Who are they?
Who are they?First Floor
Winston House
349 Regents Park Road
London
N3 1DH
Tel: 0207 748 0797
Email: enquiries@riviera-tutors.com
Web: www.riviera-tutors.com
We have met with Riviera Tutors’ staff. In addition, 24 clients and 20 tutors have completed an on-line survey (sent to 45 clients and 31 tutors) and we have followed this up with additional short phone interviews with some of those surveyed.
Riviera Tutors staff
A family affair: Luke Sullivan (mid 30s), who graduated in English lit from Bristol, is the founder and main frontman. His wife, Olena – lawyer by training, and a recipient of the State Medal of Ukraine for her ‘outstanding contribution towards youth development’ – supports him with aplomb and takes care of their Russian-speaking families. Luke’s cousin Vanessa Chamberlain (Cambridge history graduate and ex-PWC) heads up accounts, tutoring management and scheduling. More recently, Laura Kellie (no relation, teacher and educational consultant) joined as head of teaching and learning which covers recruitment, CPD, safeguarding and SEND, student progress and curriculum development, while Charity Cooper (also no relation, accounting background) does budgeting, accounting and admin.
Luke set up the business up in 2009 – two years of tutoring had enabled him to build the foundations of his international network of families. He now spends his time between London and Monaco – the latter has fancy offices that double up as a purpose-built education centre for Riveria’s sister company Modelex which Luke set up exclusively for Monaco residents.
There’s little that Luke doesn’t know about tutoring – the wider sector, what makes a good match, when it’s doomed to fail despite matching a student with one of the world’s best tutors etc. Earnest, serious and business like – wearing a finely tailored suit for our lockdown Zoom from his office in Monaco. ‘He is intelligent, emotionally and otherwise, and he has a gift of choosing the right person,’ said a parent; ‘an absolute tour de force with regards to making my life as an employee easier,’ voiced a tutor. The whole team, we also heard, is ‘responsive’, ‘caring’ and ‘available for support at all times.’ ‘Very good work ethic,’ ‘very organised’ and ‘like night and day compared with other tutor companies’ featured among other compliments.
What do they offer?
A pretty even spread between I/GCSE, A level and IB tutoring and entrance exams including 7+, 11+, 13+ and CE across all subjects. Also covers university entrance including UCAS and Oxbridge for UK and international support including Ivy League applications and ACT/SATs. Language provision popular – English, French, Spanish, Italian, German and Russian. Tutees range from age 21 down to (alarmingly, we felt, though Luke insisted it’s rare) age 4.
Geographically, a third of tutoring takes place in London (mostly Chelsea, Mayfair, Belgravia and Hampstead), a third in Monaco (including at the education centre) and the rest spread around the world (especially Paris, Moscow, Milan, Rome and south of France but also further-flung places such as the Maldives and Caribbean). Online tutoring increasingly popular especially since the pandemic.
Three main types of tutoring: hourly, residential or – and this is where we think Riviera shines most brightly – home schooling which includes curriculum development, sourcing of specialist teachers and high level ongoing monitoring and support. We heard of students who were a shocking five years behind – unnoticed by their (supposedly good) school because eg the child was polite, quiet and had help with homework – then brought up to scratch within just a couple of years with Riviera. Specialist SEN tutors available both for assessments and tutoring – we spoke to one of their SEN tutors who told us ‘Riviera really cares about the child and are brilliant and supportive as an agency.’ Assessments are a growing part of Riviera’s offering, and not just for SEN – it’s all part of the emphasis on finding out exactly what the family needs. Collaborating with the child’s school is a forte (with permission from the parent, of course) – all makes for an impressively child-centred approach.
A particular strength of Riviera is Luke’s personal touch and relationship building with families. If you just want sign up to any old weekly maths tutor with no further ado, there may be better agencies. If you see the education of your child as a long-term investment that you want Luke’s very detailed and tailored help with on an ongoing basis, then look no further. ‘We feel lucky to have met Riviera Tutors – they opened doors for our daughters that we would not have been able to access,’ said one parent. ‘They have made a massive difference to our family over the years and we can’t recommend them highly enough.’
Background and basics
With a name like Riviera, it seems fitting that the business started life on a yacht in the south of France, where Luke – who had just graduated – took on a tutoring role. Increasingly in demand, he signed up other tutors and the company has grown organically ever since.
