Anna

I am a freelance writer for the national press, book reviewer, novelist, poet, essayist, editor, short fiction writer, copywriter, proofreader, tutor and mentor and secondary English teacher. I am also a novelist and creative writing tutor, with my second book out this year a third in 2020 and fourth on submission. RemovedI am passionate about what I do and, over the years, have worked with a diverse range of students. I'm a bookworm, love travel and have travelled and worked widely around the world; I enjoy plants and flowers, history and art history, learning languages, cooking and food history, animals (we re-home ex battery chickens and if you have tuition at my home, my cats think you came just for them). I paint and draw and in my fallow periods I write books. I am also a road safety campaigner and mental health advocate. Ask me whatever you like about any of these things! And for me, teaching and tutoring have always been a vocation. I am a mum of three boys, 6, 13 and 16. I'm also a campaigner - for community issues and also for mental health services and I have a particular interest in young people's mental health and wellbeing.

IMPORTANT NOTICE - PLEASE READ BEFORE YOU PROCEED.

Please note: to avoid my having to mention this in my initial email conversation with you, here's a little bit of housekeeping - as per First Tutors' advice. At any one time, I may have twenty to thirty students, so I do insist that I invoice for the term in advance (as an extra curricular club would - or as you would expect for a music lesson) before the start of term and payable BACS only. Also, I have a cancellation policy and cannot offer refunds for missed lessons - unless I'm the cause! Finally, it wasn't possible to list it on the First Tutors grids, but my weekend, short term and holiday time rate is £35 not £30 and mileage is chargeable at 40p per mile.
PHEW! Sorry to have to state this here, but it's the only way I can run such a busy life and give all of you my best! So make sure you're happy with this arrangement before we get down to the real business in hand: meeting your needs or the needs of your child. I ALWAYS offer an open ended meeting prior to starting tuition, so that we can discuss in detail -and for as long as you need- what we will do, what would suit best and when. This can be with a parent and student, with the opportunity for me to chat with the student on their own as some folk (my offspring, for example) get flustered by their, um, embarrassing parents. I jest: we will do whatever is best for the student and have a clear mutual understanding of what that will be.

Tutoring Experience

17 years' teaching experience; 10 years in mainstream secondary schools, the rest as a personal tutor in the UK and abroad and as an ESL teacher. I am a former Head of Year 7 and a GCSE English examiner, I teach creative writing too and I'm going to include the editing and feedback I do for literary manuscripts as that's teaching of sorts too! I have done a wealth of teaching-related work - been a Sunday school teacher and have some years' worth of volunteer mentoring programmes with young people who have experienced complex problems in their lives - for example those who are insecurely housed or even homeless. I have taught street children in Kolkata and worked in a fee paying school in the Himalayas; I have worked with university students in China and Pakistan....I'm trying to show you that I have worked in a number of inter-connected roles in my life. Oh - and being a mum showed me that sometimes, the things I thought I knew about...I knew nothing about, really and had to try and learn.

Tutoring Approach

I am lively and passionate about what I do and have worked with students aged 8-24, so I am pretty flexible! I will make things fun, encourage a positive attitude to learning and I am also very up to date with the demands of The National Curriculum, Sats, GCSE and A level - in addition to any other acronym you fancy. EPQs? Let's get started. I can work with the student in their own home, or at mine - where I have a large number of resources and hundreds of books to lend you. So, we will laugh a lot, but I will also stretch you, stimulate you - and try to guide and mentor you if you lack faith in yourself. I also have a range of topics and areas we can work on - so whether you are in year seven needing support or 102 and writing your first book, we can work together.