At Le Loft, in the interests of fairness, we believe that private tuition should be affordable. We believe that transparency inspires trust, so we are open and honest about our fees. We put great effort into keeping our costs down: We enjoy our work here, and this enjoyment makes up a large part of our rewards. In that respect, we think it noteworthy that our last price rise was in 2019 when we put our block booking rate up by 75p per tuition. We are trying to make a living, not a killing. We believe that the key to success for both us and our students is not only to be found in the quality of tuition but also and critically, the frequency and regularity of that tuition. Our pricing strategy and our terms and conditions reflect these strongly held beliefs. A summary sheet can be downloaded by clicking the graphic on the right.
'3 for 4' Block Booking Discount
Our standard fee for a single 1-hour lesson is £33, but our normal and preferred way of working is through our '3 for 4' block booking discount scheme. Although we normally conduct tuition on a longer-term basis, we recognize that situations sometimes arise that require prompt or limited responses, so we also offer the 'single block' scheme for experimental workshops.
In addition to a range of extra discounts, block-booking allows for a high degree of flexibility: Students get the security of a regular time slot, but with the option to rearrange a slot or two to fit in with an increasingly busy timetable. All that we ask is 48 hours notice to reschedule, although we cannot guarantee that the slot you would ideally like is not another student's regular slot. In this respect, please note that because the 'after-school' slots are in heavy demand, rescheduled slots are usually deferred to half-terms and holidays. Having an extra couple of tuitions during half-term can be highly beneficial for revision; some students even choose to purchase an extra half-block each month to accumulate these extra sessions.
The 'Standard Block' Discount scheme (25% discount: £24.75 ph). An initial payment of £99 is required on enrolment. This provides a trial period of 3 x 1hr tutorials while we all get to know each other. If we are all happy to continue, then the second payment of £99 will add another five tuitions to the student's account. One of them converts the 'trial block' into a standard block and the remaining four are used to create a second block. In other words, the 'trial block' of 3 x 1hr lessons costing £99 is converted to 8 x 1hr lessons costing £198. This brings the hourly rate down from £33 to £24.75, a discount of 25%. Further blocks are added by standing order each calendar month and contribute to the '13 for 12' discount scheme.
The '13 for 12' Discount scheme (30.77?fective discount, £22.85 ph.). There are 13 weeks in a quarter but only 3 calendar months. Under the '13 for 12' discount scheme, we do not charge extra for the 13th week that arises in the course of any 3 consecutive months, thus providing a total of 13 tuitions for the price of 3 single blocks. This equates to 13 x 1 hr. lessons for the total price of £297, spread over 3 monthly payments of £99 each. This is an effective discount of just over 30% and an effective rate of £22.85 per hour. This is by far our most popular option.
The 'Two-to-one' and 'Family Group' Discount schemes. A second way to further reduce costs is to team up with another student and share the costs of tuition. A two-to-one lesson is priced so that the rate for a second student is discounted by 50%; the cost of a 4 x 1hr block is £148.50. The drawback We have found that this scheme works well for a program of experimental work (see below).
We have a number of families who wish to learn French as a family group. We offer a discretionary 'Family Group' block at the same rate as a 'two-to-one' i.e., £148.50 for the 4 x 1hr lessons. Please note that at least one 'peacekeeper' adult must be present at all times. Please enquire for more information if you are interested in learning French as a family.
Integrated Theory and Practice.
Our tuition structures include practical work as an integral part of the science framework. Before our world was turned upside down by Covid, the first few tuitions were usually just concentrating on identifying the main gaps and holes in a student's knowledge; this was usually fairly straightforward as the schools were mostly delivering a full syllabus and with a full staff. However, after the last 3 years of disruption, we cannot take anything for granted and so our first task nowadays is to ‘assess the damage’. The first aim is always restoring lost confidence and a sense of 'I can do this!'. Likewise, since Covid, we have had to abandon the structured approach we used to deliver; now it is more a question of 'have you done this practical? ... No? OK, let's do it next week'. We believe we are unique in offering bespoke experiments to students (and certainly at no extra charge!).
Please contact us for a chat; and if you check out our prices, we are confident that you'll see that it is surprisingly affordable.
Laboratory Skills
Experimental work is arranged and priced on a bespoke basis. The costs of providing the laboratory facilities are significant and so we can only offer laboratory instruction to long-term students. For example, two students sharing the same slots could get 5 hours of practical experimentation and 3 hours of supporting theory for a monthly payment of £148.50 each. Please note that under this arrangement, sessions cannot be rescheduled and absent students forfeit the missed session. We have found that because of this, the arrangement can put a strain on friendships; if, however, the two students are siblings, the arrangement works well. We have found that a 3-hour slot is necessary for some of the more advanced protocols, whereas weekly 2-hour slots tend to be more productive for the younger students.
