John

I have been involved in every aspect of education for most of my working life, and that includes bringing up my three children - all of whom I taught! Though I am a qualified teacher with a post graduate degree, I am equally happy working with much younger children. In my spare time, I am a writer and spend as much time as I can on my boat.

Tutoring Experience

Over thirty years, I taught at every age level from Infants to Oxbridge candidates, in maintained and independent schools. My specialist subjects are English, English Literature, Theatre, Film and Media Studies and Classical Civilisation. I have also been a headteacher, a principal, a governor, an examiner, a teacher trainer and school inspector. I am very familar with the demands of entrance exams, SATs, GCSE, AS and A level - and I set up and ran units to help children with special learning needs including dyslexia and English as a Second Language.

Skype tuition is becoming more and more popular and I am happy to receive enquires from potential students who may not live within travelling distance.

Tutoring Approach

I believe tutoring needs three things to be successful: a clear goal, a clear plan to get there and a determination - by the student and the tutor - to make it work. A warm personal relationship is important - because that enhances the confidence of the student - and is a motivation in itself. The sessions I run are very interactive, carefully structured to maintain interest and involvement and I provide regular updates and reviews with students and their parents/carers to ensure that the progress which we all want to see - after all this is the ultimate team game! - is being made.

I have an enhanced DBS certificate and up to date Safeguarding training and documentation can be viewed on request at the start of tuition.