SPECIALIST TUTORS
Elementary
Tutoring
Laying the foundation for a child's academic journey & fostering a love of learning
Elementary school covers Kindergarten through Grade 5, when children are aged five to eleven. It is the stage at which reading becomes fluent and mathematical reasoning begins to develop. It is also a key time when a child forms their earliest understanding of education and how it fits into their wider life, developing the educational habits and joy in learning that will serve them throughout the rest of their academic journey and beyond.
At Witherow Brooke, we offer different services to support children through elementary school. Our services include identifying and recruiting elite tutors for full-time homeschooling, academic support and travelling tutoring roles, as well as online homeschooling with a bespoke timetable of subject specialist tutors, and flexible hourly tutoring. For all full-time and intensive tutoring roles Witherow Brooke also provides a unique level of oversight and support to both tutors and families, including quarterly reports where progress is tracked against academic goals as well as strategy for future educational ambitions.
The tutors we identify are selected for their expertise in early years and elementary teaching, whether in systematic phonics and early reading, handwriting and written composition, or the foundations of number, operations and mathematical reasoning, as well as the warmth and patience that teaching children of five to eleven requires. Above all we understand that the right personality of tutor is key to foster a strong rapport with the student, bringing a joy to their studies and developing strong educational habits and a love of learning.
Book a consultation with us so we can help you find a private tutor for your child today.
The academic aims & milestones of elementary school
Reading
Children are taught to decode through systematic phonics, and following this children develop fluency, expression and comprehension, and inference. Until Grade 3, a child is learning to read; from Grade 3 onwards, they are expected to read in order to learn everything else. This is the most consequential transition in elementary education, and it is why so many states attach particular significance to third grade reading proficiency. A child whose reading is not yet fluent will find every subject harder.
Writing
Children move from forming letters correctly to composing sentences, and then to planning, drafting and revising extended pieces with accurate spelling, grammar and punctuation.
Mathematics
The emphasis falls first on number sense and fluency with basic facts. A child who must reconstruct a multiplication fact each time they need it will find every subsequent stage of mathematics harder. From Grade 3 onwards the curriculum moves into multi-digit operations and fractions. Finally children are introduced to algebraic expressions and forming mathematical phrases in order to problem solve.
Science, social studies and the arts
These supplementary subjects expand through these grades, and are where a child's reading comprehension is applied, where vocabulary is acquired, and where intellectual interests form. A child fascinated by volcanoes or the ancient world is a child learning that knowledge is interesting, which is the disposition every later stage relies upon.
Most states begin annual standardized testing in English language arts and mathematics in Grade 3. These assessments provide a useful external reference point, though they are designed to measure proficiency against a state standard rather than to indicate whether a particular child is being appropriately stretched.
Educational habits & developing a love of learning
Beyond the curriculum, the formation of the habits and the mindset towards learning and education are a formative part of a child's early academic journey, forming the basis for everything that follows. The educational philosopher John Dewey highlights the ultimate aim of education being to help the child appreciate the present and prepare for the future, and those foundations are laid even at this early stage.
Concentration
A five year old can attend closely for a short time; a seven year old should manage considerably longer. That capacity is built deliberately, by extending the length of tasks a little at a time and by teaching a child to return their attention when it wanders, rather than by expecting stillness they cannot yet produce.
Flexible thinking
Children should learn early that most problems admit of more than one approach, and that being stuck is an ordinary part to be embraced rather than experienced as a source of frustration. A tutor who asks a child how else the problem might be tackled, or shows numerous ways of approaching a problem or topic, is displaying a crucial skill for the child to take forward into later life.
Patience
How a child responds when work becomes hard is largely settled in these years. A child who has been allowed to struggle briefly, with support, and has then succeeded, learns that difficulty is temporary and not to give up when challenges occur.
Self-Belief
A child's sense of whether they are "good at math" tends to form early, and self-belief is among the strongest predictors of later mathematical attainment. A child who believes they can solve a problem will persist with it long enough to do so, and a child who does not will disengage before they have properly begun. Mathematics is also the subject in which anxiety takes hold most readily and most durably. This is why the tone of early mathematics teaching matters as much as its content: a child kept slightly ahead of the demands placed on them, given problems they can succeed at with sustained effort, and shown that difficulty is a normal part of thinking, arrives at the abstraction of later years expecting to cope with it.
Independence and pride in work
Children learn to take pride in something completed carefully and to a high standard, and that pride is the foundation of excelling in later study. It is built by expecting proper work and noticing it, not by praising everything indiscriminately.
Curiosity
Above all, this stage should leave a child wanting to know things. Making learning relevant to their own experience, and following their enthusiasms further than the syllabus requires. Curiosity is ultimately the most important trait to develop in order to foster a love of learning, to help the child appreciate the present and prepare for the future.
How we ensure the right tutor for your family
The Key Stage 1 curriculum is best taught by a single educator, combining expertise in diverse teaching methodologies, with the warmth and personality to form a strong bond with the child. In this way the teacher can best understand which pedagogical approaches resonate with the child, as well as what motivates them and where their interests lie.
A single tutor is also the person best placed to develop the habits this stage exists to establish. Concentrating for gradually longer periods, approaching a problem in more than one way, and remaining patient when something proves difficult are gradually built across every task a child undertakes, by an adult who knows what they are looking for.
