Expert, local, face-to-face, one-to-one home tutors in Reading
11+ entry tuition with Brainbox Learning
Our prices start at £31 per hour
Suitable For Years 4-6
Taught By Experienced
Teachers & Tutors
Regular Assessments
& Progress Reports
Face-To-Face
& One-To-One
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Key focus on verbal and non-verbal reasoning, as well as maths and English for the GL Assessment exams. Our tuition program also ensures candidates are exposed as much as possible to past papers and our own bespoke mock papers, in order to be as familiar as possible with the exam format and necessary approach.
Areas covered include:
Spelling
Punctuation
Grammar
Reading comprehension
Vocabulary
Verbal reasoning
Measurements
Numbers
Statistics
Geometry
Non-verbal reasoning
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Our mock exam days provide girls with:
the experience of sitting an entrance exam under timed conditions and managing their nerves, in an exam hall filled with unfamiliar faces from other schools
a realistic opportunity to track and measure their progress and level, and increase their confidence
fully individualised, detailed, question-by-question feedback reports, with question walkthroughs, teacher comments and links to further practice resources
We replicate as closely as possible the conditions girls will experience on the day of the real exam, from the moment they are dropped off, all the way through to pickup time. Our papers are carefully created from scratch by a team of expert 11+ teachers, with many years of experience teaching in schools, privately, and writing, marking and moderating real school exams. For each mock exam sat with us, parents will receive a fully comprehensive feedback report and presentation to look through with their child.
Please book early to avoid disappointment.
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The Reading School entrance exams test boys across a range of subjects covered in the Key Stage 2 curriculum. Maths, English and ‘creativity’ form key parts of the entrance exam, and therefore these are our areas of particular focus throughout our Reading School preparation program. Of course, our bespoke mock papers also offer candidates enough familiarity and exposure to the exam format to ensure there are no nasty surprises when exam day comes around.
Areas covered include:
Spelling
Punctuation
Grammar
Reading comprehension
Vocabulary
Creative writing
Creative thinking
Measurements
Numbers
Statistics
Geometry
Following Reading School’s announcement in Feb 2025, regarding changes to their entrance exams starting this September, we are closely monitoring the situation, and we will be building an appropriate amount of wider KS2 and creative thinking content into our tuition and mock exam schedule over the coming weeks. This will be assessed further once Reading School release their updated official familiarisation paper. National Curriculum subjects in addition to Maths and English, which could appear starting with this year’s exams include:
History
Science
PE
Geography
Languages
Art & Design
Music
Computing
Design & Technology
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Our mock exam days provide boys with:
the experience of sitting an entrance exam under timed conditions and managing their nerves, in an exam hall filled with unfamiliar faces from other schools
a realistic opportunity to track and measure their progress and level, and increase their confidence
fully individualised, detailed, question-by-question feedback reports, with question walkthroughs, teacher comments and links to further practice resources
We replicate as closely as possible the conditions boys will experience on the day of the real exam, from the moment they are dropped off, all the way through to pickup time. Our papers are carefully created from scratch by a team of expert 11+ teachers, with many years of experience teaching in schools, privately, and writing, marking and moderating real school exams. For each mock exam sat with us, parents will receive a fully comprehensive feedback report and presentation to look through with their child.
Please book early to avoid disappointment.
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For the Selective Stream test set by Cambridge CEM, the key areas are maths, verbal and non-verbal reasoning. Our program prepares for each of these, using bespoke materials created for this course, as well as mock papers and familiarisation material provided by the exam board itself. As this assessment takes place on screen rather than on paper, this also forms a part of our preparation, as this will be different to what most students have experienced previously
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For students working towards admissions exams for private schools or state schools outside the Reading area, we can provide tuition tailored towards your child’s individual needs. Whether your child is sitting Common Entrance at 11+, or school-specific entrance or scholarship entrance papers, we will be able to work with you to offer the best possible approach
The Reading area is unique when it comes to school entry requirements and entrance exams at 11+ level. As such, the tuition we offer is completely tailored towards the requirements of the various entrance exams, and is guaranteed to stand your child in the best stead when exam time comes around. In all cases, our sessions provide the ideal mix between honing the necessary skills required to succeed, and providing enough exposure to our real world mock and past exam papers that taking the real exam will feel like second nature.
