KS3 English | TJ Tutors
KS3 English · Years 7 to 9

The English that GCSE will assume is already secure.

For students preparing for 13+ entrance, and for students building the reading and analytical writing that GCSE depends on. Taught live, in small cohorts, with every piece of work marked and returned within 48 hours.

Apply For A Complimentary English Diagnostic

Every new family begins with an assessment. Findings in writing, whether or not your child joins us.

Where the gap opens quietly

In Year 7 the texts get harder and the feedback gets thinner. A report that says “working at expected” can hold steady for three years while the same missing skill goes unnamed.

Nothing is lost yet. There is no grade attached. But the GCSE mark scheme assumes a student can already analyse a writer’s methods and sustain a controlled argument, and Year 10 is a difficult time to learn either for the first time.

KS3 is when there is still time to build it properly.

Preparing for 13+ entrance

Some families are preparing for 13+ entrance to independent schools.

The English papers ask for close reading of an unseen text, a response that explains a writer’s choices, and a controlled piece of writing under time. We teach to that standard explicitly, and mark every piece of work against it.

Tell us the schools you are considering on the application, and the findings discussion covers what we find in relation to them.

What your child is taught, and how

Named frameworks, taught explicitly, and carried straight into GCSE.

VIPERS

Reading unseen texts

A consistent approach to any question on an unfamiliar extract.

PETAL

Analytical writing

Explaining a writer’s effect in a sustained paragraph, the skill every GCSE literature question rests on.

SMAF

Descriptive writing

Precise, controlled description that holds together over a whole piece.

AFORESTPIE

Persuasive writing

The devices of argument, used deliberately rather than listed.

How the method works
The TJ Tutors standard

Every piece of work your child submits is marked by a TJ-trained teacher and returned within 48 hours, with one named next step.

Most tuition ends when the lesson does. Ours continues in the marking, in writing, so you can see exactly what was said about your child’s work.

Which programme is right for my child?

You do not need to decide.

New families begin with a Complimentary English Diagnostic Assessment.

We assess your child’s current English performance and look closely at what they can already do, where marks are being lost and which areas should be prioritised next.

We then make one clear recommendation based on the evidence in their work.

Mastery

Recommended when a child needs complete English development across comprehension and writing.

£699 | 12 weeks
Mastery Plus (KS3 and GCSE)

Recommended when a student needs individual attention on their own set texts alongside the complete Mastery curriculum.

£995 | 12 weeks
The recommendation is based on what we see in the child’s work. If a higher level of provision is not necessary, we will not recommend it.
Full programme details

From KS3 into GCSE, without starting again

The frameworks a student learns in Year 7 are the ones they use in their GCSE exams. The marking follows the same standard, and the next step always builds on the last.

Families do not change teachers, methods or expectations at the point it matters most.

GCSE English

How your child starts

Every new TJ Tutors family starts with a Complimentary English Diagnostic Assessment.

  1. 1

    You apply

    A short application telling us about your child, the schools you are considering and what concerns you most.

  2. 2

    Your child completes the assessment at home

    An English assessment matched to their stage. One sitting, nothing to revise.

  3. 3

    We mark it

    Marked by a TJ-trained teacher, the same way every piece of programme work is marked.

  4. 4

    We discuss what we found

    Thirty minutes, online. Strengths first, then what is limiting performance, then what should be prioritised.

  5. 5

    You receive it in writing

    A written findings summary with one clear recommendation and the reasoning behind it.

Questions KS3 parents ask

Is it worth starting before GCSE?

It is the best time. Skills built in Years 7 to 9 are practised for longer and under less pressure, and a student arrives at Year 10 already using the methods the mark scheme rewards.

Are lessons one-to-one?

Lessons are live and taught in small cohorts. Mastery Plus adds individual sessions directed by evidence from the student’s own work. Individual teaching is not offered on its own.

Is the assessment really complimentary?

Yes. We will not recommend a programme for a child whose work we have not seen, and a family deciding whether to spend several hundred pounds is entitled to know what they would be buying and why. If the assessment shows your child does not need a programme from us, we will tell you that, and you keep the findings either way.

We already have a tutor. Is this still worth doing?

Often more so. An assessment from someone who is not currently teaching your child gives you an independent read on whether the work being done is the work that is needed. You are welcome to share the findings with your existing tutor.

Is online teaching as effective as being in a room?

For English, yes, and in one respect better: every piece of written work is submitted, marked and returned in writing, so you can see exactly what was said about your child’s work rather than hearing a summary at the door. Lessons are live and small-group, not recorded content.

Do you teach maths or verbal reasoning?

No. TJ Tutors teaches English only, from Year 4 to GCSE.

Find out what is currently preventing your child from reaching the level they are capable of.

Apply for a Complimentary English Diagnostic Assessment. Your child works at home, we meet for thirty minutes, and the findings are yours to keep.

Apply For A Complimentary English Diagnostic