For full-time roles, our extensive recruitment and oversight process begins with developing a detailed job specification in collaboration with the family detailing the background to the role, role of the tutor, and desired tutor profile. This is used as a basis for a bespoke headhunt with the family ultimately presented with a shortlist of candidates each with a bio written by us, a full CV, recorded sample lesson, multiple references and the highest level of background checks. For such roles we also provide a unique level of support and oversight, including quarterly reports where progress is tracked against longer-term educational ambitions.
Where a child requires specialist input, for example structured literacy teaching for a suspected specific learning difficulty, or extension for a child working well beyond their year group, Witherow Brooke can identify specialists with the specific expertise as well as personality to best suit the child, providing support and oversight to both tutor and family with every engagement. We understand that every child is unique and work with each family to identify which approach best suits their specific needs.
Our immersive process for full-time roles
For full time positions, how we facilitate and oversee the highest-quality tutoring for your child.
Our goal is to ensure each child transitions confidently, whether into higher education,
a new school, an alternative curriculum, or more advanced tuition.
Full-time homeschooling & academic support tutors for elementary students
Witherow Brooke provides specialist full-time, in-person home tutoring worldwide for children from Kindergarten through Grade 5, whether across the full elementary years or a shorter, more intensive period. We also place full-time academic support tutors for families looking to supplement traditional schooling with a full-time or significant-hours educator.
Every child is unique, and so is every family's situation. That's why we have a bespoke recruitment and oversight process for every full-time or intensive tutoring role. This process carefully identifies tutors who are best suited to each child's needs, learning style and personality, ensuring children are paired with expert educators capable of delivering the full elementary curriculum to an elite standard.
Homeschooling is particularly effective at this age. The elementary curriculum can be delivered in far less time one to one than a classroom requires, which leaves room for the reading, conversation, play and physical activity that matter just as much, particularly at ages 5 and 6. The day can be shaped around a child's natural rhythm, with short periods of concentrated academic work when attention is strongest.
Elementary is also the stage at which additional needs most often first become apparent, and providing a safe and enjoyable learning environment at this stage is paramount to the child's future enjoyment of education. Our SEN tutoring service identifies educators with specialist training and experience alongside their early years teaching experience to be able to tailor their lessons and approaches to suit the child's requirements.
When required, tutors are able to travel or relocate without disrupting academic progress, which makes this a natural fit for internationally mobile families who want continuity of teaching through the years when it matters most.
At Witherow Brooke we also provide a unique level of support and oversight, including quarterly reports where we track progress towards long-term educational ambitions and highlight any upcoming decisions or milestones, including advice on educational pathways.
Contact us today to explore how specialist homeschooling or academic support can support your child academically.
Online specialist elementary tutors for flexible tutoring
For families seeking flexible, targeted support, Witherow Brooke offers online homeschooling with a bespoke timetable of subject specialist tutors and a timetable overseen by Witherow Brooke, as well as flexible hourly tutoring.
Hourly tutoring offers flexible schedules focused on specific areas, from phonics and reading fluency to handwriting, spelling and early mathematics, or on preparation for higher levels of education.
K, (THE MOTHER)
“We were delighted to find your service, enabling us to travel to the places we want to whilst keeping up with B’s [the student] education. He really looked forward to his lessons with H [the tutor], and even today they are in touch.”
MEET ONE OF OUR TUTORS
Noel Moka
Tutor of Geography
Noel studied Geography at St Catharine’s College, Oxford, graduating in 2017. Prior to this he took A-Levels in Geography, History and Biology. Whilst at University, Noel founded The Park Society, an organisation for environmental awareness, conducting fieldwork and research, producing interviews, podcasts and documentaries, and organising offline and online exhibitions, experimenting in the intersection between Science and the arts.
FAQs
Is a child of five or six too young for tutoring? Not if it is done properly. Tutoring at this age should look like short, varied, largely enjoyable sessions with an adult who knows how to teach young children. What makes the difference is the quality of the teaching rather than the quantity: an hour of precise, well-judged one-to-one work can achieve more than a week of classroom time, and it need not displace anything a childhood should contain.
How can I tell whether my child needs support? Reading is the clearest early signal. A child who is guessing at words from context rather than decoding them, who avoids reading aloud or independently, or who reads accurately but cannot say what a passage implies, will benefit from focused help. In mathematics, watch for a child who is still calculating basic facts rather than recalling them, or who struggles with fractions in the upper grades. Report cards at this stage frequently describe a child as meeting the standard without indicating whether they are secure.
What if my child is ahead rather than behind? This is a common reason families come to us, and a good one. A child who reads fluently at five or takes obvious pleasure in number can find that school necessarily moves at the pace of the class, and boredom at this age can become a settled habit of disengagement that is difficult to reverse. One-to-one teaching allows a child to work as far ahead as their interest carries them, which also strengthens their position for gifted programme placement and independent school admissions.
Does elementary tutoring help with independent school admissions? Yes, admissions assessments at this level test reading, writing and mathematical reasoning built steadily across the elementary years, alongside a child's composure with an unfamiliar adult. Consistent teaching is therefore the most effective preparation available, and considerably gentler than a concentrated push in the months before an assessment.
Do you support families following other curricula or living abroad? Yes. We regularly work with internationally mobile families, and with those following the British, IB or other national curricula. Our tutors bridge the differences between systems, address any gaps created by a change of curriculum, and prepare children for entry into a new school in a different country.
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