“Students build a much better rapport with their tutor when studying face-to-face. They’re more engaged, more focused and more confident when it comes to asking questions.”
“One-to-one tuition means it’s all about you. Every session is meticulously tailored to students’ individual needs. There’s no ‘one size fits all’ approach here.”
Contact us
Start your learning journey with us today!
Fill out the form below and we’ll be in touch straight away for a free consultation, where we will be happy to guide you through our process and answer all of your questions.
Frequently asked questions
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All of the tutors that we work with are based locally in and around Reading. We interview all tutors face-to-face, and carry out detailed reference and qualification checks, as well as ensuring they have up to date enhanced DBS checks. Our team includes tutors from a mix of backgrounds, with different personalities, interests and areas of expertise. In terms of experience, our tutors range from experienced teachers with 20 or more years of in-school experience, to recent Masters and Phd graduates with a wealth of recent subject-specific and exam preparation experience.
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Your child's first session with Brainbox Learning will always be with our senior tutor responsible for his or her age group. This allows us to do two things. Firstly, it gives you as parents or carers an opportunity to discuss any preferences regarding your child's tuition in greater detail, asking any questions you may have at the same time. Secondly, over the course of this first session, our senior age-group tutor will be able to assess your son or daughter, in terms of areas of strength and weakness and learning styles, and will be able to determine the most appropriate tutor for you going forward. Interests and personality of both student and tutor are also taken into account. After this assessment session, we will be in touch to introduce your tutor. Of course you are then free to request a change at any time, however as of June 2024, we are proud to say that this has yet to happen!
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Tuition is available throughout the day. We have tutors operating between 9AM and 9PM, 7 days per week.
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Tuition takes place face-to-face, in your home. Our tutors are also happy to meet in other locations, such as coffee shops, however a responsible adult would still need to be present. We also offer online tuition where requested, but we always recommend face-to-face sessions where possible.
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Our rates start at £28.50 per hour. You can access our price list here. Invoices will be sent by email on a weekly or monthly basis, and can be paid by debit or credit card, Apple Pay or bank transfer.
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As corporate members of The Tutors' Association, we adhere to strict safeguarding procedures. All sessions are also fully insured. We interview all of our tutors and teachers face-to-face, as well as meticulously checking references and qualifications, and ensuring that all tutors have up to date, valid enhanced DBS checks.
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Yes! We are based in Reading, including all tutors and staff. This gives us a great level of knowledge when it comes to local schools and local exams. You can also check out our local community and charity page here.
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Following Reading School’s announcement in Feb 2025, regarding changes to their entrance exams starting this September, we are closely monitoring the situation, and we will be building an appropriate amount of wider KS2 and creative thinking content into our tuition and mock exam schedule over the coming weeks. This will be assessed further once Reading School release their updated official familiarisation paper. National Curriculum subjects in addition to Maths and English, which could appear starting with this year’s exams include:
History
Science
PE
Geography
Computing
Languages
Art & Design
Music
Computing
Design & Technology
Why study with us?
Because we’re based in Reading, we know the local area inside out, and everything we do is tailor-made towards the specific exams being sat by local students. We pride ourselves in knowing all of our tutors and students as individuals. We also love supporting local charities.
We strongly believe in face-to-face tuition over remote learning, and we make it easy! Our tutors will come to you. It’s been regularly proven that the improved rapport built between student and tutor leads to better engagement, higher productivity levels and ultimately better results.
You can trust us to deliver, both in terms of punctuality and safety. We go above and beyond, providing all of our tutors with an enhanced DBS check. Our lessons are all covered by our public liability insurance, and to top things off we are proud members of The Tutors’ Association, the UK’s professional membership body for the tuition industry.
Our unique approach gets results. We get to know every student individually, and this allows us to tailor everything we do to their specific needs, rather than following a predefined program. By mixing our work between focusing on problem areas, the school syllabus, and regular exposure to real world mock exam questions, we ensure every student is learning the right things, in a way that will easily translate to exam success.