Kerry

I am a primary school teacher in Suffolk. I have two children of my own. One is half way through his A-Levels and the other is studying English Literature at university. I have a cat who is part of the family too! In my free time I love to read, crochet and bake.

Tutoring Experience

I have been teaching for nearly twelve years. I began my career by teaching in the early years, before moving to be the Key Stage one leader whilst teaching year 1. Currently I teach year 4, so have experience of all phases of primary education.

I lead three subjects where I work; PSHE, Art and DT. Whilst teaching reception and year 1 I was also the lead of phonics, so am well equipped to tutor early reading and writing if required. As a primary school teacher I teach all subjects on the curriculum.

Maths:
I was selected after shortlisting and interview to be trained as a Maths Mastery Specialist for Norfolk and Suffolk. Following this training I have supported several other teachers in my own school and in the region with their own teaching of maths, sometimes with a focus on early maths. Furthermore, I was selected to part in an international exchange programme and spent two weeks in Shanghai observing how they teach maths. This was followed up by the Shanghai teachers visiting my school and teaching my class in front of audiences of up to 150 adults. I learnt a lot from the experience, as did my pupils!
I found that parents often felt that they needed support in order to support their child in maths at home, so opened my lessons each Monday morning so that they could join their child.
During the first lockdown Debbie Morgan CBE the director of the NCETM requested specialists to support with the remote learning of mathematics. This lead to a project of planning and recording a series of lessons.
I followed this by working for Oak Academy again planning and recording maths lessons. Creating these videos meant that I really had to think what the children needed to learn in order to progress and what equipment they would have at home.
Finally, I worked on a streamlined curriculum with Ark to create a bank of activities and videos for teaching assistants to use to support children who need support in schools.

As part of the government catch up initiative I had trained and tutored a small group of pupils in English to support them in their classroom learning.

Last year I was employed to mark KS2 Maths SATs.

Tutoring Approach

I celebrate small steps in progress and know that in order to make them teaching needs to start from where the pupil is at. Getting to know the child is something I regard as being key, especially when tutoring.
I spoke a lot about my experience in teaching maths and love to use practical equipment to really illustrate concepts. All children can do maths!
I love to ground my English teaching in stories and enjoy seeing how children become engrossed in them, showing empathy to the characters and taking them to the next level in their writing.
I try to make a lot of my learning have real life applications, I find this way more children see the point in what they are doing!
I am creative and if I can be cross-curricular in my teaching I will!