Paula

I am an experienced maths tutor and I enjoy workings with students of all abilities from age 7 to 16, who are struggling or who are worried they won't achieve the grade they want or need. To date I have been fortunate enough to work with a range of wonderful students of differing abilities and in every case have been delighted to see them regain their self-belief, progress and then thrive; more often than not exceeding the outcome or result they were hoping for. Being a good tutor requires mental agility as despite detailed planning, it is important to work at the tutee's pace, going back over concepts that have either been missed or misunderstood, or extending their knowledge in those topic areas where they can excel, despite predicted grades or what they may believe.

Tutoring Experience

I have over 9 years of tutoring experience, during which time I have supported students preparing for their SATs, selective entrance exams, common entrance and scholarship, and GCSE (including EDEXCEL, OCR, AQA and IGCSE). In addition I have worked in a range of educational settings, often offering specialist support, and as such I have a clear understanding of how the different elements of the math’s syllabus are taught, the pace and constant incremental nature of this teaching and the type of difficulties that students can face in the classroom. I am also aware of the syllabus changes that are occurring at GCSE and the greater demands that these place on students. I have been successful in working with students who suffer from anxiety, a loss of confidence and/or low self esteem, as well as with those with a specific leaning difficulty such as poor working and/or short term memory, low processing speed, dyslexia and dyscalculia.

Tutoring Approach

I enjoy working with my tutees and like to develop a relaxed and open relationship with them, where they can feel at ease and able to learn with out fear of getting it wrong, and where they can ask any question. I always start from the principle that everyone has the ability to be a good mathematician, they just need to be taught in a way that makes sense to them and supports the way they think and learn. Through my psychological training I have a very clear understanding of how people learn and the type of difficulties they may face, This allows me to adapt my teaching style and methods to help them to be the best mathematician they can be and, more often than not, my students go from ‘hating’ maths to saying it is one of their favourite subjects.