I’m April Jones, and I’ve spent the last 18 years teaching English in four London secondary schools. I’ve been Head of English in three of those schools and the Assistant Principal responsible for Literacy, Curriculum and Independent Learning in the fourth. I have also marked A-level English for both AQA and OCR (this means I know how to extend students’ learning beyond the GCSE specification, enabling them to access the highest grades). Since moving to New Mills in High Peak in 2025, I’ve offered one-to-one tuition through a couple of agencies. Here’s what this experience has taught me:

1. Students learn better in smaller group settings. Of course they do! In a small group, there are fewer distractions and each child receives more feedback. They can learn at their own pace. (The Education Endowment Fund have done the research on this – find out more here)

2. That doesn’t necessarily mean that one-to-one tuition is optimal – discussion is critical to the study of English: essays questions ask students to put forward and justify arguments. English also involves a lot of extended writing, which means that I have spent a fair amount of the last year watching a single tutee write.

3. One-to-one tuition is beyond the means of many parents, yet I’ve always worked with children from all backgrounds, of all abilities. That’s why I went into teaching: I love teenagers (unusual, I know, but bear with me …) and I want to do what I can to level the playing field.

Hence Peak Tuition: structured, exam-focused courses that give students the tools, confidence and technique they need to succeed at AQA’s GCSEs in English Literature and Language — at a price that's more accessible than one-to-one.