A tutoring agency can take out a lot of the stress when trying to find the right tutor for your child. Whether you’re looking for help with school entrance, GCSEs, A-levels or general curriculum support, tuition agencies have a roster of experienced tutors. They eliminate the need for endless hours of searching and some offer very worthwhile services beyond just the standard one to one tuition. We’ve picked out our top 10 London tuition agencies.
1. Mentor Education
Mentor have been winning award after award in recently years, being most recently named “Tutoring Agency of the Year” at the main industry awards. Mentor Education is the secret of London parents in the know, successfully guiding children into the finest schools for nearly forty years at 11 Plus and 13 Plus. Deep expertise in London school entrance and a relationship with Cambridge University Education Department (CEM) help Mentor provide the most meaningful academic assessments and hence guidance on applications. The tutors are the secret sauce, and their roster boasts teachers from Westminster and St Paul’s, amongst others. They are experts in the Hampstead roster of schools such as NLCS, Highgate, and Habs as well as the South London schools such as Alleyn’s, Dulwich College, JAGS and Emanuel. They also are the publisher of the best selling book “How to Pass the 11 Plus” so their school entrance credentials are impeccable. They are having a pause in business this year but we hope they will be back soon.
2. Hermes Education
Hermes Education are the acknowledged experts in the world of 4 Plus and 7 Plus. They span out of Mentor Education when that business took a temporary pause. They have teachers from all the very best schools such as Highgate, Westminster and Alleyn’s. On top of this they have Speech and Language experts, an educational psychologist and phonics experts. They have partnerships with both Cambridge Universities and Oxford Universities for testing of children for the 4 Plus which puts them in a different league to many other providers. They help around 100 children a year pass the 4 Plus with success rates over 70%. This the is the team that invented the first 4 Plus programme and they are constantly innovating in this space. They also have a very well developed and structured 7 Plus programme which has regular testing in its backbone and sees a gently but determined build to the exams.
3. Varsity Scholars
Varsity Scholars are the UK’s top Oxbridge and Russell Group University entrance specialist agency. Their team is stuffed full of former admissions heads from different Oxford and Cambridge Colleges and universities such as KCL, LSE, Imperial and UCL. They have a database of over 30,000 questions by Oxbridge College and subject and also have this tracked back to the applicant’s UCAS form. They have access to deep datasets on historic admissions trends and are able to give detailed advice on what your application strategy should be, how to complete the UCAS form and then can help you prepare for the Interview and any admissions tests.
4. Bonas MacFarlane
Bonas MacFarlane boasts serious educational credentials and also runs the Independent Schools Show which takes place in London’s Battersea Park each year (Covid-19 allowing). Real experts in London’s education scene, they have the know-how and the little black book to open doors for parents with the deepest pockets.
5. Simply Learning Tuition
Simply Learning Tuition was founded by an experienced private tutor working in London for many years before setting up the agency. Simply Learning has a great reputation and attracts good tutors who they train up and tend to have long term relationships with. Families are attracted to their professional team, excellent customer service and the fact that they cover the whole of the UK and help with International tutoring roles.
6. Harrison Allen
A south London stalwart, well thought of by local parents. Lessons take a more traditional style and usually take place in a Victorian house in Earlsfield. The team boast a good track record at local independent school entrance. Harrison Allen has a real family feel and is run with a human touch, meaning parents return again and again.
7. Owl Tutors
Owl tutors only provide qualified teachers with over a year of classroom experience and so are a great choice if you are looking for syllabus specific GCSE and A-level support. A fairly new entrant on the London scene, they have quickly established themselves due to strong links with Teach First and oodles of bright young teachers on their books.
8. Hampstead and Frognal Tutors
Hampstead and Frognal Tutors are a friendly bunch, based out of the owner’s north London flat, making for a personal and friendly experience for families. Run by experienced and senior educators, they work with a small base of tutors that they know and trust. Their strengths lie in their breadth of coverage, with everything from Ancient Greek to school entrance, Modern Languages and Academic Assessments on offer and very much appreciated by parents. Hampstead and Frognal really aim to understand their customers and provide everything they need to help children with all aspects of education.
9. Minerva Tutors
Minerva was founded in 2014 and aims to differentiate itself both with the high-quality CPD and training they provide for their tutors and the fact that they keep their tutor roster small and familiar. Home-schooling is a real strength and their expertise in this area has been a real benefit to local and international parents during the lockdowns of 2020 and 2021. Speak to them about support for home learning, whether that be helping with worksheets sent home from school or Zoom assistance. They now run an online school.
10. Keystone Tutors
Keystone has enjoyed stellar growth and a high profile in London, due to the energetic and formidable directors Will and Josh who run the show. Keystone has been at the forefront of developing new agency models in the tutoring industry by employing their tutors rather than working with a larger list of self-employed tutors. Keystone now boasts offices in Singapore and Hong Kong and a long list of happy customers in Asia who leverage their expertise to access the best of British Education.