anxiety of learning new subjects along with a few tests and quizzes seems almost frightening, especially when you are not a quick learner.

But students should remember that not only can they receive extra help from teachers and parents -- there are also some highly skilled tutors out there who can give valuable assistance after school.

Originally, the Family Learning Centre used to have tutoring as its main service but they have since expanded into various other services focusing on the whole child -- and his or her problems, not only pertaining to a difficulty in a specific educational course.

Students can still go through the Family Learning Centre when they are in need of a tutor as they have resources which enable them to guide the students in the direction of a tutor who could best suit their needs.

Executive director of the centre Martha Dismont said they have provided tutoring services since 1990 and now it is a very small portion of all their services. "We still contract out to tutors who are in the community available to receive referrals.

"So when we get a call we send students to tutors in the community.'' She added: "Our focus now is psycho-educational tutors who will be working directly in the programme with students who may have special education needs.

"The tutoring use to be the major programme for us, now it is one piece of an array of services that we provide from academic support, therapeutic groups, play therapy etc. -- it depends on the need of the child that walks in the door.

"Any child that comes into our programme will have tutoring available if necessary.'' One private tutor, who focuses in math and English, said she offers remedial reconstruction in the understanding of the basic concepts of numbers and phonetics -- the study of sounds.

She added: "I work with many types of hands on materials because I am simultaneously developing three levels of understanding -- the foundational concept, the varied vocabulary that expresses these ideas, and the intellectual transfer of the spoken language into symbols.

"The underlying principle that I always use is seeing relationships and bringing all knowledge to a practical purpose.

"I teach age five and up, which would involve kindergarten through the general education diploma (GED). I also have adult students looking for self-improvement.'' The tutor said with really difficult cases she works one on one and "with situations where I think a companion is beneficial then I will do two or three but that is the absolute limit.

"In my opinion the qualities needed in a tutor is sensitivity, and creativity, keen analytical abilities and a lot of love.

"The hardest thing is to nurture your student's self-respect and self-esteem and at the same time you are ruthlessly exposing his weakness so you have to do a fine balancing act.'' She added: "Tutoring is money well worth spending -- there are cases where it will take a whole year or more than a year in order to do some of the catching up that is needed. Miracles do happen when a student understands something that he hasn't and when the light goes on there is a sparkle in that child.'' The tutor also said if a child knows that they are having difficulties and definitely needs extra help than perhaps the best route would be to approach a loving care person/parent so they can choose whether or not they speak to the teacher or go about getting the tutor themselves. But it is better to have a three way street with the teacher.

"Children can hide a lot so the teacher is not always aware of the problem therefore a child that knows within himself that he not understanding something should speak to both his teacher and his family.'' The Department of Education utilises volunteer teachers to aid in tutoring throughout the year.

Team secretary for the department's human resource department Caren Lightbourne said: "Teachers volunteer their time and we have a list that we compile every year with different subject areas and ask that any teacher that is in the system interested in tutoring to sign up.

"The cost is between the student and the tutor. We try to give the students names of teachers who are in the immediate area of where they live. "There are also private tutors who advertise on their own.'' Teacher and math tutor Albert Steede of Math Master has been tutoring for four years and says that one of the benefits for his students is the one-on-one attention.

"Not everyone comes for tutoring because they are experiencing problems -- some come to obtain an advance knowledge of math,'' Mr. Steede said.

He added: "There is a stigma surrounding tutors for the younger students -- they think you have to be dumb in order to go to a tutor but that is not the case.

"I would encourage those students who are experiencing difficulty to seek help because it can make a big difference.'' A LITTLE EXTRA HELP -- Tutor Albert Steede gives some extra help in math to student Cyrelah Raynor.