Spring term

Half-term revision blocks for GCSE maths and A-Level physics are now open to current and new students. Join the term list

BrightLane

One-to-one tuition · Year 5 to A-Level

Term-time & holiday tuition

Lessons built around the one thing that isn't clicking yet.

Bright Lane is a small tutoring practice. Every student starts with a diagnostic session, works to a written termly plan, and leaves each lesson with the next piece of practice already chosen. No lesson packages you have to buy up front.

Request a place See this term's slots
  • Session length 60 or 90 minutes, weekly
  • Where Online, or the Bright Lane study room
  • Levels taught Year 5 → A-Level and IB
A blackboard covered in handwritten algebra and geometry working, with a student's open notebook in the foreground.
Working shown, always. Every session ends with the board photographed and sent home with the recap.

What we teach

Four lanes, each with its own plan

Bright Lane doesn't teach everything. These are the four areas with a tested curriculum behind them, and the year groups they genuinely suit.

A ruled notebook with pencil-written equations and a mechanical pencil resting across the page.

01

GCSE Maths — Foundation & Higher

Years 9–11 · 60 or 90 min · weekly

Most students arrive with the same three gaps: fractions under pressure, rearranging formulae, and multi-mark problem solving. We fix those first, then work forwards through the specification rather than jumping to whatever topic the next test covers.

  • Topic diagnostics mapped to AQA, Edexcel and OCR specifications
  • Non-calculator fluency drilled in the first ten minutes of each session
  • Past-paper marking with the mark scheme read aloud, so marks stop getting dropped on method
Laboratory glassware holding coloured liquids arranged on a bench under warm light.

02

A-Level Physics & Further Maths

Years 12–13 · 90 min · weekly or fortnightly

A-Level physics usually fails on the maths, not the physics. Sessions split evenly between the mathematical technique a question needs and the written explanation examiners are actually looking for in six-mark answers.

  • Mechanics, fields and particle topics taught with derivations, not memorised results
  • Required practical write-ups reviewed before they are submitted
  • Oxbridge and engineering interview preparation available from Year 12 summer
An open hardback book resting on a wooden table with its pages lit from one side.

03

11+ English & Verbal Reasoning

Years 5–6 · 60 min · weekly, from September

A year-long programme, deliberately unhurried. Comprehension and vocabulary come first; timed technique only enters in the final term, once reading confidence is in place. We cap this group so every piece of writing gets handwritten feedback.

  • Weekly reading list chosen for the individual child, not a class set
  • One piece of creative or persuasive writing marked between sessions
  • Mock conditions introduced only after Easter, to keep pressure useful
Two students working side by side at a long desk, writing in notebooks with laptops open beside them.

04

Study Skills & Exam Strategy

Years 10–13 · 60 min · four-session block

For students who understand the content but lose marks to revision habits. A short, finite block — not an open-ended commitment — covering how to build a revision timetable that survives contact with a real week.

  • Retrieval practice and spacing set up on paper, not another app
  • Exam-day timing rehearsed per paper, including what to do when a question stalls
  • Runs in the holidays as a standalone block for students tutored elsewhere

How sessions run

Three steps, then a routine

Nothing is decided before we have seen the student work. The first session is diagnostic and carries no obligation to continue.

01

Diagnostic session

Ninety minutes of working through problems out loud. We find out where the reasoning breaks down rather than which topics have been covered. You receive a written summary whether or not you book again.

02

Termly plan

A one-page plan for the term: the sequence of topics, the practice set between sessions, and the two or three things we are measuring. Shared with parents and revised at half-term.

03

Weekly recap

After every session, a short written recap goes out the same evening: what was covered, what was set, and what to watch for in school homework that week.

Bright Lane's lead tutor seated beside a bright window with a stack of marked past papers on the table.

The tutor

Rowan Ellis

Eleven years in secondary classrooms — most of them teaching maths to groups of thirty — before moving to one-to-one work full time. Bright Lane exists because the thing that helps a struggling student most is the thing a timetabled lesson has least of: time to sit with one person's reasoning until it holds.

Teaching is deliberately low-tech. A hardback notebook per student, worked examples by hand, and a shared board. Every student's notebook stays with them at the end of the year as a complete record of what they built.

“A student who can explain why a method works will still have it in June. A student who has memorised the steps usually won't.”
  • BackgroundMSc Mathematics; PGCE Secondary Mathematics
  • ClassroomEleven years teaching GCSE and A-Level, including four as head of department
  • Also teachesA-Level Physics, 11+ English and verbal reasoning
  • ChecksEnhanced DBS certificate, renewed annually and available on request

This term's slots

When sessions actually happen

Bright Lane runs a fixed weekly timetable so students keep the same slot all term. Crossed-through times are already taken; everything else is open.

Monday & Tuesday

16:1517:3018:45

GCSE maths and study skills. The 18:45 slot is online only, so there is no travel after a long school day.

Wednesday & Thursday

16:1517:4519:15

A-Level physics and further maths, in 90-minute sessions. Thursday evenings are kept for Year 13.

Saturday mornings

09:0010:1511:30

The 11+ programme and younger students, when concentration is at its best. Parents are welcome to sit in for the first session.

Holiday blocks

Half-termEasterSummer

Four-session intensives booked as a block, scheduled across consecutive mornings rather than spread over weeks.

Sessions pause for school holidays unless you have booked a holiday block, and the weekly slot is held for returning students through the summer.

Before you enquire

Questions parents ask first

How are fees structured?

A single hourly rate by level — one rate for Years 5 to 9, one for GCSE, one for A-Level and IB — with 90-minute sessions charged pro rata. Nothing is bundled into packages and there is no registration fee. The current rate card is sent with the reply to your enquiry, before any session is booked.

Is the first session a trial?

It is a full diagnostic session, charged at the normal rate, and it is genuinely useful on its own: you receive a written summary of where the gaps are even if you decide not to continue. Free taster lessons tend to be sales calls, so Bright Lane doesn't run them.

What is the cancellation policy?

Twenty-four hours' notice and the session isn't charged. Inside that, it is charged, because the slot can't be refilled — with the exception of illness on the day, which is always rescheduled free. Two makeup sessions per term can be moved for any reason.

Do you teach to a specific exam board?

Yes. Tell us the board and tier at enquiry and the termly plan is written against that specification. Where a student's school has moved boards mid-course, we work through the differences explicitly rather than assuming the overlap.

What do parents actually see?

A written recap the evening of each session, a one-page termly plan, and a half-term review of what has shifted. Parents of students under 16 are copied on everything by default; older students can ask for recaps to come to them directly instead.

How do online sessions work?

A shared whiteboard and video call — nothing to install beyond a browser. Students need a device with a camera, a printer or a notebook for the practice set, and somewhere quiet. We send a short setup check before the first online session so no lesson time goes on troubleshooting.

Can two children share a session?

Siblings within a year of each other, studying the same subject and tier, can share a 90-minute slot at a reduced per-child rate. Beyond that it stops being tutoring and starts being a small class, which is what school already does well.

What happens if the timetable is full?

You go on the term list with your subject and preferred times, and we contact you in order when a slot opens — most commonly at half-term and at the end of the summer. The list is also how holiday blocks are offered first.

Request a place

Tell us about the student

A few details are enough to say whether Bright Lane is the right fit and which slots are genuinely free. You will hear back with the rate card and two or three possible session times.

  • Reply timeEnquiries are answered in order, usually within two working days during term.
  • No obligationThe reply includes availability and fees. Nothing is booked until you confirm.
  • Not the right fit?If a subject or year group sits outside these four lanes, we will say so plainly.

Details are used only to answer this enquiry and arrange sessions.