At the start of each term, you and your child make one small decision together: what to focus on. That's the Term Focus — a single, plain-English direction for each subject that the tutors quietly work towards. It takes two minutes, it's entirely optional, and it never turns into nagging. We call the whole idea the Term Compass: a light steer for the term, not a rigid contract.

Most tutoring "goals" are set once, written down, and then forgotten — a line on a form that nobody looks at again. A Term Focus is the opposite. It's short, it's alive, and it actually reaches the tutors who teach your child, so it changes what happens in a session rather than sitting in a drawer.

What a Term Focus actually is

The UK school year splits naturally into three terms — Autumn, Spring and Summer. A Term Focus asks one question per subject: which way should we point this term? You pick from four simple directions:

Direction Use it when… What the tutor does
Improve A subject has slipped or feels shaky Biases towards foundations and rebuilding confidence
Consolidate Things are on track — keep the momentum Steadies the pace, deepens where curiosity pulls
Stretch Your child is flying and wants more Reaches into harder, richer material
Explore They're doing well and want to follow an interest Leans into interest-led, wider exploration

Add a one-line headline in your own words — "get confident with algebra", "build paragraph writing" — and you're done. There's no topic checklist, no "cover chapters 4 to 6 by December". KS3 is a three-year landscape, not a race through a syllabus, so a Term Focus is a direction of travel, not a tick-list.

You decide together — the app just listens

The most important thing to know is that the Term Focus is a conversation you have with your child, not a form the app makes you fill in. Families settle these things far better at the kitchen table than through a screen. So the flow is deliberately simple: talk it over, agree a direction, then the parent records it on the dashboard.

Your child isn't a bystander in this. They bring the thing the app can't see — what they actually enjoy. A maths focus of "improve fractions" becomes far more powerful when your child adds "…using it for football stats". That interest note travels straight to the tutor, who weaves it into real problems.

You only ever see the subjects you've chosen for that child, so the list stays short and relevant. (If you haven't picked subjects yet, start with choosing the right subjects for each child — the Term Focus only covers those.)

How the tutors use it

This is the part that makes a Term Focus more than decoration. When your child opens a session, their tutor already knows the term's direction for that subject. Professor Pi might open a maths session quietly aware that "this term is about rebuilding fraction confidence, and she loves football" — and shape the lesson around exactly that.

It shows up in three quiet ways:

  1. In the session. Each subject tutor opens knowing the focus and teaches towards it.
  2. In the weekly plan. When Mentor plans the week, the focus gives this week a why: "two algebra sessions this week if you're feeling green." (More on that in the weekly check-in with Mentor.)
  3. When something's mastered. When your child clearly gets there, the tutor can mark the focus as met — a genuine, quiet win at term's end.

What the tutor won't do is nag. It leans towards the focus subject when your child is undecided about where to start, but it never turns the focus into pressure. A tired day is still allowed to be a tired day.

The loop: set, learn, review

A Term Focus isn't a one-off. It's the middle step in a loop that repeats every term:

  • Set the focus together at the start of term.
  • Learn — the tutors work to it across the weeks.
  • Review at the end, when your child's real school report comes home. You pop the results in, and that helps you reset the focus for next term — below expectation nudges towards Improve, sailing along nudges towards Stretch or Explore.

That end-of-term step is its own thing worth reading about — see reading your child's termly progress report. And if you want to see how a single term fits into the whole three-year picture, the KS3 Journey Map shows the bigger arc. For the thinking behind planning by the term at all, the Term Compass philosophy explains why.

What you can do this term

  1. Have the two-minute chat. Ask your child which subject feels hard right now and which one they'd love to go further in. That's most of the decision made.
  2. Pick a direction, not a target. "Improve" and a friendly headline beats "get a grade 6 by March". Directions motivate; grades pressure.
  3. Let them add their interest. The football-stats bit is the secret ingredient. Encourage it.
  4. Leave gaps. You don't have to set a focus for every subject. One is plenty. An empty plan is a perfectly valid steady state.
  5. Revisit at term's end. When the school report lands, reset. That's the whole loop.

FAQ

Do I have to set a Term Focus?

No — it's entirely optional. If you set nothing, the tutors carry on exactly as before: consolidating each subject and following your child's interests. A Term Focus enriches the tutoring; it never gates it.

Does my child choose the focus, or do I?

You decide together, usually at the kitchen table rather than in an app. The parent then records the agreed direction on the dashboard. The tutor can offer an evidence-based suggestion as a hint, but the decision stays with your family.

Will the tutor nag my child about the focus?

No. The tutor is aware of the focus and leans towards it when your child is undecided, but it doesn't police it or raise it on a tired day. The focus shapes the teaching quietly, in the background.

Duke Harewood built aitutors.me for his own KS3-aged daughter. The Term Focus is the plan he wished every tutor kept — short enough to actually use, and shared with the people who do the teaching. Updated 09 July 2026.