Tom

Hi! I'm Tom, and I'm a private tutor based in Reading. I teach maths and music (not necessarily at the same time), and I love investing in people and seeing them grow in skill and confidence. In my free time I enjoy writing songs, playing cards with my wife (Jaipur is a particular favourite of ours), cycling to Aldi and drinking tea from enormous mugs. If you're interested in getting lessons - or if you just want to get to know me a bit more - feel free to send me a message. I'd love to hear from you!

Tutoring Experience

I started tutoring in 2014, setting out into the big scary world of self-employment having just finished university (studying maths with music) and then a year long internship at a church. With a passion for maths and for music, and a hope to share that passion with others (ideally in return for money), I began to cycle around SW London, teaching people of all ages and backgrounds.

Over the course of the next four years I honed (and acquired) many different skills. I got to appreciate how children think when they're learning - the struggles they face when they can't do something straight away (for example, every boy who wants to learn the guitar), the delight they feel when they achieve something they hadn't been able to do before (like adding fractions), and the determination they find to conquer anything that presents itself to them as a game or a competition ("I bet you can't play that scale with your eyes closed"). I became a lot more familiar with the challenges faced by students with looming maths exams, particularly those whose confidence in their own abilities has been so eroded that the first challenge isn't to help them to understand the maths, but to help them overcome their fear of failure and disappointment. I learnt the ukulele, became acquainted with the song "Pompeii" by Bastille far more intimately than any person should, became very good at solving difficult maths problems on the fly, and got to know the roads and potholes near where I lived extremely well.

In that time I taught piano, guitar, ukulele and music theory to children, teenagers and adults, many of whom had never laid fingers on an instrument before. Some I took through exams, where they were required to learn specific pieces and exercises; others, who wanted to learn at a more leisurely pace, I taught with less of a rigid structure and tailored what we did to what they wanted to be learning. I taught maths to children who, for various reasons, were missing school and falling behind; and to GCSE and A-level students, both those aiming for the highest grades and those simply happy to pass.

In 2018 I moved down south to work in a school and taste life on the other side of the world of tutoring. I got to continue helping students with maths, in small groups and individually, and I also had the chance to help lead a band of aspiring young musicians. It was a fascinating glimpse into how the school system works, and I learnt much over the course of that year - but in truth I found that I missed the one-on-one aspect to tutoring, and being able to build relationship with my students in a way I wasn't able to in a school setting. At the end of that year I got married and went travelling (thankfully before Coronavirus decided to take over 2020), but am now working again, this time based in Reading.

Tutoring Approach

As you may have already worked out, I enjoy making things fun. I've found that in most cases children don't need their tutor to be another strict schoolteacher, but someone who talks with them, shares the odd joke, and at all times seeks to encourage and affirm them in their ability. With all of my students, I don't just want to see them grow in their musical or mathematical ability - I want to see them grow in self-confidence too, and enjoy themselves in the process. Having said that though, I fully recognise and preach the importance of hard work and practice! Tutoring is a two way street - I have observed first hand that it is the students who take the time to practice what they have been working on that make the most progress and get the most out of their tutoring sessions. As a tutor I aim to help the student understand, to give them the tools and the confidence to tackle problems on their own - but more than that, I aim to motivate and inspire them to keep pursuing excellence in their instrument/subject, so that they put in the time to practice, to learn and to develop their skills when I'm not there to help them.