Tutoring for exam anxiety and school avoidance
Academic tutoring for students who know the work and freeze, and for children who have stopped going to school. From tutors trained by a psychotherapist, in London and online.
An anxious student does not need to be told to relax, and does not need more pressure dressed up as motivation. They need preparation they can feel, from an adult who stays calm. That is a teachable way of tutoring, and every one of our tutors is trained in it.
★ 5.0 on GoogleGloucester Road, SW7Every tutor is enhanced DBS checked with a children’s barred list checkAll major UK exam boards
Tutoring, not therapy
Our tutors are academic tutors. They do not treat anxiety, and tutoring is not a substitute for a GP, CAMHS or a therapist where a child needs one. If we think your child needs more than we can offer, we will tell you.
What good tutoring can do is remove one of anxiety’s main fuels: the honest suspicion of not being ready. It can also give a young person a weekly hour with a calm adult where getting something wrong is safe.
Exam anxiety: confidence built from evidence
Lessons start calm. A short, consistent focus routine opens each session, so work begins from a settled state. The student can use the same routine outside the exam hall.
The real thing is rehearsed. Timed questions, real mark schemes, real papers, introduced gradually. The exam stops being unknown, and the unknown is most of what is frightening.
There is a plan for the question that looks impossible. What to write first, when to move on, how to come back. Panic mid-paper is usually what costs the marks, and it is far less likely in a student who has practised what to do.
Mistakes are tracked as patterns. We identify what keeps going wrong and fix it systematically, week by week. A student who can see their errors shrinking has a reason to feel more confident, not just an instruction to.
Disappointment is allowed.Anxious students are often fiercely self-critical. Tutors do not argue them out of it. Wanting more for yourself is a sign of motivation, and the tutor’s job is perspective and encouragement, not one more voice adding pressure.
When your child has stopped going to school
School avoidance, sometimes called emotionally based school avoidance or EBSA, is rarely about laziness or defiance. When a child is out of school, tutoring has two jobs: keeping the academics moving so the gap stops growing, and rebuilding learning as something that feels safe.
Sessions start short, at home or online, with the same tutor every time. The first lessons are deliberately low-demand. There is no pressure to be back to normal by a set date; there is a plan, reviewed with you, term by term.
We work alongside whatever school and other professionals have in place. Lesson reports in your Parent Dashboard give you a running record of what your child has covered, which is useful evidence in conversations with school or the local authority about attendance and provision.
Trained by a psychotherapist
Our tutors are trained in the Infinite Teaching System by Hannah Kosky, a qualified psychotherapist. Every tutor completes it before they work with a student. Hannah (MA, MBACP) specialises in working with young people. The training covers how to steady a student who panics under a timer, how to rebuild confidence in one who has quietly given up on a subject, and how to stay calm when a lesson is going badly, because calm is contagious and so is panic.
Every tutor is enhanced DBS checked with a children’s barred list check.
Anxiety often travels with something else
Exam anxiety and school avoidance frequently sit alongside ADHD, autism or dyslexia, diagnosed or not. A student who has spent years working twice as hard for the same marks has good reason to dread being tested. If that sounds familiar, see our pages on ADHD, autism and dyslexia. Beyond lessons, Infinite Foundationslooks at the conditions around your child’s learning: where and when they study, and what competes for their attention.
What parents say
Rated 5.0 on Google across 13 reviews.
Fantastic tutoring service. The tutor explains things clearly and keeps lessons focused and engaging. You see progress fast, and confidence builds with each session. Communication stays smooth, scheduling is easy, and…
Infinite Tutors (and especially our chosen tutor Nash) has been such a positive experience for our family. We came to them feeling quite worried, as our child had been struggling with learning for a while and had…
The support and connection my child had with his tutor was outstanding, I’ve never seen him be able to focus and improve leaps and bounds within such a short period of time. Definitely recommend!!
Reviews from Google. Read all reviews →
Questions parents ask
Is this therapy?
No. It is academic tutoring delivered by tutors who have been trained by a psychotherapist in how to work with anxious students. It sits alongside support from a GP, CAMHS or a therapist and does not replace it.
My child refuses to do mock papers. What do you do?
We do not start with papers. We start with single questions, untimed, then add time pressure and length gradually as confidence builds. Most students can face a full timed paper once they have evidence from smaller steps that they can do the questions in it.
My child is not in school at all. Can tutoring replace it?
Tutoring keeps core subjects moving and keeps your child in the habit of learning with an adult, but a few hours a week is not a full education and we would not describe it as one. We are happy to work alongside school, alternative provision or your local authority's arrangements.
How close to exams is too late to start?
Earlier is better, because rehearsal takes time to work. That said, even a few weeks is enough to establish a calm routine, a plan for difficult questions and a realistic revision timetable. Tell us the exam dates at the consultation and we will be honest about what is achievable.
Related
Start with a conversation
A free 20–30 minute call about your child: what is happening, what has been tried, and whether we are the right fit. No obligation either way.
Book a free parent consultation