One-to-one tuition · Maths, physics & English
Fern Paper is the one-to-one practice of Rowan Ellery, teaching Year 9 through A-level from a quiet study room, or online with a shared whiteboard. One student, one hour, one clear piece of progress each week.
The teaching brief
No generic worksheets, no lecture. Every hour starts from the last piece of written work and ends with something the student can explain back without help.
I.
The opening session is spent watching the student work. Where the pencil stops matters more than the wrong answer: a stalled simultaneous equation is usually an arithmetic habit, and a thin essay paragraph is usually a missing plan. You receive a short written summary of what we found and what the first half-term will target.
II.
Ten minutes recalling last week without notes, thirty minutes on the week’s topic with the student holding the pen, and the final stretch on a past-paper question under something close to exam conditions. Silence while thinking is part of the method; a hint arrives only after a genuine attempt.
III.
Each session ends with two or three set questions, never a pile of busywork. They are marked before the next lesson with written comments rather than ticks, so the student arrives already knowing which step went wrong and where we will start.
Subjects and levels
Rowan teaches only what they examine confidently. If a subject is not listed here, it is not offered — and you will be told so plainly.
How a term runs
Four steps, no contracts longer than a half-term, and a decision point after the trial session.
Step one
Send the subject, year group and the times that suit. You receive a reply within two teaching days saying honestly whether a matching slot exists.
Step two
A full-length diagnostic lesson at half the usual rate, followed by a written summary. Either side can stop here with nothing further owed.
Step three
A fixed weekly slot and a short plan naming the topics for the next six sessions, adjusted whenever school moves faster or slower.
Step four
A written progress note each half-term, then a tighter schedule of timed papers in the eight weeks before the exams.
Autumn term hours
Slots are held for the whole half-term so the student keeps the same hour each week. Blocks marked with a square are open; struck-through blocks are taken.
Online sessionsRun in the same blocks on a shared whiteboard. Written work is photographed and sent before the lesson.
Half-term weekNo teaching in the last week of October; marking and plans continue as usual.
Exam seasonExtra timed-paper hours open on Friday afternoons from February.
Marking & materials
Roughly half the work sits outside the taught hour. It is included, not billed separately.
Questions parents ask
Yes. It runs the full 60 or 90 minutes and covers real material, because a shortened chat tells neither of us anything. It is charged at half the usual rate and followed by a written summary of what the student found difficult. If it is not the right fit, that is the end of it.
For A-level maths and physics they are close to equivalent, because everything happens on a shared whiteboard that both of us write on. For younger students who drift without someone beside them, and for essay redrafting, the study room is usually better. Families who travel often mix the two across a half-term.
Tell Rowan by the evening before and the hour is moved to any open block that week, or credited to the next half-term. Illness on the day is never charged. Repeated same-day cancellations are the one reason a held slot is released to someone on the waiting list.
Only when they sit the same paper in the same year and are within reach of each other in confidence. Otherwise the stronger student coasts and the other stops speaking. Where a pair does work, the hour is shared and the rate sits between one-to-one and half each.
Two or three questions, or one essay paragraph — usually thirty to forty minutes. School homework comes first, and in weeks with a school assessment the set work is dropped entirely. The aim is work that gets marked properly, not work that looks impressive on a plan.
A short written note at the end of each half-term names what has improved, what has not, and what changes next. It quotes the student’s own marked work rather than a score out of ten. If progress stalls for three weeks, Rowan will say so and suggest either a change of approach or a different tutor.
Enquire about a slot
One short form. You will hear back within two teaching days with either a matching block or an honest answer that there isn’t one this term.