Frequently asked questions

Every PS English lesson is one-to-one. One teacher, one student, one plan. We do not run group classes, and we do not run shared lessons even at a discount. Group teaching can work well for general English at lower levels, but it does not give you the personal attention and the situation-specific focus that adult learners working towards a real goal almost always need. If you are looking for group lessons, we are not the right school, and we will say so honestly.

Lessons start from 30 minutes and extend in 15-minute increments up to two hours. The 60-minute lesson is the most common choice, and the one most students stay with once they have tried both shorter and longer formats. The 30-minute lesson suits students who want a top-up between meetings or a focused conversation drill. The 90- and 120-minute lessons suit exam-preparation students and senior coaching, where the work benefits from a longer arc. Face-to-face lessons start from 60 minutes.

One lesson a week is enough for steady, sustainable progress, and it is the most common pattern among our students. Two or three lessons a week speeds things up noticeably, especially if you have a specific event coming up such as a presentation, a job interview or an exam date. Beyond that, the limit is usually how much you can practise between lessons rather than the lessons themselves.

You can discuss a pattern that suits your goals during the consultation, and we are happy to adjust the frequency once you have begun and know what works for you.

Both, and many of our students mix the two. Online lessons cover anywhere in the world and most of our students choose them, because they remove the travel time that often makes weekly tuition hard to sustain. Face-to-face lessons take place in central London, for students who prefer them or who want a particular session in person. Your teacher and your lesson plan stay the same across both formats. Email us for a price quotation for a mixed package.

Yes. One of the most important differences between PS English and an online marketplace is that you work with the same teacher week after week. Your teacher builds up a real picture of your English, your work, your goals and the situations you are preparing for, and the lessons compound on what came before. If the match is not right, we will move you to a different teacher; that conversation is straightforward and there is no awkwardness about it. You can also choose to have more than one regular teacher if you take frequent lessons and would like some variation in teaching style.

Most of what we teach is most useful from intermediate (CEFR B1) upwards, with some lessons such as Speak English Naturally, Professional English and English for Executives starting at upper-intermediate (B2) or above. If you can hold a basic work or social conversation in English and understand most of what is said back, you are very likely the right level for us. If you are a complete beginner, we are not the right starting point, and we will say so honestly rather than take a booking we cannot serve well.

A1 to C2 are the six levels of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), the most widely used international scale for measuring English ability. A1 is beginner. A2 is elementary. B1 is intermediate, the point at which most learners can handle routine everyday situations. B2 is upper-intermediate, the point at which most learners can hold a real conversation across a range of topics. C1 is advanced. C2 is near-native fluency. PS English lessons are most useful from B1 upwards.

The consultation is a 20-minute conversation with our Principal, not a sales call. You talk about your goals, any preferences you have for lesson content, and a time that works for you, and we get enough information to match you with the right teacher. It is free, no payment details are taken, and there is no commitment to book.

If you would like to go further, the next step is a 60-minute trial lesson for £20 with the teacher we have matched you with, who is available to keep teaching you afterwards. In that lesson the teacher asks some follow-up questions, assesses your English further, gives you a flavour of their teaching, and together you agree what comes next. You are also welcome to skip the trial and start a block of lessons straight away.

The honest answer is to try it. If you and your teacher click, and the way we teach feels useful to you, you carry on. If it does not feel right, we will tell you that as openly as we hope you would tell us. We are not the right school for everyone: we do not run group classes, we do not do beginner work, and we are not the cheapest option on the market. We would rather have a clear conversation about that than start something neither side is happy with.

Lessons are priced per lesson, with a minimum of 30 minutes online and 60 minutes face-to-face, and discounts available for longer lessons and larger prepaid packages. The two discounts stack. Full numbers and a price calculator are on our pricing page, which sets out both plans, Flexi Essential and Flexi Premium, in detail. The consultation is genuinely free, with no obligation to book afterwards.

Yes, and many of our students are funded in full or in part by their employer. We are happy to invoice your company directly, work to a purchase order, or provide whatever paperwork your finance team needs. If you would like a quote or a proforma invoice to share with your employer before you book, contact us and we will send one over the same day.

Lessons that have been used are not refundable. Unused credit that is still within its expiry date can be refunded at 75 per cent on written request, and if your circumstances change significantly we would always rather talk it through than leave you stuck. The full pricing and refund detail is on the pricing page.

Lessons can be cancelled or rescheduled with at least 24 hours' notice at no charge. A lesson cancelled with less than 24 hours' notice is normally charged in full, because the time has been blocked out for you. The Flexi Premium plan includes one free 24-hour cancellation per month, which exists for the unavoidable last-minute clashes that life occasionally produces.

A laptop or desktop computer, a stable internet connection, a working camera and microphone (the ones built into a laptop are fine), and somewhere quiet to sit for the length of the lesson. Headphones help the sound quality at both ends but are not essential. Tablets work well too. We do not recommend phone-only lessons except as an occasional fallback, because the screen is too small for the materials your teacher will be sharing.

Whichever one you already use comfortably at work, in most cases. Zoom is the most common, with Microsoft Teams and Google Meet close behind. Your teacher will agree the platform with you at the start. If you have a corporate firewall or security policy that limits which platforms you can use, tell us when you book and we will work to it.

It happens occasionally, and we treat it as a non-event. Your teacher will wait for you to reconnect and we will not charge you for the time lost. If the connection genuinely cannot be restored, we will reschedule the missed portion of the lesson at no cost. Lessons are normally recorded only at the student’s request, so the option of reviewing what was covered afterwards is there if you want it.

Yes. Every PS English teacher is a native British English speaker, teaching in their own accent, with a clear British register. We chose this deliberately. Many of our students come to us because they want to sound natural in British English specifically, whether for work, study or daily life in the UK, and a teacher whose own English matches that goal is the most direct route to it.

Yes. Every teacher we work with holds a recognised English-teaching qualification (CELTA, DELTA, an equivalent diploma, or a postgraduate qualification in applied linguistics or TESOL), and most have several years of one-to-one teaching experience before they join PS English. We are equally interested in who they are as people: PS English teachers are calm, attentive and genuinely interested in their students, because the right personality is what makes a one-to-one lesson work.

Sometimes, and sometimes not. We match teachers to students by personality and by the kind of English the student needs to work on, rather than by industry knowledge. The teaching skill is in understanding what your work or study sounds like, not in knowing the technical content of it. In practice our teachers have worked across finance, technology, medicine, law, academia, hospitality and the arts, and pick up the patterns of an industry quickly. If your work involves very specialist vocabulary, you will be teaching your teacher some of that as you go, and that is exactly as it should be.

Yes. Discretion is the default at PS English. Lesson notes stay between you and your teacher, working materials are deleted at your request, and we are comfortable with formal non-disclosure arrangements where your role or employer requires them. Senior students regularly share commercially sensitive context in lessons, and we treat that as the norm rather than the exception.

No. PS English works with adult learners only, from university age upwards. The teaching, the materials and the lesson structure are all built around adult learners with a real goal, and we would not be the right school for a child or teenager who needs a different style of teaching.

Not as a packaged service at present. We are an established one-to-one school and that is what we do well. If your company is looking to sponsor several employees through individual one-to-one lessons, we can absolutely arrange that, including consolidated billing and progress reporting. If you are looking for traditional group-format corporate training, we are happy to recommend schools that specialise in it.