Private Tutors in London
The most competitive school landscape in the country
London is the one English city where private tuition is simply part of how families navigate school, rather than something reserved for a crisis. Between the super-selective state grammars, a dense independent sector that assesses at 7+, 8+, 11+ and 13+, and comprehensives whose catchments are measured in a few hundred metres, the stakes arrive early and the timetable is unforgiving. A tutor here is not a safety net — they are usually a strategist.
32 + City
Boroughs
19 grammars
Selective state schools
7+ · 8+ · 11+ · 13+ · 16+
Entry points
£40–65/hr
Typical GCSE rate
Local knowledge
What you are actually preparing for in London
Super-selective state grammars
These admit on rank order alone, with no catchment safety margin, so the difference between an offer and a near-miss is a handful of marks. Queen Elizabeth’s School in Barnet and The Henrietta Barnett School in Hampstead Garden Suburb are the two most oversubscribed in the country; The Latymer School in Edmonton, the Tiffin schools in Kingston, and the Sutton cluster — Wilson’s, Sutton Grammar, Nonsuch, Wallington High for Girls and Wallington County — draw applicants from across the whole of south London and well into Surrey.
The independent sector, and the pre-test
Most selective London independents now assess at 10 or 11 through the ISEB Common Pre-Test — an adaptive, online paper in maths, English, verbal and non-verbal reasoning — before their own written papers and interviews. The North London girls’ schools run a shared 11+ assessment. Preparation is a two-year arc, not a term of cramming, and the interview is a genuine hurdle that almost nobody practises for.
The 7+ and 8+, which is its own world
Entry into the London preps that feed the senior independents is assessed at seven or eight — reading comprehension, written composition, mental arithmetic and a short interview, on a child barely out of Key Stage 1. Done badly it is harmful. Done properly it is short, calm sessions building stamina and handwriting speed, with the parent kept firmly in the loop about whether it is the right idea at all.
Sixth form, admissions tests and Oxbridge
By Year 12 the work shifts from grades to applications: the UCAT for medicine, the LNAT for law, the TMUA and ESAT for Cambridge maths and sciences, plus personal statements and interview practice. These are coachable in a way A Level content is not — they reward technique and timing far more than extra content.
Schools named here are for orientation — we are not affiliated with any of them, and we do not claim results at them. Admissions criteria and test dates change every cycle, so always confirm the current year directly with the school or the local authority.
Coverage
85 areas across London
Grouped the way London actually works rather than alphabetically, because the reason an area is on this list matters more than the name. Each group says what families there are usually preparing for.
North London
16 areasGrammar-school country. Barnet and Enfield families are usually working towards QE Boys, Henrietta Barnett or Latymer, while Hampstead and Highgate lean independent — UCS, Highgate, Channing and South Hampstead.
West London
22 areasThe densest concentration of selective independents in the country, and with it the earliest starting age — 7+ and 8+ conversations begin in Reception here. Ealing and Harrow add a strong grammar and super-selective streak.
Central London
12 areasSmall catchments, international families and a lot of IB and IGCSE rather than GCSE. Timetables here are built around a parent’s working day, so early-evening and weekend slots go first.
East London
15 areasThe fastest-changing demand in London. Redbridge families target Ilford County High and Woodford County High; Hackney, Bow and Stratford are overwhelmingly GCSE and A Level catch-up and grade-push work in comprehensives that are improving fast.
South London
20 areasTwo distinct markets side by side: the Dulwich and Wimbledon independents on one hand, and on the other the Sutton, Kingston and Bromley grammars, which pull 11+ candidates from a genuinely enormous radius.
Not on the list? It makes no difference to whether we can teach your child — lessons are online, so there is no radius and no travel time to work around. These areas are here because what a family is preparing for genuinely changes between them, not because one is in reach and the next is not.
What London asks us for most
- 11+ and ISEB pre-test preparation, started in Year 5
- GCSE maths and science grade 6 → 8 pushes
- A Level maths, chemistry and economics
- IB Diploma HL support and Extended Essay supervision
- UCAT, LNAT, TMUA and Oxbridge interview practice
- EAL support for families newly arrived mid-year
The dates that actually matter
September, Year 6
Most London grammar entrance tests sit in the first weeks of Year 6 — which means the work happens in Year 5.
Autumn, Year 6
ISEB Common Pre-Test window, followed by individual independent-school papers and interviews in January.
31 October
UCAS deadline for medicine, dentistry, veterinary science and all Oxbridge applications.
January
Independent-school 7+, 8+ and 11+ written papers and interviews.
May–June
GCSE and A Level examination series. Revision support is booked out by February.
Typical rates in London
What families in London are usually quoted, per hour, for one-to-one lessons. Your own rate is confirmed in writing before a first lesson — no joining fee, no compulsory package, no tie-in.
Boards & stages
Tell us which board the school entered your child for — it changes the set texts, the required practicals and the command words.
Every tutor in London clears the same checks
Nobody comes to your home
Every UK lesson is online. No adult we introduce you to is ever in the same room as your child, and no address of yours is ever given to a tutor. That is the single biggest thing that changes the risk, and it is worth being plain about rather than burying it.
A lesson you can walk into at any moment
Lessons are held on a link the parent holds too. You can join, sit in, or watch any lesson unannounced, from the first one to the last, and you never have to explain why.
No private channel to your child
Tutors do not get your child’s number, email or socials. Scheduling, rescheduling and progress notes all run through you — so there is no route by which an adult ends up in a one-to-one conversation with a child outside a lesson.
London families
Tell us the year group and we will tell you straight
Lessons are online and running now, so a person reads this and answers it properly: whether we have a teacher who genuinely covers your child's subject and exam board, or that we do not. Your area in London does not come into it.
Useful to include: the school, the exam board where you know it, and what the last report actually said. It is the difference between a good match and a guess.
Or email uk@thehometuitions.com.
London — questions parents ask
When should 11+ preparation actually start in London?
For the super-selectives, the realistic answer is the beginning of Year 5 — roughly eighteen months before the papers. That allows reasoning to be taught properly and gaps in arithmetic to be closed without pressure. Starting in Year 6 is not impossible, but it turns into cramming, and these tests are written specifically to be resistant to cramming.
Do you cover the ISEB Common Pre-Test?
Yes. It is adaptive and online, which changes the preparation: questions get harder as a child answers correctly, so a pupil never feels they are doing well, and accuracy under that pressure is the skill being tested. We work on pacing and on not unravelling after a hard question, alongside the maths, English and reasoning content.
Is it online, or does a tutor come to us in London?
Online. We do not send tutors into homes in the UK, and in London that is less of a compromise than it sounds: travel time across the city is the real constraint on tuition here, and a family paying for an hour is often paying for ninety minutes of somebody’s Northern line. An online hour is an hour. For 11+ and primary, where paper matters, we work off printed papers your child sits away from the screen and spend the lesson on the marking.
Does it matter which borough we are in?
Not for reaching you — online removes the travel radius that normally decides which tutor a London family can have, which is the whole reason a Zone 6 family can work with the same teacher as a Zone 2 one. Your borough still matters enormously for what you are preparing for, though: the selection landscape in Bromley, Barnet and Kingston are three different problems, which is what the rest of this page is about.
