Smart money: family offers £180,000 a year for tutor to get one-year-old into Eton

Getting paid £180,000 a year to tutor a single child might sound like a dream job but there’s a catch: the child is only one-year-old and you need to get him into Eton. A wealthy family near London is “searching for a tutor to provide a comprehensive British cultural environment” for their infant, according to an advertisement published by Tutors International, which calls itself “the handcrafted Bentley” of private tutoring. The advert explains: “His parents are looking to cultivate a truly bicultural child. Having started at age five with this child’s older brother, they felt that even this was too late to achieve their goal, hence their search for a tutor now.” To earn £180,000, the “extraordinary” tutor is expected to fulfil a long list of eccentric and class-based criteria: a received pronunciation English accent; “reasonable” music theory; an understanding of cricket, tennis, rugby, polo and rowing; the ability to foster hand-eye coordination and good manners; familiarity with early years education including Montessori and Reggio Emilia pedagogies; and first aid training. In comparison, an experienced nursery manager in England can earn about £35,000 a year, even without understanding polo. But in this case the ideal candidate will have attended “the best schools and universities in England” and “have been raised in a socially appropriate background … educated and polished, with excellent manners and personal values”. They must be a non-smoker. Free car parking and four weeks’ annual holiday is included. “In time, the family hope their son will be accepted at a top-flight school such as Eton, St Paul’s, Westminster or Harrow. It is important that [the] boy’s education, even at the early years stage, starts to prepare him for this kind of life,” the advert continues. “He should be exposed to a wide range of quintessentially British experiences to help hone his habits, outlooks, tastes and sporting preferences. There is no reason why the boy can’t visit Lord’s, Wimbledon and Twickenham for example. “Museums, art galleries and theatre visits could all be incorporated into his education, making learning a by-product of a day’s rich activities. Although only one year old, the tutor can use venues like these – and even simple venues such as the local park, cafe or library – as starting points for learning colours, numbers, letters, stories, flavours and music.” Tutors International insists the advertisement and the family are real, and ask that interested applicants have previous experience working “within private residences, embassies or royal households” on their CV.