Charles

I spent 18 years teaching English at King's Bruton, retiring four years ago. I was a Housemaster at King's for 10 years. Before teaching, I was a journalist, latterly working for The Sunday Times (Religious Affairs Correspondent, Home Affairs Correspondent, member of the Insight investigations team) and the Independent on Sunday and the Independent (reporter, feature writer, editor of The Independent Diary).
In my first year of retirement, I wrote a book on the history of King's Bruton to mark the school's 500th anniversary this year. As well as tutoring, I'm a governor at my old school, Charterhouse, and am also setting up a publishing company producing This Is Your Life style magazines for people looking for a special present for loved ones celebrating anniversaries.
I am married with two children. My wife was Registrar at King's Bruton while my daughter and son-in-law were also teachers at the school.

Tutoring Experience

I qualified with a PGCE from Exeter University in 1999. I spent the next 18 years teaching English at King's Bruton from Years 9- 13 (a year before GCSE to A Level). I have been a tutor for five years.

Tutoring Approach

During my 18 years of teaching, I always had in mind the way my English teacher inspired me at school. He enthused me with a love of literature, notably Shakespeare, always making me feel there was something enjoyable and significant to be gained from opening a book and writing about it. I owe my Oxford degree along with my career in journalism and teaching to this man.

I'm conscious that examiners always look for assessment objectives in deciding on grades. I therefore help students to write with these in mind. However, I also never forget that the required grades are difficult to achieve if the students don't appear to the examiner to be enjoying themselves! When possible, I try and establish a relationship with the current teacher to ensure I am helping the process with the student rather than confusing it!