Charles Bonas

I first discovered a great enthusiasm for private tuition during vacations from Oxford and Law School. I began hiring my own tutors in 1998, then established Bonas MacFarlane in 2000, in conjunction with Edmund Robb (Robb being the Gaelic for MacFarlane), who extended our educational consultancy in Beijing, in partnership with The Celsom Cultural Exchange Corporation. I have thirteen years experience of tutoring and providing consultancy for hundreds of families. With a Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) and experience of teaching at four leading independent schools, I ensure that our students have professional continuity between our educational services and their existing class room teaching and syllabi. In addition to forging close links with many leading independent schools (where we place children, and provide holiday tuition and courses), I also work with some of the most experienced educational and medical professionals in London.

We work with children as individual learners, observing them chiefly in their family environments, to identify the way in which they will learn and develop most effectively. Each child has an efficient method of learning and thinking critically, which will be particular to the unique way in which his or her brain has developed. We try to identify this method and then try to tailor skills of critical thinking, reasoning, question answering and studying techniques in a way that will be most effective and make the most sense. When this succeeds, the rate of progress is exciting for the tutor and the child.
We offer consultancy, mentorship and courses that go far beyond academic tutoring. Again, we are extremely fortunate to be able to work with children on a one a one to one level or in small groups, since we can tailor each project to the specific needs of the child or young adult at hand. We can be very creative and flexible in our approach. Each outcome is different and successes are wonderful to behold since they all involve seeing a young person become truly motivated, often for the first time – whether it is finding the right school for a particularly individual child, or finding the right mentor for the right adolescent, who may discover the university course and potential career path that will really bring out potential.
We bring together children with highly talented tutors and mentors, many of whom are pursuing long term careers in other fields (such as medicine or writing) but have so much to offer to other young people. Most of our students are fortunate enough to attend exceptional schools, but they are still invigorated to be given individual attention with essay writing from a director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, taught chemistry by a scientist in charge of a team of researchers at Imperial College, singing from a tenor just back from Glyndebourne, or plan an GAP Year expedition with a military expert.