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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.

Mum's the word on online tuition growth

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October 2012

Mum's the word on online tuition growth

The rapid growth in online private tuition over the past few years is no surprise to mother-of-three Erica Rifat from Oxford!

"This is the way the Facebook generation have got used to communicating and it's a process they've become very comfortable with as opposed to the parents who are still, on the whole, coming to terms with this sort of technology," explained Erica, one of whose daughters has been using Webtutornet to top up her knowledge of Maths.

"Whilst I'm not exactly a technophobe it still feels that this technology is like something out of Tomorrow's World and I'm sure that's the case for many parents. It's a sign of the times and the way the web is becoming increasingly ingrained in our lives. For children today all of this is completely normal.

"I know there's a lot of Skype style face-to-face tuition solutions out there for parents and pupils that might be too busy to arrange a home tutor visit so this offers a convenient way of adding to their classroom education.

"The single most important consideration as a parent is that the system is safe and secure and that the tutor involved has been vetted by the tuition facilitator and I know that Webtutornet, through Kensington and Chelsea Tutors, take this aspect very seriously.

"You have to have peace of mind if you are to entrust your child's education into the hands of a relative stranger online and I found it important personally to chat initially online with the tutor that we use. That puts your mind at rest.

"Secondly you must be confident that the information shared during the lesson remains confidential and secure and this is very much the case with solutions such as Webtutornet.

"Since then each and every lesson has gone very smoothly and it's a simple and easy way of delivering private tuition.

"Another great advantage of an approach like Webtutornet is that the lesson is at a fixed time mimicking the discipline required within a school environment or for a home tuition visit. Your child has to be ready to start or they may miss part of the lesson and this is crucial to structuring their understanding.

"Finally I no longer have to drive across town and drop my child off at a tutor's house and be left to twiddle my thumbs for an hour or so. It cuts out all of that hassle," added Erika who admitted to having test trialled other online systems.

There's also significant advantages from the tutor's perspective as Angad Rihal, the maths teacher engaged by Erika, explained: "Webtutornet is a truly bespoke solution that has been developed for the student with teaching in mind. The ease of use clearly shows it has been masterminded by people in the industry and is far superior to just using dabble board or Skype.

"This is finally bridging the gap between the internet and private teaching which is long overdue and fitting given the tech savvy zeitgeist.

"It also saves a lot of time on travelling to the homes of students which, with traffic the way it is, can be a priceless advantage," added Angad.

Each tutor and pupil who sign up to Webtutornet receive a special pack containing a webcam, earphones and microphone and a pen with mousemat that allows for tutor and pupil to share resources that are stored securely online.

The Webtutornet system has been two years in development according to the man behind it. Nevil Chiles, founder of Kensington and Chelsea Tutors a decade ago, has seen demand for private tuition sky rocket over the past ten years.

"Online delivery is the natural next step in the evolution of private tuition and there's a number of different businesses and websites that specialise in providing face to face education through the web.

"Coming from the perspective of a father of three it was very much my priority to design a system that countered all of the concerns that a parent might have and safety and security have always been my number one objective," added Nev.

Erica concluded: "My daughter and I thought our tutor Angal was brilliant and by far the best Maths tutor she has had. The proof is in the pudding and she performed far better than expected in the exam for which she was preparing.

"Webtutornet is a fun way to learn for children and tutors, such as Angal, create engaging lessons that really enhance the learning process. It couldn't be more simple, or secure, and I would encourage parents everywhere to give it serious consideration."

Nevil's brother, ITV Sport presenter Adrian Chiles, is another convert to Webtutornet: "You can learn anything, anytime, anywhere and it's so simple even I can understand it!"

Adrian presents a number of online videos that seek to explain the Webtutornet way in more detail.