Tutoring William

I was William’s home tutor for only a short while, but there was never a time I didn’t look forward to our time together. William always made it a happy and successful occasion. He was sometimes too tired or feeling nauseous to do much official school work but we always managed some worthwhile tasks that I hoped would prepare him for his return to school and his final year at primary year before secondary education. After William's operation he had great difficulty with physical writing, so it was back to basic handwriting practices. I thought he might complain about it being ‘’babyish’’, he never did, and always completed homework tasks I set which I know he sometimes found difficult to finish. Breakfast was often part of our morning sessions, but never bananas, he hated them! With encouragement ’a little bit more’ breakfast was finished. Sometimes William stayed in bed and we carried on with our lessons but usually he was up or got up when I came even though he didn’t really feel like it. As with many boys William was much more enthusiastic about maths than English. He was able to do everything I set him and was soon working well on more  advanced maths for his year group. I know he wasn’t very interested in literacy tasks especially comprehension, but always tried his best and his cheerful disposition got us through! We tried to fit in other subjects but William was usually too tired by then but not for music. One day when I arrived I saw a recorder among William things and on asking him if he could play he promptly showed me, he had a music book and away he went! From that day on music was definitely part of our curriculum!

William was part of my working life for only a short while but is now part of my life for always. How could I forget him when we share a birthday for starters! On one of his hospital visits he made me a small vase with my name on the side; you won’t be surprised to know it is on display in my kitchen. It was always a pleasure to be with William and now I feel a privilege to have been part of William’s life.

Sue Wainwright. October 2007