1:1 Tutor's Needed - Ready to make children smile :) in Nottingham

Do you want a job, or do you want to change a life? Are you patient, empathetic and adaptable? Why not become a SEND Children’s Tutor and support children in need? Are you someone who measures success one smile at a time? Do you have the fizz, the fun, and the belief that therapeutic support can change a young person’s life? Can you build positive, trusting relationships with children who have been let down, written off, or left waiting for too long? If that sounds like you – keep reading.

We’re not looking for worksheet warriors. We’re looking for 1:1 Tutors who actually like children. We have roles across Nottingham and Nottinghamshire, including Beeston, Bulwell, Mansfield, East Leake, Arnold, Worksop, Hucknall, West Bridgford, Carlton, and Kirkby-in-Ashfield and more! Some of these children have been out of education for months. Not because they can’t learn – but because the system hasn’t worked for them. They’ve been waiting for the right support, the right relationship, and the right adult who doesn’t disappear after a term. That’s where you come in. We have immediate starts and September starts, part-time and full-time. Typical working hours are 09:00–15:00, Monday to Friday – school-friendly hours without being stuck in a classroom.

What Makes This Role Different

If your idea of tutoring is turning up with a stack of worksheets and a “target grade”, this isn’t for you. You will not be delivering endless worksheets and nagging a child to climb grades they don’t care about. Your job is to:

• Engage with the child as a human being, not a data point
• Inspire them, not intimidate them
• Meet them where they are, not where a spreadsheet says they should be

You’ll be:

• Walking with them in the park and having the conversations that actually matter
• Playing games, using humour, movement, and creativity to open the door to learning
• Planning fun, meaningful activities – baking, sewing, crafts, projects, life skills
• Taking part in fully risk-assessed trips like Planet Bounce and other approved venues where they can move, laugh, and feel like a kid again
• Working alongside other support workers and professionals around the child so the adults are finally joined up for once
• You’re not there to squeeze them into a system that already failed them. You’re there to adapt to the child.
• This is genuinely child-focused work. Their interests. Their pace. Their needs. Their voice.
• You build the relationship first – the learning comes after.

Progress isn’t always dramatic. Sometimes it’s:

• A day with no meltdown
• A young person actually getting in the car
• Or just a small, reluctant smile that wasn’t there last week

That’s the stuff that matters here.

What This Role Involves Day-to-Day

This is a community-based role, not a static classroom post. You will:

• Provide consistent 1:1 support to young people who are currently disengaged from education and their community
• Work with children that have special needs, could have a range of needs.
• Support learning in flexible, creative, and practical ways tailored to each young person
• Help them re-engage with their local community through structured, planned activities
• Act as a positive, stable role model and trusted adult who doesn’t vanish at the first sign of challenge
• Promote emotional wellbeing, resilience, confidence, and social development

Transport and Routine

You must feel confident picking a child or young person up from their home, supporting them throughout the day, and taking them back home safely afterwards. For a lot of these young people, that simple, predictable routine – the same adult at the door, same time, same car – is where trust starts to rebuild.

You will need:

• A full UK driving licence (add business car insurance when you start)
• Access to a reliable vehicle
• A positive can-do attitude
• Confident working 1:1

How the Timetable Works

You could start on a part-time timetable because it may take time. Not because there aren’t enough hours – but because it takes a little time to carefully match you with the right children, in the right areas, at the right times.

• To begin with, you’ll start on a part-time timetable while we safely build up your caseload
• Some children only manage half days
• Some prefer just a couple of days a week
• Because of that, your rota will change over time as new children are added and others increase their hours

The key point: everything is built around the needs of the child, not the convenience of a spreadsheet. If you’re looking for full-time hours, you will always work with at least two children (usually more) once your timetable is fully built. Your hours grow as we gradually and safely put the right matches in place – for you and for them.

You Don’t Have to Come From One Path

If you’re waiting for permission because your CV doesn’t look “education enough”, this is it. You might have:

• A Psychology degree
• Experience as a Social Worker
• Worked as a Children’s Residential Support Worker
• A Nursery Nurse / Early Years background

Or you might come from:

• Youth work or mentoring
• Classroom support (TA, LSA, AP, PRU)
• Sports coaching
• Behaviour support or pastoral roles
• Social care or wider support work
• Swim Teacher

Or none of the above, but you’ve spent time working with children, young people, or vulnerable people and you know how to talk to them like they’re human. We don’t care what your last job title was. We care whether you:

• Turn up
• Don’t scare easily from tough situations
• Can keep showing up when things get loud
• A genuine passion for supporting children and young people
• Strong communication and relationship-building skills
• Patience, empathy, and proper emotional resilience
• Confidence working independently and using your initiative
• The ability to adapt your approach for different personalities, moods, and needs
• Experience with challenging behaviour or additional needs (very useful, but not essential if your attitude is right)
• Full UK driving licence and access to a vehicle (non-negotiable)
• Business car insurance suitable for transporting children and young people

Why This Role Matters

These young people are not “hard to reach”. They’re just tired of adults who give up on them. Across Nottingham and Nottinghamshire, every area has its own story. Some good, some messy. The constant in all of it is that one adult who decides to stick around and be the difference.

If you:

• See potential where other people see “problems”
• Believe in therapeutic, relationship-led support instead of punishment and detention
• Are happy to measure success in small steps, soft smiles, and slow but real change

…then this is probably the most meaningful work you’ll do. You won’t fix the whole world. But you might just change it for one child. And that’s a good day’s work.