Your English Tutor is preparing for its next stage of development after reaching full capacity and gaining recognition for its tailored English teaching approach.
The business is introducing a dedicated Revision Platform to support students preparing for GCSE examinations, responding to growing demand for structured revision resources.
Founder Claire Fennelly said: “The Revision Platform is something I am bringing in ready for the GCSEs and will look to do that every year thereafter, although that is something my current cohort already gets for free as part of the service. But I am at the point that I have no more live slots, I just don’t have room.”
With a national student base, Fennelly is planning to recruit additional tutors while continuing to teach herself.
She added: “I love teaching, I love English, it is what I do but I couldn’t go on like I was and we know many others are in that position. This is the narrative that’s happening on social media at the moment. From my own story I am showing that it doesn’t have to be all or nothing, you don’t have to give up teaching, there is another way. And I have teachers that want to work for me, so that will be the next step. But I am not bringing them in to do it for me, I won’t stop teaching – that is the point of this business.”
Before establishing the service, Fennelly worked for 15 years in secondary education and became Head of English. Long working hours contributed to serious health challenges and surgery in 2020.
“My consultants all said, you’re not going to last as a teacher. You’ll just keep coming back if you continue, and obviously that’s the kind of narrative around teaching at the minute. It’s not a rare scenario,” Claire said.
In 2023 she returned to Ireland to care for her mother and, following her bereavement, decided to leave full-time teaching after reading a letter left for her.
“My mother left me a letter and in the letter she’d said ‘Please start looking after your health, if you ever need me step into the brightest light in the room.’ And that’s when I decided I’m going to quit teaching fully.”
She then launched Your English Tutor, based on the effectiveness of small-group sessions she had previously delivered.
“When I was Head of English, my dream job, I ran these afterschool groups, it was free and my team did it for free, but these small sessions completely transformed the results. In one year we proved that the results improved by 20%.”
The company has since received a Biz4Biz Best New Business award and maintains strong student feedback.
Future plans centre on increasing capacity while retaining a personalised teaching model.