GCSE Science and Drama Tutor, 1:1 Home Tuition, Ingatestone
Location: Home Based Tuition, Ingatestone, Essex (CM4)
Hours: 5 Hours Per Week, 1 Day Per Week
Start Date: 7 September 2026
Focus: GCSE Double Science and GCSE Drama, Year 11
Essential Requirement: Experience teaching students with OCD and significant anxiety
Competitive hourly rate
£25-£30 per hour DOE.
About the Role
Study Mind is looking for a calm, patient and experienced tutor to provide 1:1 face to face home tuition for a Year 11 student with an EHCP who has been unable to attend her school setting since Year 8.
This is an academic placement with a strong relational component. The student is bright, highly motivated and working towards GCSE qualifications, so subject knowledge matters. Equally, she will only make progress with someone who can read her emotional capacity accurately and adjust the session accordingly.
She is currently educated Otherwise Than In School (EOTIS) and has previously received online learning through the Local Authority medical education team. This placement moves her to face to face delivery at home.
About the Student
The student has a diagnosis of moderate to severe Obsessive Compulsive Disorder alongside significant anxiety and panic attacks, formally confirmed through CAMHS in 2025. She is under psychiatric care with medication in place and has been engaged in CBT, including Exposure and Response Prevention, since early 2025.
She presents with extensive daily rituals that affect her sleep, her routines and her ability to leave the home, and these increase under pressure or unpredictability. Previous attempts at reintegration into face to face education led to a significant deterioration in her mental health.
Academically she is very able. She achieved a grade 8 in Maths and is described by those working with her as a high achiever who engages well with tutors despite reduced attendance. She is bright, thoughtful, kind and conscientious, with real emotional insight and strong determination.
Approach Required
Anxiety and OCD significantly affect her concentration, working memory, processing speed and confidence, particularly under pressure or in unfamiliar situations. The tutor will need to plan around this rather than push through it.
She responds best to calm, clear, predictable and emotionally attuned communication. Information needs to be delivered gently and without pressure, with time to process and to ask questions. She trusts adults who are flexible, who understand OCD and anxiety, and who explain things straightforwardly.
Not every day will be a productive day. Her current tutor's relaxed approach has been noted by the family as a key reason the relationship works, and the same flexibility will be needed here.
The Role Will Include
Delivering 5 hours of 1:1 tuition per week in a single day, covering GCSE Double Science and GCSE Drama.
Building a trusting working relationship and adapting the pace and demand of each session to her emotional capacity on the day.
Teaching in a low stimulation, familiar setting, with sensory input kept to a minimum.
Supporting her with options subject content she has found difficult, and with topics she has been uncertain about learning independently.
Working with the school and the Local Authority on exam access arrangements, including a JCQ assessment well ahead of entry.
Expanding curriculum breadth gradually, reviewed against her mental health and readiness rather than to a fixed timetable.
Contributing to Annual Review and One Plan meetings as required.
Essential Requirements
Qualified Teacher Status or substantial equivalent experience teaching to GCSE level.
Confident teaching GCSE Double Science, GCSE Drama, or both. Applications are welcome from specialists in either subject.
Substantial experience supporting young people with OCD, anxiety or panic, ideally in a home or alternative provision setting.
Understanding of how compulsions and rituals present, and the ability to work alongside them without reinforcing or challenging them inappropriately.
Experience preparing students for GCSE examinations, including familiarity with access arrangements.
Enhanced DBS on the update service.
Continuity Is Essential
Continuity of a single tutor is essential. The family have been clear that the relationship her current tutor has built, and that tutor's familiarity with her OCD traits, is what has allowed her to feel at ease. Any change of tutor must be managed gradually and openly, never by abrupt substitution.
We are looking for someone reliable and quietly consistent, who can hold the same day and time each week and let the relationship build over months rather than sessions.
Sensory and Environmental Considerations
She requires a low stimulation, familiar environment with reduced sensory input. She benefits from calm, predictable settings and finds unpredictability very difficult.
She struggles significantly in group settings and unfamiliar environments, driven by fear of judgement and worry that her symptoms are visible. Sessions take place at the kitchen table in the family home. There are two cats in the household and no smokers.
She can experience panic attacks if demands or expectations become too much, so the tutor must be able to recognise this early and step the session back without making an issue of it.
Student Interests
Music, theatre, dance and piano.
Cooking and baking.
Reading and acting.
Student volunteers at a dog day care centre each week.
Student aspires to study politics at King's College London and to pursue a career in acting or politics. She values kindness, volunteering and community.
Placement Details
Location: The family home in Ingatestone, CM4, in the Brentwood area. Both parents hold Parental Responsibility and are able to transport where needed.
Availability: The student already has tuition from another provider from 9am to 12pm daily, so sessions will be arranged around this. Tuesdays should be avoided where possible due to existing weekly commitments. CAMHS and therapy appointments vary in day and time, so some flexibility is required.
Tutor Preference: The family have expressed a preference for a female tutor.
Start Date: 7 September 2026.
Company Overview
At Study Mind, we believe that every child deserves the opportunity to reach their full potential, regardless of their circumstances. We specialise in providing high quality, 1:1 support for students with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) who require personalised support outside mainstream provision. Through our tailored approach, we help students build confidence, engage at their own pace, and move towards their goals.
Work Location: In person
Pay: £25.00-£30.00 per hour
Expected hours: 25.0 – 30.0 per week
Work Location: In person
