Gráinne

I'm a career tutor with over 20 years of teaching experience. I'm at Educational Consultant Level as a tutor, with London-based agencies, and have extensive and successful experience tutoring 7+, 11+, 8+, 9+, 13+, CE, ISEB, GCSE (Music and English) and EFL. Please note that I now teach exclusively online.

All of my students in the past few years have gained not only gained entrance to more than one school of their choice - several also have gotten academic and creative scholarships in doing so. I trained with Katy Appleton at appleyoga to be a yoga teacher, so I approach tutoring from a holistic perspective. I've a certificate for Mindfulness with Akanista Meditation, and have taught family yoga, yoga at Action for Children and at Trinity Laban. My biggest passions in life are opera, theatre, film, yoga and new experiences!

Tutoring Experience

I'm known to be a warm, enthusiastic and engaging tutor. As well as Music and Italian, other subjects taken at university level include English, French and German.
I have over 20 years teaching experience, and am highly skilled at communicating to all ages - from 3 to 60! I'm at Educational Consultant Level ie a career tutor with London-based agencies, and have extensive and successful experience tutoring 7+, 11+, 8+, 9+, 13+, CE, ISEB, GCSE (Music and English) and EFL. I'm highly in demand as a tutor for the very competitive SE London schools and have a lot of experience of working with children with SEN. Former students have attained entrance and scholarships to schools like St. Dunstans, Sydenham High, JAGS, Alleyns, Eltham College, Dulwich College, Emanuel, Dulwich Prep, Royal Russell, Tudor Hall, the Charter School, Charterhouse, North Dulwich Charter, Benenden, Bedales, Eton, Harrow, the Brit School, LAMDA, ALRA and Arts Ed.

I'm also a highly skilled teacher of singing and drama, having MD'ed and directed several shows for young adults and children, and take a very creative and personalised approach to tutoring. I've coached students for LAMDA exams with 100% distinction rate. Students who did their UWL exams in Musical Theatre have achieved a Merit upwards to Distinction level. Specialist subjects include music, singing, drama, English, creative writing, Maths, interview preparation and public speaking.

Languages that I tutor in are Italian, and I have a working knowledge of French, German, Latin and Irish (Gaeilge). My 2nd instrument at university level was piano, which I studied up to Grade 7. I also teach beginners' piano up to Grade 3.

I am a qualified TEFL teacher, and have taught extensively online via Skype, Zoom, WhatsApp, ranging from the UK to Istanbul to Bejing, since 2017. I have an extensive knowledge and insight into British culture and history and have successfully helped students from abroad to attain places at some of the UK's most sought-after schools. I have worked to help business professionals improve their English also.

Despite the many challenges of the past few pandemic years (assessments rescheduled a month ahead of their usual time, different formats etc) all of my students gained places at their schools of choice, many with academic and creative scholarships offered. A cross-section of schools offered to students this year included JAGS, Alleyns, Dulwich Prep, Dulwich College, Kingsdale, Streatham & Clapham School for Girls, Sydenham High, North Dulwich Charter, Graveney, Chestnut Grove (for the MLAT), Prebendal, Charterhouse and St Dunstans.

Tutoring Approach

My philosophy is as follows: I always aim to inspire enthusiasm for the subject at hand by instilling confidence in my students, and finding out what sparks their interest and imagination with regards to learning - with that, anything is possible!

Testimonials:

"Thank you for all your kindness, patience and support of H., I cannot thank you enough for all you've done for him, mostly for giving him confidence." - H.S.
"I just wanted to thank you at this stage for all the hard work that you've put in and for being an all round terrific tutor.
I remember you saying at the start that you focus on a holistic approach and this is certainly evident, be it from your introductory informal 'checking in' with the child at the start of each session to ease them in or your general tutoring style." N.M.
“Grainne is an outstanding tutor. Not only is she on top of her subject (in our case, Maths), she is also expert in making sessions fun and calming nerves. She gave my daughter vital support before entrance tests exams, boosted her confidence immensely and taught her relaxation techniques that will serve her well for the years ahead.”L.B.

"Thank you for your support over the last 3 years, the singers have learnt so much and we have seen them grow". - P. Wiseman, Scott Wiseman School of Performing Arts

"Gráinne tutored my daughter in Music GCSE. We both felt a lot was achieved in terms of topic knowledge in a short space of time and she was highly professional, passionate about her subject and always punctual". - C.K.

"The lessons I had with you made such a huge impact on me! I still try to apply the lessons you taught me today." Durone Stokes (Dreamgirls in the West End)