When we last reviewed Riviera, nearly all their tutors were Oxbridge educated and the baseline criteria was four years’ tutoring experience. Now, tutors’ CVs come from a wider range of top-tier universities but they all need at least five years’ experience. ‘Anything less than that tends to mean they know their stuff but can lack the maturity and holistic perspective that adds a good deal of value,’ reckons Luke. More teachers on their books than in the past too – Luke believes it shows a commitment to education and likes that teachers are more used to putting in serious amounts of preparation for lessons (for some 7+ work, Luke now expects more time to be spent on prep than delivery). Most are under 35 and all need that ‘je ne sais quoi’. ‘My younger child is sensitive and he doesn’t make good connections, yet Luke found the perfect person and he actually looked forward to his tutor coming,’ we heard from one parent, not untypically.
Most tutors seek out Luke rather than vice versa, although he uses his networks when needed. Either way, there’s a rigorous but clear-cut recruitment process that kicks off with application form with ‘simple questions designed in a way that it soon shows up which tutors share our mindset about education.’ Next up is an ‘initial interview’ with Laura, a ‘further interview’ with Luke (sometimes with another follow-up interview), a trial lesson and finally an in-person (or via Zoom in the pandemic) interview with Luke and Olena. Two references are followed up from each tutor, along with DBS certification. ‘They don’t take just anyone – they make sure they’re absolutely confident about who is on their books and they really look after them,’ said a tutor. Indeed, regular training is available, including Myelin Academia’s Certified Tutor Training Program plus some specialist courses and classes eg White Rose Hub Maths. For their full time tutors (which make up 10 per cent), there’s a €500 budget to select an area of CPD of their choice. ‘But it’s a shame that they don’t invest more in their online tutoring – other agencies I work for are much more sophisticated in this area, which made the virtual transition a lot easier during Covid,’ said one tutor.
If you think recruitment is meticulous, you should see Luke in action when it comes to matching, a process that places huge weight on sussing out exactly what the family needs and often involves formal assessments. Tutors are never picked on subject match alone (other aspects include personality, experience with that age group, approach to teaching etc) and are switched instantly if, despite all this, there’s ‘lack of click’ (‘Nobody gets on with everyone else in the world,’ shrugs Luke). Tutors give regular feedback to parents and (unusually – we like this) lessons are observed once or twice a year to keep tutors on their toes.
Luke stays in regular contact with families – gives him a chance to monitor progress and keep tabs on the child’s wellbeing, and the parents like it too. ‘Luke has been a regular feature at our house over the past decade and we have spent hours and litres of coffee discussing educational questions and plans,’ said one parent. ‘It’s not just a case, as with so many tutor agencies, of finding a market to make money out of – they really do care about the child’s education and know their clients very well,’ remarked a tutor.
Some tutors think they’re missing a trick when it comes to organising meetings, forums, exchanging of ideas and general socialising among tutors – ‘More of a sense of community among the tutors would be nice,’ said one. Riviera Tutors is corporate member of The Tutors’ Association, and currently does charity work with Junior Chamber International, as well as supporting some Ukrainian refugee students with tutoring and school placements. Clients are generally wealthy – often extremely so – and discerning.
Money and small print
No introductory fee. Assessments from £250 upwards. For hourly tutoring, costs start from £65 per hour (or £300 per day, covering up to five hours’ work) reaching up to £150 per hour (and sometimes more if it’s for eg Harvard/SATs specialist – ‘USA application specialists command the highest fees of all,’ says Luke). ‘Very expensive,’ grumbled several parents, even when they’d been positive about everything else. Luke isn’t blind to it – ‘Our tutors are often freelance and tend to set their own fees, which aren’t always consistent, but we always aim to give a spread of options, depending on your budget,’ he says). Travel usually (but not always) included. Riviera takes 20-25 per cent commission, with payment to tutors set at a minimum of £50. T&Cs for both clients and tutors, with all the ordinary clauses around cancellation etc, but Riviera applies a common sense approach to bending the rules in exceptional circumstances.
Riviera say
‘You can get the best quality tutor making a tremendous impact with one child and quite the opposite with another. That’s always been the case. So we spend more time than ever on assessments and analysing the family situation to make sure we’re finding not just the best tutor but the best tutor for the particular child. That conversation then has to continue, along with rigorous monitoring, to ensure the value is ongoing.’
Remarks
Dialogue is the name of the game with this high-end tutor company. No stone is left unturned when it comes to pinpointing precisely what the family needs, with plenty of follow up, even years down the line. For many families we spoke to, Luke is more than a tutor provider – he’s become a family friend. Home schooling is a particular strength.