An opportunity exists for an exceptional Oxbridge graduate to live and work in the San Francisco area as a private tutor and mentor to three highly intelligent children aged ten, seven and six. The position is for a minimum term of 12 months with an option to extend for up to five years or more.

You will be an experienced teacher with a dynamic and energetic personality who can further enhance the children’s’ love of learning. You must be able to draw on your experience to interweave more traditional educational activities with experiential and fun activities that suit each of the children’s individual characters.

Your daily tasks will include, among other things, assisting the children with homework set by their school, assisting the children to further develop a high degree of competency in all traditional areas of learning, extending learning through imaginative projects/activities, providing insight and education beyond the school curriculum, identifying gaps in learning and identifying and expanding upon areas of interest of each of the children.

You will need to be available for an average of 40 hours per week, Sunday to Thursday, but flexibility is required as plans may change at short notice. You will have a minimum 2:1 degree, at least three years teaching experience at a reputable educational institution and a current drivers license. Fluency in other languages would help application.

Accommodation
You will be provided with fully furnished accommodation close to the family’s place of residence in Hillsborough conveniently located nearby Stanford University and only a short drive from San Francisco. The family will be responsible for and will pay for all charges relating to the apartment.

Remuneration
You will be paid £50,000+ for the first 12 months, subject to your qualifications and experience. Relocation costs and working Visa costs will also be paid if required.

Holidays and Travel
You will receive a minimum of 4 weeks vacation per year which should coincide with the holiday periods set by the children’s’ school. You may also be invited to accompany the family during some of the school holiday periods (all expenses paid). Given reasonable notice, you will be expected to accommodate these requests.

Miscellaneous
The family have many animals including horses, dogs, cats, a bird and fish and you will need to like animals and feel comfortable around them.

Applications, including curriculum vitae and the names, addresses and telephone numbers of three referees, should be emailed to flora@conciergelondon.co.uk by no later than November 1st 2005.

Posted by Paula Hoare at 07:30 PM | Permalink

Cassie McHugh contacted us some time ago to see if we could help her pay the tuition fees for Oxford. We were unable to help her directly, we provided her with lots of encouragement and struck up a warm relationship with Cassie and mother who recently recently sent us an update (including photos) of Cassie's first few days at Oxford.

It brought back all sorts of warm memories for me.

Here's Cassie at her desk:

Here she is at the river Cherwell:

For all the photos, click here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/41246470@N00/sets/1110909/show/

For her mother's email, see the extended entry.

We had a nice trip to Oxford (returned Fri. 10/7) and Cassie is now settled into the British way of life. It's amusing to hear them say that they like her accent. While there, I stayed in a 400 yr.old house-hard to believe the house was older than our country.

She was enthusiastically greeted by the two Biology professors there at St. Hildas, with the Prof in Cellular Bio taking her out for coffee and some one-on-one. Of course she failed to mention that she doesn't drink coffee!

The first term starts today and she has lectures, labs and ''practicals" five days a week. Once a week she will also have a personal session with one of the professors- they will discuss a weekly paper she is required to write. It's about a 15 minute brisk walk to the science buildings at Oxford and she has to be there at 9a every morning.

The London Times had an article last Friday on science and Oxford/Cambridge:

"Cambridge and Oxford have retained their positions as the leading universities in the world for studying science, according to a global survey of academics. For the second year running, scientists ranked England as home to the best scientific research. Six of the top ten science universities are in the United States."

I know she'd love to hear from everyone. She has an email address at Oxford but is going to use that for her studies and English contacts.

I'm attaching a few pictures of her room, etc. They don't have roommates at Oxford so she can really make it her own place. She even has two beds-just in case anyone wants to visit! Lots of windows, too. She'll want all the light she can get when it starts getting dark at 4p! Hard to believe that England is as far north as the Hudson Bay.

OK, I'll close for now. Thanks for everyone's "well wishes" - it continued to spur us on to make this wonderful opportunity happen for her.

Posted by Guy Spier at 12:44 PM | Permalink

An exhibition called Memling's Portraits, coordinated by Oxonian Colin B. Bailey, opens at the Frick Collection on October 12 and runs until December 31, 2005.

For more information see: http://frick.org/exhibitions/memling/index.htm

Colin was recently awarded the Mitchell Prize: more details.

Posted by Paula Hoare at 09:32 AM | Permalink