the person you meet is the person who will teach. Find out about qualifications, DBS checking and relevant experience with the subject, age range and qualification your child is studying.
Experience matters most when it is relevant. Teaching early reading, GCSE resit maths and entrance-exam writing require different knowledge.
2. How will you identify the starting point?
A school grade or parent concern is useful context, but it may not reveal why a learner is stuck. Ask whether the provider uses diagnostic tasks, written work, discussion, school information and observation.
A useful assessment should identify strengths as well as gaps and lead to a small number of clear priorities.
3. What will happen during a normal lesson?
Ask how much time involves direct teaching, independent practice, written work, technology and review. If it is group tuition, ask how many learners one teacher supports and whether everyone completes the same work.
At Kip McGrath Darlington, lessons last 60 minutes, with a maximum of four students per tutor. Each learner follows individual work and receives direct one-to-one help within the session.
4. How is the work adapted?
“Personalised” should describe more than a child's name on a worksheet. Ask how the tutor changes the level, explanation, pace and next task in response to what the learner does.
Also ask how tuition connects to school. Support should strengthen access to classroom learning without creating a competing curriculum or simply completing tomorrow's homework.
5. How will we know whether it is working?
Look beyond promises of rapid grade increases. Ask what will be reviewed, how often the plan is reconsidered and how progress will be explained to you.
Evidence may include greater accuracy, using a strategy independently, attempting harder questions, improved fluency or needing less reassurance. Our guide to realistic tutoring progress explains this further.
6. What are the safeguarding arrangements?
Ask about DBS checking, supervision, communication with children, collection arrangements, online-session safeguards and what happens if a concern is raised. Safeguarding should be explained plainly rather than treated as an awkward question.
7. What does it cost in total?
Ask for the lesson length, price, frequency and any registration, assessment, material, cancellation or platform charges. Compare what is included rather than converting every service into an hourly rate.
Tuition at Kip McGrath Darlington starts from £37 for a structured 60-minute lesson. Read our full guide to tutoring costs in Darlington.
8. What if this is not the right fit?
A responsible provider should be willing to discuss when their model may not suit a learner. Ask what happens if your child does not engage, the plan is not producing meaningful change or a different kind of support becomes more appropriate.
Our guide on when tutoring is not the right answer sets out those limitations honestly.
A final comparison checklist
Can I clearly explain who will teach and what happens?
Does the plan respond to my child's actual starting point?
Are safeguarding and practical arrangements clear?
Do I understand the complete cost?
Is there a credible way to review progress?
Would my child feel able to make mistakes in this setting?
If you want to understand how our answers apply to your child, a free educational assessment provides a no-pressure starting point.
