Meet Sophia: The future of tuition Post Reply

[SophiaApp]

Hello NVN

Taxis have Uber, Therapists have Urban and Sitters have Bubble.   Private Tuition? - Meet Sophia! 

We are delighted to introduce you to Sophia; the UK's first on demand mobile app for private home tuition.

Co founded by a local resident and former Independent School Headteacher, Sophia is an EdTech company which connects fully vetted and verified tutors with clients seeking face-to-face home tuition via our intuitive on demand mobile app. We built Sophia to meet the needs of progressive parents and tutors living in a highly competitive, changing world. 

The Uber / Urban / Air BnB and Bubble model for Private Tuition; This is Tutoring Reimagined.
 Led by leaders in education and a proud member of The Tutors Association,  Sophia challenges the status quo by bringing best practice in safer recruitment in education to a largely unregulated industry. We offer leading insurance, including public liability and professional indemnity cover, for all sessions booked via the Sophia App.   Not only have we vetted every tutor face to face but have also ensured each of our tutors as a valid enhanced DBS check as part of our commitment to safeguarding.  Payment is cashless and secure on the app via Stripe.   The power to set an entire industry free is at your fingertips.
 Our educational philosophy is rooted in empowering students to reach their full potential as they grow from the learners of today into the leaders of the future. We connect students that seek to be inspired with tutors that love sharing knowledge in order to develop self belief, curiosity, well-being and confidence in all our learners.
Launching in the London area, Sophia will be available to download via iOS and Android towards the end of the Summer, but we are now looking for exceptional tutors to join our team and are also happy to register interested parents.    Registration is free and only takes a few minutes.

For more details please visit our website.  www.sophia.app

Questions?   We'd love to hear from you.  Get in touch at hello@sophia.app 
 

[lalectrice]

This sounds like a slightly souped-up version of uktutors.com

[coldatchristmas]

Not sure how this sort of platform will match the children with tutors, surely the most important fact?
Appreciate that world is moving more and more this way but I do think compatibility is very important for tutors.

[lalectrice]

I agree. The Uber model implies a dispensability that is at odds with the tutor-pupil relationship. Ideally tutorial agencies or introduction services function to enable a limited number of connections to be made, so that a pupil can find one tutor with whom to form an ongoing relationship. Unlike Bubble, for example, which primarily facilitates ad hoc or emergency childcare (though with the potential to reuse the same babysitter), people seeking tutors are looking for an individual who can really get to know their child and her/his needs. A site like UK Tutors or a traditional tutorial agency charge a one-off introduction fee. Bubble etc require one to pay for each booking - not sure how Sophia operates on this front. That said, I have not used Sophia, so am not in a position to judge - hopefully it will be a great addition to an already very active market. 

[SophiaApp]

Not sure how this sort of platform will match the children with tutors, surely the most important fact?
Appreciate that world is moving more and more this way but I do think compatibility is very important for tutors.

This is a great question @coldatchristmas!  

We totally agree that compatibility and more importantly rapport between student and tutor is a huge factor in the success of private tuition.  This is one of the reasons why Sophia will only offer face to face tuition as we don't think anything can replace the power of learning alongside someone passionate about their subject. 

The quick answer to your question is that Sophia doesn't match tutors and students together.  Quite the opposite as on the Sophia App Platform, we think parents know their children best and have (we hope) excellent links with schools - so we put the power into your hands to choose the tutor you feel would best suit the learning needs of your child.      

In using Sophia, parents are able to use the app to select the date / time / subject they require and can browse through our available tutors, review bios and feedback from other parents.  Rather than rely on the advice of an agency to select from their pool of tutors, parents have the opportunity to select those they feel would work best with their children at the time they need them most.     Already have a favourite Sophia tutor you wish to rebook - no problem!  

Bookings are instantly confirmed, payment to the tutor is cashless via Stripe at the end of the session and as members of the Tutors Association (a professional body for Tutors), we uphold all of the safer recruitment in education and safeguarding requirements including: enhanced DBS checks, verified references and meeting all of our tutors in person.   We also offer Public Liability and Professional Indemnity insurance for every tuition session booked on Sophia.  

The education team at Sophia is also on hand to give support to parents where needed as our leaders have over 45 years of leadership experience in the Independent Sector and 7 children between them so we'd like to think we know a little something about education.   

