Vasco

I am a teacher of 30 years' experience, married, and a parent of three children, all of whom have completed the IB course at Varndean College, Brighton. My eldest achieved a first class degree in History at Oxford, 2018. My second is studying English at Sheffield University. My youngest is also planning to study English. Apart from a PGCE qualification, I have a BA in Religious Studies, and an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Sussex. Outside teaching I write, record and perform with various musical troupes, theatrical and indie/punk, and put on gigs to showcase young performers. I also run a veteran's football team and have an abiding interest in walking the Sussex countryside.#/k#

Tutoring Experience

A total of nearly thirty years. I have taught in a variety of schools, from both struggling and high achieving comprehensives, to a private school, and a Pupil Referral Unit. My results have been outstanding, as has been my recruitment for GCSE options. I have also tutored, at various times during my career, children who struggled to cope with mainstream education. I have fulfilled high level pastoral roles, and in all schools I have taught in I have contributed performance, production and direction with numerous plays, musicals and concerts. I have also taught acoustic guitar for several years.

Tutoring Approach

The bedrock of academic achievement must be a developing and realistic confidence in one's own ability. Success comes only with the desire to do well and the appreciation of what doors education will open in the future. I believe all students have the ability to achieve, and that the journey involves a growing understanding of one's own talents. I would thus always begin with the students themselves, rather than the external demands made of them, and we would work from there. The relationship, positive and constructive at all times, between tutor and tutee is thus paramount, and enjoyment of the process will go hand in hand with the progress.