Who needs Croydon Academic?

'Naturally, we want the best for our children. We've been told our eldest boy could make it to one of the top academic schools in the country - probably with a scholarship. But who will give him the expert coaching he needs?'

The answer is simple: you do, if you ever hear yourself saying...

'My daughter enjoys English and hopes to start the subject at AS level next September; but I'm worried that the thin quality and quantity of work she's given will hardly equip her to get the best out of Chaucer and Shakespeare.'

'My son's class only did one comprehension exercise in the whole of last term - then they were expected to cope with it in the exam!'

'I think it's important for my children to start learning Latin while they are young, but their school doesn't teach it.'

'I nearly despair every time I look at my children's English books. They are bright, and we've brought them up to respect their teachers and respond to what they are told; but most of their errors are simply being ignored. How can they improve, if they do not know what mistakes they are making?'

'Now that I've retired, I'd like to start learning how to enjoy literature at a deeper level. I don't want to join a class: I want to talk individually with someone whom I can rely on for expert guidance.'

'I'm worried about my son's handwriting. I thought schools were supposed to have gone "back to basics"... '

'My husband and I have enjoyed our holidays in Spain, but feel we would get so much more out of them if we knew some Spanish ... '

'I can hardly believe it! My son's class are facing the exams that will decide the next years of their lives - and they spent their last English lesson drawing a book cover... '

'My son's punctuation is appalling. I discovered why when I read his school reports: he appears to be at a school where the teachers can't punctuate.'

'I contacted a tutoring organisation that is plastered all over the internet. They make some elaborate declaration about 'qualified' tutors: I discovered their idea of 'qualified' was tutors having passed the same exam that they are now trying to teach!'

'I thought this National Curriculum obliged schools to teach Shakespeare: my daughter's school interprets that as watching one scene of a play on a video - an animated version! I want someone to teach her what Shakespeare is really about, and why he matters.'

'My son brought his English book home at the end of term. He's at the end of Year Ten, half-way through GCSE. I was so shocked: it appeared he had hardly been set any real written work at all during that vital year...'

'Do you know, I never learnt Latin when I was younger, and I really regret it - could I start now? '

'My son is bright, and the work he does at school just does not stretch him.'

'My daughter has just started English at university... After so much time spent on contemporary authors and things like newspaper articles and leaflets at school, she finds approaching poets such as Chaucer, Donne, and Eliot a huge challenge. I want to find her some help - but it must be from someone properly qualified.'

'If my children come home once more and tell me they watched a video at school, I think I shall scream!'

'Where can I find someone to help my daughter understand Macbeth?'

'Where can I find someone to teach my son proper, traditional handwriting? '

'My son has private lessons with an English tutor - well, he's really a maths teacher, but he says he can do a bit of English as well - you know, just exercises out of book... '

'We made a lot of sacrifices to send our son to a private school; now we discover he's only playing with Latin, and his English teacher does not even have a degree. Where do we go from here?'

'I want my children to study for senior-school entrance exams, but their school only seems interested in these SAT things. What can I do?'

'I booked lessons for both my children with a private tutor - but now I discover he's just not qualified to do the job...'