Our website is a great place to learn more about us but do reach out with any questions you might have

hello@sophia.app

Thanks again for a great comment!


 

[YoungGiants]

This seems a great idea for those who prefer tech - is there an overall pedagogical philosophy to you work?

At Young Giants Tutoring, we focus on child-centred tuition, building a child's academic confidence to help them better engage with their own learning. Young Giants is run by qualified teacher, Jaime and we workshop our tutors in methods of teaching using the Growth Mindset and intrinsic motivation to better empower their tutees.

Our workshops mean that we've not only met our tutors but we've worked with them too.

We also undertake teaching for local authority children and in order to carry out this work we undergo regular, external Quality Assurance and Safer Recruitment spot checks. This gives parents the peace of mind that our standards never slip.  

Working with tutors, qualified teachers and special needs teachers for one-to-one tuition, we are fully insured and a member of NASEN.

[SophiaApp]

Hello NVN

When we first posted our call to action to find amazing tuition professionals looking for a more convenient and flexible way of working, we could not have imagined the overwhelming response we would have had.

Over 1650+ Tutors have registered with Sophia since July. Our Education Team upholds the highest standards of safer recruitment practice in our recruitment, and with over 50+ years of educational leadership and teaching experience at outstanding schools both in the U.K. and internationally, we would like to think we can spot a brilliant educator when we see one.

Sophia not only provides lease technology designed to make the process of finding, booking, communicating and paying a tutor simple, quick and convenient.

We are so passionate about Safeguarding that not only do we vet all tutors to the same standards expected of a school which includes application screening, telephone interview, two professional references, a face to face in depth interview and ensuring all tutors have a recent enhanced DBS and overseas police check where required, but we go a step beyond. Each and every tuition session booked on our platform is covered by both Public Liability and Professional Indemnity Insurance. As a member of the Tutors Association we are proud to be leading from the front in what is, shockingly, an unregulated industry.

We are delighted to introduce our first 100 Sophia Ambassador tutors to clients seeking educational support for their learning. Sophia caters for clients seeking tuition for their children, 18+ students and adults seeking support with their learning and Corporate environments who need a helping hand from skilled professionals.

Our tutors range from Oxbridge and Russell Group University Students, Masters and Phd holders to experienced professionals, skilled full time tutors, doctors, lawyers, engineers, university professors and vice chancellors to name a few. You can meet some of our amazing team by visiting.

https://www.sophia.app/sophia-tutors.html

Sophia is the U.K.’s first on demand mobile app; connecting our team of professional fully vetted tutors with clients seeking face to face tuition.

Founded by local SW4 residents (that’s me!), the team is led by an Education Team who have over 50+ years of educational leadership and teaching experience.

Sophia is now registering clients interested in using our app which will be launched soon on iOS and Android

Using your smartphone, clients can select and book any one of our 100+ highly qualified tutors who will come to your home, office or public space, and have been subject to an in-depth school-level vetting process.

Face to face tuition with trusted tutors; where you want it, when you want it.

This is Tutoring Reimagined
www.sophia.app

[SophiaApp]

The Sophia app for Clients is now available!

While the official launch in the App Store and Google Play is set for January 2020, as a local company founded by local SW4 residents, we have a exclusive download link available for early NVN adopters.

If you are looking for private tuition and would like to try Sophia to have access to our team of Ambassador Tutors before wide release of the App, please create a client profile at https://parent.sophia.app/

Your secure download link for the Sophia Client App will be sent to you via your registered email address.

Please do get in touch if you have any questions. Hello@sophia.app

[SophiaApp]

Hi NVN neighbours!

If you'd like a sneak peak at the iOS Sophia app before wide release in the Apple App Store and take part in the beta test please click the following link, download the app register and make your first booking! https://testflight.apple.com/join/9GDJkaG8

Our education team who have over 50+ years of experience in leading schools have personally face-to-face interviewed every single one of our tutors (in addition to requiring 2x professional references and both enhanced DBS and safeguarding awareness checks).

As a result we are confident that the level of education will exceed your expectations. If it doesn't we will refund 100% of the cost of the session no questions asked.

All we ask: - Client must speak to our team within 5 days of the session being completed. - No obligation to provide feedback but as an ambitious start-up we'd love to hear why you weren't satisfied so we can make changes. - The refund will be back into the account used to pay for the session using our payment provider Stripe.

Please do get in touch with me personally if you have any questions.

Melissa