Information About Anna - Bradford on Avon tutor -

(2 reviews)

Personal Description:

I am a freelance writer, novelist, poet, English teacher, mentor for young people and tutor (not necessarily in that order!). My debut novel comes out in March, 2016 with some poetry later next year and I'm currently working on two other books, one of which is YA (young adult). I am also a mother of three young (and youngish) children (aged 4-13). I 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.

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, 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.