Alexandra

Teacher: Removed
Tutor: Removed, and privately via referral from satisfied former clients.
Author: with John Murray Press (Hachette/UK), rep'd by Susan Armstrong at C+W Agency (Curtis Brown Group)
Prizes: Thresholds international Feature Writing Prize 2016, for an essay about teaching Raymond Carver's Short Cuts
Literature Works First Page prize 2015, for an extract of the manuscript which became Falling Short (2018, John Murray)
Society of Authors Award 2017

Tutoring Experience

I have been teaching since 2002 and tutoring since 2012, and would, albeit blushingly, describe myself as an advanced skills tutor with an exceptional track record in adding value to my students' performance. I have taught at some of the UK's leading independent schools (Radley, Highgate, Lady Eleanor Holles) as an advanced skills classroom specialist, an NQT mentor and an assistant head of department specialising in UK and US university entry for English/Humanities. I have helped students reboot previously unsuccessful applications to universities like Oxford and Ivy League institutions such as Stanford and Princeton, and a recent student received offers from Christchurch, Oxford, Georgetown and Princeton after a GAP year working with me. I have particular experience with the CommonApp/personal essay and SAT prep, as well as in preparing students for the ELAT and Oxbridge interview process. I have also supported an ESL student to achieve the highest English Language GCSE mark nationally, and am currently working to support first year university students in their humanities work at a range of elite universities.

Tutoring Approach

Despite the admittedly pompous tone of the foregoing paragraph, what my students predominantly rate about me, apart from that I really know my stuff, is that I am enormous fun in the classroom (IRL and online) and that I am finely attuned to what makes them tick, whether that's their ambitions or, more often, their anxieties. I am happy to begin gently, with a lot of modelling of exemplar responses (the 'this is what it looks like when it's good' approach) but will aim to always push my students into more independent habits of thought so that ultimately they are no longer reliant on the 'micro-step' approach from the tutor. I enjoy liaising with parents to discuss progress and in fact think this is a vital part of the role.