Former Grantham area teacher takes plunge to expand tutoring business

A former teacher, who runs a tutoring business, has taken the plunge as her demands increased as a result of lockdown.

Christina Saccoh, from Bingham, is a former headteacher and has recently quit her full time teaching job to concentrate on her tutoring company, The Tutor Boss.

A few years ago, a serious illness got the better of Christina and she had no choice but to scale back her hours.

However, as a single mum she needed to find a way to supplement her income, so began tutoring English to local primary and secondary kids, from home.

This side line later became her company, The Tutor Boss. Eventually, as Christina became better, she returned to full time teaching but kept the tutoring on the back burner.

Last month, she took the plunge and quit her full time teaching job to develop The Tutor Boss and remarkably at the same time, she was approached and interviewed by Amazon as an example of someone successfully benefitting from the lockdown boom in online learning and business success.

Christina said: “I’m quite well known in my local community for being the teacher that gets results, by teaching outside of the box, with my innovative ways.

“I like to encourage students to think beyond what’s in front of their faces as well as building confidence, these skills are key to unlocking a child’s potential and just some of the many reasons my students do so well academically.

“As pupil numbers increased, I began to enjoy this form of teaching more and more plus the new work life balance fitted in well with family life. So, a few months into 2020 I thought, right I’m going for it! Then Lockdown happened and I had to shield. It hit me like a ton of bricks and forced me to focus full time on something that had been a side hustle.”

With demand for tutors increasing over lockdown, Christina added in other core subjects to her offering including Maths, History, Business Studies, Biology, PE and BTEC Level Sport and Sport Science.

She continued: “Lockdown meant schools and colleges suddenly closed and many parents and students, particularly those sitting A Level’s and GCSE’s this year and next, were left wondering, some even panicking, how on earth they were going to continue with their studies and even though schools were sending work through, it wasn’t the same quantity and quality across the board.

“So, with the wonders of the internet and I had to learn fast, I turned my weekly classes online using Zoom and Facebook Live. From then on, and again by word of mouth this time particularly from many of my students, pupil count increased dramatically and I’ve literally not looked back.”

Christina has recently launched The Tutor Boss website, www.thetutorboss.com, which features an online timetable.