We recently featured in MaHa and we wanted to share with you what we wrote… in case you haven't spotted it :)
While education makes headlines on a daily basis, INICIO Tutors aim to make learning fun, relaxing and enjoyable. Sarah Ludden-Roughley tells MaHa all about her team of tutors, home-from-home designed studio and what they can offer children and parents over the coming year.
‘My early experiences as a tutor helped us to realise that traditional tutoring wasn’t ideal for inspiring confident students. So, we created INICIO back in 2012 to make learning fun, positive and interesting. Instead of tutoring at a kitchen table, we bring students together in our own homely learning environment. Our approach is unique because your child feels relaxed alongside other students, but is guaranteed one-to-one attention from their personal tutor.
INICIO means inspire in Latin and that is what we are all about. We inspire our students to love learning, to enjoy their least favourite subject, to work harder and smarter, to be curious! Getting a student from a B to an A* is easy, getting a student who hates French to love French (and then choose it at A level… then degree!) is how we are different. That’s our legacy.
Our tutors are talented, vibrant and engaging and we believe that we get amazing results because we connect with students on a personal level and give them the opportunity to learn independently.
This relaxed, yet passionate, approach to learning means that students achieve more than they (and their parents) imagined was possible. We place an enormous amount of trust in all of our learners (from age 6 to adults) and treat them all with respect, beautiful surroundings and a warm and friendly atmosphere. It’s where we would have personally thrived as learners, that’s for sure! We also communicate clearly and regularly with parents, sending monthly feedback reports and assessment updates.
INICIO sessions are either spent entirely on 'paper-based' learning (for example with A level English) or they are split into 40 minutes on the pupil's own individual (Mac-based) revision, with the other 40 minutes spent with tailored worksheets, past papers etc. Students receive lots of one-to-one attention, a bespoke revision pathway, the choice of hot chocolate, tea, juice, water etc and we even have cookies towards the end of every session!
As every student is working on their own individual revision pathway, the atmosphere is studious and quiet and even the little ones feel very grown up! Being tutored when there is more than one student present is definitely the most effective way of learning; it gives learners all of the benefits of 1:1 tuition (the chance to be taught a specific and tailored topic by their tutor, with no one listening in and no one to keep up with) whilst also giving them the opportunity to put this new knowledge into practice by answering questions independently whilst their tutor is with another student, which is so very important. Knowing that they are capable of working without a constant comfort blanket instils a confidence and self-belief that 1:1 tuition simply cannot offer. On top of this, students feel more relaxed and at ease, answering questions in their own time without the pressure of their tutor watching them, yet still allowing them to voice any issues that they have and ensuring that they don't veer too far off course if they've misunderstood. Finally, it makes the sessions more enjoyable when others are busy studying around you too and they have a lovely chat as a group before the session starts!
How has INICIO changed over the past few months?
We have been based in the heart of Market Harborough for the best part of 9 years now and, pre-Covid, we turned down many requests for online tuition from those further afield. We are so different to other tuition offerings (both at home and in centres) and we were worried that online tuition wouldn’t get across how homely, supportive and nurturing INICIO is.
The pandemic left us with two choices: rise to the challenge of creating remote sessions which DO replicate our values and ethos or leave our students without a (virtual) hand to hold for the duration. We researched, created and trained around the clock to be able to present a seamless transition to our online sessions. Just as we are not the average tuition centre, we are not your average online tutoring either. There are no Zoom meetings or Google Hangouts to be seen!
It has also been amazing to be able to bring our unique style of tutoring online to homes further afield. We have new students that couldn’t have started their INICIO journey if we only offered in-house tuition and we have also managed to help past students who had relocated (including to Japan and Canada) to pick up where they left off with us. The feedback has been phenomenal and we’re so pleased that we’ve been able to offer continuity and support through these strange times.
We intend to continue the online sessions alongside the recently re-introduced face-to-face sessions, so we have more flexibility and capacity than ever to help students to catch up and have them feeling more confident about the year ahead.
INICIO parents talk about how their child’s confidence has increased and that they always leave feeling happy and proud with their efforts. Improved grades are a brilliant by-product, but it is that massive difference to a child’s attitude towards learning and their self belief that matters to us more than anything!
With almost a decade serving the local area, more than 50 5 star Google reviews and the sheer volume of families who have been with us for subject after subject, sibling after sibling, we couldn’t be prouder of the family that we have created. If anyone wants to talk to us about their worries, their plans or their needs, we are right here.’