What KS1 tutoring actually looks like
A KS1 tutor near you isn’t running a mini-classroom. Sessions are short, paced for a five or six-year-old, and built around what the school is doing that week. A typical 40-minute session might start with five minutes of phonics flashcards using whichever scheme the school teaches (Little Wandle is now the most common after the DfE validation in 2021, with Read Write Inc still strong in academy chains). Then 15 minutes on a reading book at the right book band — yellow, blue, green, orange, turquoise, purple — with the tutor stopping to ask retrieval questions. Then 15 minutes on number work, usually with physical kit: Numicon shapes, ten-frames, double-sided counters. The last five minutes is something the child enjoys — a story, a quick maths game, a sticker.
The good ones don’t try to teach Year 3 content early. A KS1 tutor working properly will focus on fluency at the current level until it’s effortless, then move up half a step. If a Year 1 child can read green-band books but stumbles on every third word, the answer isn’t yellow band, it’s more green band until they can read it without sounding out. Parents often want acceleration. Tutors who know what they’re doing push back gently and explain why.
What to ask before you book
Ask which phonics scheme the tutor teaches. If it doesn’t match the school’s, that’s a problem. Ask for a DBS check — every tutor on TheTutorLink uploads theirs and you can see the date it was issued. Ask whether they’re a qualified teacher (QTS), a teaching assistant, or an experienced parent. All three can be brilliant, but pricing should reflect it: a QTS primary teacher in their tenth year is worth £35-£40, a confident TA might be £25-£30.
A short checklist worth running through:
- Which phonics scheme do you teach?
- Have you got a current enhanced DBS?
- Will you send me a one-line summary after each lesson?
- Do you do the free trial in our home or yours, or online?
- What happens if my child has a meltdown — have you got a plan?
The last one matters. Six-year-olds have off-days. A tutor who answers ‘we’d just stop and read a story’ is one you want.
A real example — Year 1 phonics, Tooting
A parent in SW17 booked a KS1 tutor through TheTutorLink in October last year. Their daughter was in Year 1 at Hillbrook Primary, on red book band when most of the class were on yellow, and the teacher had flagged her in the autumn parent meeting. The tutor — a qualified primary teacher who’d left a Wandsworth state school after maternity leave — came once a week for 40 minutes on a Wednesday. She used Little Wandle (matching the school), worked through the Phase 4 sounds the child had missed, and read with her for fifteen minutes from the school book bag. By February the child was on yellow band and passed the Year 1 Phonics Screening Check in June with 36/40. Total spend: 22 sessions at £30, so £660 across the year. The mistake parents make at this age is starting too late and going too hard — once a fortnight from October would have done less than once a week from January, even though it’s the same number of sessions.
How tutoring fits with school and what to tell the teacher
A short note worth raising at the next parent-teacher meeting: tell the class teacher you’ve booked a tutor. Most state primary teachers welcome it because tutoring at home reinforces what they’re doing in class — but only if the schemes match. The teacher can usefully tell the tutor which sounds the child has been taught (Phase 3, Phase 4, Phase 5), which book band the child is on, and which Numicon shapes they’re working with. Some Wandsworth schools will share the half-term phonics overview directly with the tutor by email if the parent asks. That single piece of paper saves the tutor a session of diagnostic guessing.
The other useful conversation is about timing. KS1 children are tired by the end of the school day. A tutoring session straight after pick-up at 3:30 sometimes doesn’t work — the child is hungry, fidgety and emotionally done. Many KS1 tutors prefer a Saturday morning slot or a 5pm slot after a snack and a break. Test what works for your child in the first two sessions; if it’s not landing, change the time before you blame the tutor.
What it costs and how booking works
Across England, KS1 rates sit between £25 and £40 an hour. In Inner London (postcodes like SW7, NW3, W11) you’ll see £40-£50 for QTS primary teachers. Outside the M25, £25-£32 is normal. Sessions of 30-45 minutes usually pro-rata from the hourly — so a £30/hour tutor charges £20 for a 40-minute session. Most KS1 tutors do weekly during term time and pause for school holidays unless the parent specifically wants holiday catch-up.
On TheTutorLink the first lesson is free. That matters more at KS1 than any other key stage because you can’t tell from a profile whether a five-year-old will warm to a stranger. Twenty minutes into the trial you’ll know. The platform fee is 5%, paid by the tutor, which is why most are happy to do the free trial — they keep 95% of every paid session afterwards. Compare with the bigger agencies that take 20-25% and you can see why experienced KS1 teachers list here. Filter by your postcode, by KS1 level, and by phonics scheme, message two or three, and book a trial with the one who replies thoughtfully.