Nursery and School Guide asks Lydia Scaltsas, Primary Teacher and Founder of LS Tuition about her new tuition space.
What prompted you to open the LS Tuition Learning Space?
It is no secret that over the past few years, learning from home has been exceptionally difficult for children and adults alike. Since August 2021, I have been searching for the perfect location to provide rich, purposeful, in-person learning experiences for all young learners. With recent changes to government guidelines, I am now able to do this in the LS Tuition Learning Space.
For learning to be meaningful, it needs to be an all-encompassing holistic experience for the child; the environment matters, as does personal contact, and the learning space has been designed with the needs of the child in mind.
What makes this Learning Space special?
The LS Tuition Learning Space has been specifically designed, not only to be a fun and engaging working space for children, but actually to play an active role in your child’s learning experience and development. As you can see, the classroom has been designed to stimulate your child to actively engage with every part of the space; whether this is reading in the library corner with a furry friend; displaying a piece of their work on the ‘Wonderful Work’ wall; spending 5 minutes in the ‘Mindfulness Area’ to discuss and regulate some tough emotions; selecting a positive affirmation and setting lesson intentions; rummaging through our expansive selection of active learning resources; or even just putting their birthday up on the ‘Birthday Wall’ to make sure they receive a special something on their special day!
This classroom has been designed through the eyes of a child and every inch has been developed to support your children in having a friendly, supportive and holistic learning experience alongside their regular schooling.
Why did you decide on this location?
Searching for the ideal space was challenging and I viewed many spaces that just didn't quite fit. Located in the east of Edinburgh, my Learning Space is just 15 minutes from the city centre and has a huge car park with free parking. The room itself is located within an old school building that has just been renovated, which means I did in fact end up finding a real classroom! The large windows cover the entire north facing wall and provide fantastic natural light all day. It just felt ‘right’ as soon as I saw it!
Will you still be providing online teaching?
All of my existing students will have the opportunity to move to face-to-face lessons and I really feel this signifies progression, towards a fully functioning hybrid teaching model. This allows us to have all the benefits of face-to-face classes but also the flexibility of online tuition, should we ever need to use it. This allows the child to choose the method they feel suits them best.
What is the cost involved?
All lessons are £65 per hour which covers:
the face-to-face teaching hour with your child,
an additional hour a week spent creating a fully personalised learning plan for your child, and designing each week’s individual lesson;
sourcing learning materials;
ongoing planning for continued learning progress;
creating personalised resources where appropriate;
tracking progress week-to-week and using this, plus vital curricular knowledge to plan future lessons,
weekly supporting homework packets I develop, mark, and discuss with you and your child;
the resources purchased to use in my lessons/give you to keep;
ongoing communication with you, via text/email, etc., out with our scheduled lesson time,
the additional benefits provided by the physical environment of the learning and teaching zone; a space that has been specially designed for children, and with the purpose of supporting meaningful learning in a safe, exciting and motivational environment.
What has the feedback been so far?
The children have loved it! Despite the thought and effort put into the designing of the room, and the feedback from friends and family, the real test for me was how the children would engage with and feel in the space. I have recently been home-schooling some children who have been attending the space every day and I also hosted some open afternoons which saw children aged anywhere from 5 to 14 come along to explore the space. Anyone that knows anything about children will be fully aware that they tell it as it is! I have been truly delighted to see how positively my mini critics have reacted to my learning space and their eagerness to come back again. The room is ‘happy’ and it is much larger than an average classroom and with far fewer distractions, so the child can really focus on the learning involved and benefit from the attention given to them.
How can people get in touch and book lessons?
People can get in touch with me via my website: https://lydias-tuition.co.uk/ or my social media pages: LS Tuition on facebook and @lydias_tuition on Instagram. As tuition is such a personal experience and every learner has individual needs, I am always happy to arrange an initial phone/video call, free of charge, to discuss each particular circumstance and how I believe I could benefit each child/family.
Is there anything else we should know about the LS Tuition Learning Space?
I can't even tell you how incredible it is to see the LS Tuition Learning Space in full swing already. To have the opportunity to see children motivated to learn, and to watch them achieving milestones and growing in confidence, it really makes all of the hard work 100% worth it.
LS Tuition Learning Space
SPACE
11 Harewood Road
Edinburgh
EH16 4NT
07584064721