Helen

As a qualified teacher, my passion is to support pupils to improve their progress and to become confident and independent learners. I can achieve this using Zoom for online tuition or, when restrictions lift, through face to face lessons. Zoom allows me to share screens so pupils can interact with learning and annotate texts. It is proving very successful and enables me to interact with them as well as if I was in the same room. During Lockdown I have supported many pupils in coping with processing and understanding online school tasks and given them a chance to talk through the learning- something that is central to classroom based teaching and not having access to it has become a barrier to some in completing tasks as well as being a trigger for significant stress. At the heart of my approach is remembering that every pupil's tuition is a pathway to their future and I want to do all I can to help pupils to overcome the effect of lockdown on their learning and education.

Tutoring Experience

After qualifying as a teacher I spent 5 years in the classroom then set up my own tuition business to use my skills to support individual learners and their needs. I provide professional, personalised learning, using resources tailored to the children's particular learning style. I quickly develop rapport with my students and firmly believe in the importance of children's enjoyment of learning. I can help whether children are struggling with basic concepts or working to achieve top grades: I have experience of teaching children with a whole range of abilities including those with Special Educational Needs. I also have experience of teaching pupils who need to develop a stronger grasp of the English language and develop their vocabulary where it is the second language in their home.

Tutoring Approach

Each child is an individual and it is this I take into account when starting work with any new pupil. Through an initial consultation I seek to find out what the tuition needs are then, with parents and pupil, plan my tuition in order to reach those goals. I share objectives with parents and pupils and give regular feedback to both on progress.

Regular practice after tuition sessions helps to accelerate learning and progress but not all families or pupils find it easy to fit this into the week. Homework is set only after a discussion with the parent to decide if it is something they will be able to manage.

I regularly carry out informal assessments to ensure I am enabling the pupil to make progress through the work that I set and feed this back to the parents.

The greatest difference I make to my pupils is to increase their confidence which in turn enables them to become successful and confident learners.