Richard Matthew

** I am currently offering GCSE revision groups, running at my home from £20/hr. Please send me a message if you are interested and I will put together groups to meet the required needs. One-to-one tuition is £40/hr **

I am a qualified secondary mathematics teacher with over fifteen year’s experience providing private maths tuition from KS1 all the way through to A-Level and onto adult education. I also help students prepare for their 11+ exams. I have helped hundreds of students achieve excellent results in their GCSEs, A Levels or entrance exams. I estimate that I have provided close to 10,000 hours of tuition.

I have QTS status, DBS clearance and can show all qualifications and certificates upon request.

Tutoring Experience

I am a qualified teacher, gaining my PGCE from Plymouth Marjon University before going on to teach at Ivybridge Community College. I switched to tutoring full-time in 2010 and have been working as a private maths tutor for the past 15 years. As part of this I have over 10 years experience working with Plymstock School, providing one-to-one or small group tuition.

I have a degree in Mathematical Sciences from the University of Bath, one of the top universities in the country for mathematics. Going all the way back to my school days, I achieved top grades in mathematics for both GCSE and A Level, studied for additional qualifications (Statistics and Further Mathematics at GCSE and A Level respectively) and received several ‘Best in School’ and gold certificates over my years of taking part in the UK Mathematics Challenge. My own children are now working their way through primary school and so I am actively involved in supporting them in their own mathematical adventures!

Tutoring Approach

I am friendly and approachable and always tailor my lessons to meet the needs of the individual student. I believe individual (or small group) tuition can be truly transformative in helping unlock students’ potential. In-school learning may not always go at the right pace to meet individual needs and does not always have the capability to address each individual’s misconceptions. Students don’t always feel confident to ask for help in a large group setting and the time is limited to provide tailored support. Tuition, therefore, can be invaluable in providing students with a safe environment to ask about any topics they find challenging (but may not feel comfortable asking about in class), while working at a pace that is right for them. Often students may have gaps in their knowledge – things that they have forgotten or struggled with in previous years. It can be difficult to find the opportunity to address these areas in school and this can hamper progress when learning new material. Tuition offers the perfect chance to plug these gaps and can make a huge difference to a student’s confidence as well as their academic achievements. In some cases just a few months of tuition can be enough to improve students results by two or three grades.

I have an extensive bank of both physical and digital resources and so am equally well-equipped to tutor online or in person and have prepared students for all the major exam boards. I make a number of my own resources and always try to make the subject engaging and fun. I travel around Plymouth and the surrounding area to offer in-home tuition. Equally students are welcome to come to me or be tutored online (which I find works very well for the vast majority of students). I also offer small group tuition from my home as a more affordable way to provide support to students.