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Who are we?

Nevil Chiles:

Nevil Chiles was born in Birmingham in 1970. He attended Haybridge High School in Hagley in the West Midlands, successfully completing 11 'O' Levels and 4 'A' Levels before leaving school in 1988.

After a year in Australia Nevil attended King's College, London where he read History, graduating in 1992. In the mid 1990s Nevil worked and travelled extensively throughout South East Asia and Australia before becoming involved in education. Nevil worked as a private GCSE tutor to an influential family in Manila in the Philippines before returning to London to take up a full time post in the GCSE Department at Collingham School, Kensington in 1997.

At Collingham Nevil taught History and English at both GCSE and A Level. In 2002 Nevil left Collingham to set up Kensington & Chelsea Tutors Limited.

Dr. Anna Clark:

Anna Clark was born in Stourbridge in 1972. After leaving Mander Portman Woodward (MPW) in Birmingham in 1991 with 4 'A' Levels she went on to the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine to study Medicine. She qualified as a doctor in 1999 and became a member of the Royal College of General Practitioners in 2001. Despite her involvement in Kensington & Chelsea Tutors she continues to work as a GP.

Private Tuition on the Rise in the Capital

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Private Tuition on the Rise in the Capital

Pioneering Tuition Firm celebrates Decade Milestone

One of the UK's first private tuition websites is celebrating ten years in existence with a clear upward trend in demand around London and the South East despite the economic downturn.

Nevil Chiles, founder of Kensington and Chelsea Tutors who provide private tuition across London and the South East, is well placed to comment on the burgeoning growth in the industry and he's clear as to why more and more parents are turning to his business and many others focused on private tuition.

Nevil explained: “Over the past decade parents in London have become increasingly interested not only in how well their children are educated but also where. Demand for the top schools has exponentially increased as a result. Places are further squeezed by an influx of monied families from overseas keen to get their children educated in this country. Many see a place at a top London school as a fast track to Oxford and Cambridge.

“Demand for Private Tuition has grown enormously and inevitably so have the number of companies providing tutors. We have always put quality and safety first. We are a Registered Body with the Criminal Records Bureau so we carry out our own Enhanced Disclosures on applicants. We interview all potential tutors in the flesh to ensure continuity of the quality of our service. We feel meeting and vetting all tutors is essential. It is all too easy to compile a list of tutors and throw them out there; doing it right takes time and experience.

“As the industry has grown the importance of student safety has become increasingly polarised. Parents are rightly ever more concerned that potential tutors are officially vetted by the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) through Registered Bodies. Individuals should be in possession of a recent Enhanced Disclosure. Beware of tutors and agencies that are not scrupulous about this,” added Nevil who has spent the last 20 years working in and around education and he saw the clear potential when he established www.kctutors.co.uk in 2002.

He went on “Prior to establishing K & C Tutors I was teaching at a private school in central London. Many parents were worried that their children were not getting the attention they required in the classroom environment and we often had requests for one-to-one lessons to focus on their specific needs.

“Although we have no accurate statistics on how much private tuition takes place in the UK it's obvious that the gradual increase in demand over the last decade is down to a growing disillusionment (rightly or wrongly) on the part of parents in what their offspring can achieve within mainstream education alone.

“Aside from extraordinary circumstances it is hard to see how the assistant of a private tutor can be anything but helpful with tuition focused on an individual's needs.

“Parents are often the last people a struggling schoolchild will turn to for help. A tutor can be a mentor as well as an educator.

“We've seen a particularly strong growth in interest from families from the Middle East, South and East Asia and Eastern European. These might be families who have come to stay or perhaps who have temporarily come here for educational reasons alone.

“As the UK's education sector continues to evolve, perhaps not always positively, private tuition provides a bolt on that gives pupils the opportunity to excel, especially when it comes to exam time. We all want our children to achieve their potential and any extra help can prove invaluable,” added Nevil who has personally interviewed over 2000 tutors currently on the company's books.

“It's absolutely vital that we have the highest quality private tutors available for our clients and the process we employ all but guarantees that pupils get the very best in extracurricular tuition.

“We cover a very wide span of subjects. This is a factor purely of experience. To build a quality database of potential tutors can take a very long time. We have over 2000 registered tutors who have all been vetted personally by us. That is the equivalent of interviewing one person a day for five-and-a-half years!

“There has been an increase in demand for Mathematics and English tuition for younger students emerging over the last ten years. The 11+ Examination, which is generally approximately 50% Maths and English based, is becoming increasingly important as an entrance criteria for Secondary School,” concluded Nevil.

For more information about K&C Tutors please visit www.kctutors.co.uk