Emma

My name is Emma, I have two adult daughters and a little Staffie, called Stitch. I love languages, exploring the world and getting to understand and know new cultures. I have been lucky enough to travel to a wide variety of countries around the World. This has included living and working in a school in Panama, in Central America, enjoying getting to know new people and the Latin American culture and volunteering in a school in Malawi, in a village with no running water or electricity. The experience was incredible and a real eye opener. After spending most of my life living and working in the busy and fast track London area, I have now moved to Devon to be near the sea and realise more of my dreams. I enjoy healthy living, cooking and staying fit through Pilates, Yoga, swimming and walking. I am a sociable, out-going person and a good communicator. I also enjoy a challenge. I am passionate about my work and making a difference to people's lives.

Tutoring Experience

For the past 6 years I have been working in an SEND Special scool in Surrey where my focus has been working with high achieving students, who cannot manage mainstream and have a variety of learning diagnoses including autism, ADHD, dyslexia and dyspraxia amongst others. I have mainly taught Modern Foreign Languages (German and Spanish) since I passed my PGCE in 1996, teaching young people from KS1 to KS5, as well as PSHE/Citizenship and Study skills. I know and understand how to get good results at both GCSE and A level in German and Spanish and in the last 6 years I have added the teaching of English up to GCSE to my repertoire. My students' results have always been to a high standard achieving their target grades or beyond. During my time within mainstream schools, I was a Head of Year, focussing on the pastoral care of 240 students; a role I enjoyed immensely as I was able to develop relationships with my students and their families. Whilst in Panama, I was Director of Studies and Senior Leader, developing the Teaching and learning within the school. During this time, I worked closely with the Primary team, developing my understanding of the Primary Curriculum and taught in a variety of year groups and a variety of subjects. More recently this experience has helped me to support and develop the confidence of young people with SEND to go ahead and acheive their dreams and some good results.

Tutoring Approach

I believe it is essential to get to know the tutee as quickly as possible to ensure my sessions can be focussed, interesting and that they promote a positive learning environment. I challenge my tutees to think for themselves and become independent learners and I have a growth mindset philosophy to learning- it is ok to make mistakes, through which we will learn more, and through effort and practice, you can be successful. I cater my sessions towards the needs of the individual and assess improvement and learning on an ongoing basis, changing my sessions where appropriate. I believe I am a facilitator; someone to coach and guide the people towards being successful and achieving their goals.