At Le Loft, we like things done properly. In the sciences, this means that theory and practice are treated as two sides of the same coin; they cannot be separated from each other without making it worthless. Our tuition strategies are based on this unbreakable rule.
Science tuition is provided on a one-to-one basis (and very occasionally, a two-to-one). Our tuition strategies are individually tailored to each student for maximum effectiveness. This has proved particularly useful for home-educated students as we can approach any syllabus in a flexible and responsive way. It has also proved very effective in responding to any Covid-related disruptions that a student may have been forced to accept (after all, during the lockdowns all students were 'home-ed' ones) and if we need to spend an extra couple of sessions on a fundamental principle or core syllabus item, we are free to do so. If we still don't 'get it' after a couple of tries, we are free to come back to it, by which time we will have covered other topics which may well unlock the issue. This means that students will be familiar with their favourite (and so usually their strongest) areas, but also (and critically) the areas where they need to exercise particular care and attention. The first step to improving your grades is to stop making silly mistakes!
Formally, these are:
(i) assimilation of existing scientific knowledge to build theoretical constructs ('models'); in plain English, we use what we already known about something to speculate about what we don't know.
(ii) developing and testing hypotheses based on these models with a view to improving them; this is the goal of experimental work: to test our ideas and see if they hold up.
(iii) reporting the results of these investigations in peer-reviewed journals; in plain English, we report what we have learned and then inviting other scientists to prove us wrong (which we hope they will fail to do).
(i) acquisition and consolidation of knowledge by regular tutorials; this is what is most people would understand as 'learning'.
(ii) expanding and testing our knowledge by practical experimentation in our teaching lab; we can also cover any or all of the 28 'required practicals' of the GCSE syllabuses.
(iii) 'writing-up' of lab work, analysing experimental data (including practice exam questions) and further reading.
Our tuition structures include practical work as an integral part of the science framework. Before our world was turned upside down by Covid, the first few tuitions were usually just concentrating on identifying the main gaps and holes in a student's knowledge; this was usually fairly straightforward as the schools were mostly delivering a full syllabus and with a full staff. However, after the last 3 years of disruption, we cannot take anything for granted and so our our first task nowadays is to ‘assess the damage’. The first aim is always restoring lost confidence and a sense of 'I can do this!'. Likewise, since Covid, we have had to abandon the structured approach we used to deliver; now it is more a question of 'have you done this practical? ... No?..OK, let's do it next week'. We believe we are unique in offering bespoke experiments to students (and certainly at no extra charge!).
Please contact us for a chat; and if you check out our prices, we are confident that you'll see that it is surprisingly affordable.
