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William

William

Fully qualified and experienced classroom teacher, now a science tutor for 10 years. Over 100 repeat students, with 3,000 hours taught.

I teach GCSE/IGCSE/IB students in Y9, Y10 and Y11, in Chemistry, Biology, Physics, and Combined Science. Sessions are held on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, starting at 4 pm or 5 pm, and the cost will be £35 per hour.

I also teach Maths at KS3 level, and Maths for Strugglers at GCSE.

I am particularly adept at helping students who are struggling with the subjects or who are suffering from a lack of confidence. We identify the reasons, and then use a variety of strategies to resolve any issues - often these are gaps in knowledge and understanding from earlier in the student's school career. We then decide how to approach the tuition - working on specific issues, or working alongside the school lessons, embedding the knowledge and understanding. Of course, these two approaches are often combined!

I am calm and patient, and happy to return to areas where understanding may not be fully embedded.

Contact me for a free no-obligation half-hour consultation, where we discuss the issues and agree the way forward.

I now have two regular sessions which have become available (a bit of a surprise, but for valid reasons!):
Tuesdays at 4:00 pm via Zoom
Thursdays at 4:00 pm via Zoom
Please contact me for a free informal chat. Places will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis, subject to mutual acceptance.

Need a few booster sessions over the school holidays? These are available during the day on a first-come first-served basis. These are useful in order to review & revise specific topics where the student does not fully grasp the concepts etc. For some students, this may be enough. Contact me to find out which days are available.

I prefer to teach online, but I am happy to discuss arrangements to suit the student. I like to work with local students, because I know the strengths and weaknesses of local schools and teachers. I am fully equipped for online sessions, including the use of an electronic whiteboard with handwriting capability.

Tutoring Experience

I was a full-time science teacher in a Southampton secondary school, before semi-retiring in July 2014 - fully qualified and experienced. Prior to that, I worked in the finance and technical industries, latterly as a project manager, having started as a computer programmer (before the days of PCs!), and I particularly enjoyed mentoring trainees, and presenting to wider audiences.

I have often taught a number of children from the same family. I have excellent feedback from satisfied parents and students. These are a few examples from last year:
“You have really helped her confidence and her understanding”
“Both girls have truly thrived from your tuition”
“Thank you so much for all of the help that you have given to him for all 3 sciences, it has made a massive difference to his knowledge, motivation and confidence”
“… she got 8s in Maths and Biology and 7s in Chemistry and Physics - she is delighted. Many thanks for your help”
“I did super well in my science GCSE; I … got into Peter Symonds doing biology… thank you so much for all the help you gave me - it made all the difference”

Tutoring Approach

Often, tutees will have some understanding of the subject that they are struggling with - but not always. I will use the free half-hour consultation (or thereabouts - as much time as necessary!) to start to identify issues and agree the way ahead. If the tutee is particularly unsure, this often indicates a lack of confidence, which is remedied by reviewing what they can do, building confidence, and then moving forward, with consolidation at each stage - for example, on completion of a small topic.
My wider experience in the real world allows me to link science (and maths) to everyday life, and also link concepts between the different topics within the curriculum - this enables the students to fit their new knowledge into an existing structure, which makes it much easier to remember and understand. I am enthusiastic about my subjects (and related subjects, as well as history) which also helps engender interest because I can talk about examples where the science under discussion is used in the world around.

LanguagesEnglish (British)
AvailabilityWeekdays (all times)
References Available On File

Qualifications

Leeds University1977BachelorsBSc (Hons) Zoology
Portsmouth University2010PGCEPass
General Teaching Council2011QTSPass

William's Feedback

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William
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