Helen

I have been teaching in schools for over 25 years. Durham university graduate with a degree in Economics and PGCE in Maths. Senior examiner and question writer for a UK exam board.

Tutoring Experience

I have been teaching in selective independent schools for over 25 years.
I have been a senior examiner for over 10 years so am involved in the marking and setting of the mark scheme for the A level exams. In addition I write A level questions for one of the exam boards. This means I have insight into what the examiner is looking for so am able to use this experience in my tutoring.
I have been tutoring online since Covid and find this can be just as effective as face to face.

I have experience working with home educated students

Tutoring Approach

Initially I will have a chat - phone/zoom with the parent and student to find out where they are at and what their goals are as well as what they feel they need work on.
My sessions will vary depending on the student and their requirements. I have a friendly, encouraging approach and try to boost the confidence of my students which is something they cannot get in the same way in the classroom with many students. I make use of an interactive notebook for diagrams and notes which both the student and myself can use during the lesson and which is available after the lesson.

Throughout all my lessons I will be asking questions to assess understanding and make use of real world examples making concepts easier for students to relate to. If required I will set homework which we go through in the next lesson.
Here are some examples of what we may do in a lesson
- go over difficult topics
- go through the entire course
- work through exam papers and exam technique always referring to the mark scheme to help the student understand how the marks are allocated
- work on developing chains of reasoning (essential for essays)
- diagrams and calculation practice
- plan essays
- go through in detail an essay which the student has written looking at what works well and how it can be improved.

In July 2022 I left the classroom to tutor full time so have daytime and evening availability.

Face to face tuition is available at my house although you must like cats as I have two which I can’t shut out!

June 2024 availability (updated 8 June) subject to change as spaces are filled.
Monday 9am, 2.30pm, 3.40pm
Tuesday 9pm
Wednesday 7.50am
Thursday 9.10pm

Sept 2023. 2 spaces left - Monday 7.45am and Wednesday 7.45am

August 2023 - another great set of results with several A* grades at A level and 9s at GCSE

July 2023 I have space over the summer holidays and limited spaces from September.

Spaces available from September (weekdays only)UK time
Before 10am
2-4pm
After 9.15pm

October 2022 - limited availability before 10am, all daytime and evenings are fully booked. Cancellation lessons are available on an ad hoc basis

29/09/2022. Evening lessons are fully booked. I have space before school, during the daytime and during holidays.

20/08/2022
Excellent results from my regular 121 students. 5 out of 6 of them got A* including one home educated student. I have recently left school to tutor full time so can take on more students this year.

27/07/22
Over the summer I have availability during the day and evening
I am just starting to schedule my current students for September. I have spaces before 6pm and after 8.30pm but may struggle with the popular 6-8.30pm window for new students.
I do not teach at weekends apart from during exam season when I put on extra lessons.