Our Story
Meet Liz and Sarah. Both teachers. Both passionate about learning. Both ready to make online tuition fun and engaging.
When we set up Next Steps Tutors, we had a vision of how education should be: friendly, appropriately paced and there to deliver confidence AND results. We want to give your child a voice where they can tell us their learning needs. We want your child to question us and to feel challenged. We want your child to grow in confidence and reach their goals.
And when your child outgrows us and they hop, skip and jump on their own? Well, they’ll have the next steps in lifelong learning and you’ll have a child who thrives.
Meet Sarah
I’ve been a teacher for almost 20 years and mum to a son with ADHD for more than that. It’s really both of these experiences that have made me the tutor I am today.
When I started teaching, with my son as a toddler, I can’t say that I knew much at all about neurodiversity. But early into my career he was diagnosed with ADHD and it was really then that I started noticing how the school system just didn’t fit for some children. As a parent, I wanted nothing more than my son to be accepted for who he was at school and for him to be supported in ways that suited his needs. More often than not, he ran up against teachers too ready to use the ‘naughty’ label and not willing to see their own communication as part of the problem.
Rather than rolling my eyes and complaining in the staffroom, I vowed to find ways to support ALL children in my classes. I trained in SEND communication, Inclusion and Child Mental Health. I built trust with my vulnerable students, found out how they ticked, and supported them in all the ways that they needed. For a while, I made a difference.
But I found more and more as schools became a rigid exercise in box-ticking that I wasn’t meeting anyone’s needs anymore, my own included. As soon as I started tutoring I discovered its power for positive change, building confidence and accelerating progress.
I got a chance to make a massive impact in children’s lives again and tutoring became my Plan A. That was two years ago and I haven’t looked back. Supporting SEND children to access the curriculum and make progress has and always will be, the driving force behind all that I do.
Meet Liz
I have been a teacher for almost twenty years and during that time I have been an Assistant Head Teacher, a Specialist Leader of Education and a Lead Teacher. Every decision that I made was based on one core value – my passion to improve life chances and education for children. Although my decisions affected large numbers of children, it is the individual children that I have taught where I have been most proud.
From the child who had been a school refuser because ‘no one got her’ to the child who was unable to read or write more than the name at the age of eleven, I remember them all.
I remember how they were, at first, determined not to communicate, or would communicate their frustrations through behaviours that would challenge. By the time that they had left me, every single one had made progress. They left feeling more ready to take the next step in their journey.
Mostly, this was down to each child’s hard work and effort, but I also know that I had facilitated this progress.
Firstly, I believe that children have to trust before they can learn. They have to trust that I want to understand them. They have to trust that I want to improve their knowledge and skills. They have to trust that I will keep them safe: safe to make mistakes; safe to voice their opinions and to be heard. Trust is built through relationships.
Once you no longer become a stranger to a child and you know them and they know you, trust follows and progress in learning follows.
I have taught many children over many years with many different special educational needs, some with diagnosed conditions such as ASD or ODD and some without a diagnosis, for whom the school system doesn’t seem to fit.
I believe that every child deserves a chance to be able to make progress and be educated in a way that can be adapted to their individual needs, improves their life chances and encourages them to become resilient, life-long learners.
We’re committed to keeping your child safe online.
Liz, Sarah and all our tutors have:
A DBS check. Safeguarding training. Tutors’ Association Membership. SEND training. Mental Health & Wellbeing training. Online Safety training.
Small Group
Tuition
Friendly & approachable
Same tutor each lesson
Qualified, experienced,
DBS checked tutors
Curriculum Based
Guided Pathways
Meet All Our Tutors
Confidence:
Confident children approach new ideas with a sense of discovery and adventure.
Resilience:
Resilient children keep going when they hit a problem. They look for alternative solutions.
Purpose:
Children who find a purpose in their learning work towards an outcome and pace their learning.
Our Values
We champion growth through good communication, good relationships and good wellbeing.
Our Philosophy
- We model skills in small groups
- We give space to deepen understanding
- We allow time to practice in a supportive environment
Our Commitment
We will strive just as hard as your child and reach for their goals alongside them.
