Ela

7+ English Tuition

I worked with a young student who had low confidence in their writing ability ahead of the examination period. They had a wonderful imagination and descriptive writing skillset, but it soon transpired that lack of understanding surrounding foundational writing, structure and SPAG inhibited overall writing performance. Over the course of six months, by ‘going back to basics’ and reiterating key literary concepts in a clear, progressive and contextualised manner, they were able apply this knowledge independently in the context of an exam, and received an offer from their school of choice.

10+ English Tuition

This student enjoyed creative writing, but really struggled with effective comprehension technique – especially in timed conditions. In our initial meeting, it was quickly established that they did not have specific, personalised approaches to critical analysis that suited their learning profile. I introduced concepts that were broken down into clear, accessible steps whilst offering repeated modelling and opportunities to regularly apply concepts in practice by introducing varied, engaging and increasingly challenging texts. After six months of this approach, we dedicated time in our sessions to exam practice, simulating exam conditions, and evaluating performance under time pressure, making adaptations to technique as necessary. The student performed well, receiving the desired deferred offer.

11+ English Tuition

A pupil was referred to me, as specific help was required regarding creative writing under timed conditions. The student struggled to think of ideas – they often spent so long considering what to write, that they then had limited remaining time to create a piece that would gain them sufficient marks. We worked together for over a year, working through a huge variety of papers and pinpointing the different types of ‘prompt’ pupils might face in the exam and how to interpret them quickly, collaborating to devise specific, personalised tactics that could be applied to differing demands in the exam. The student blossomed and significantly developed their writing skills under my tutelage, eventually opting to write a multi-chapter story as a gift of thanks at our concluding session.

13+ English Tuition

I spent two years working with a pupil who possessed many gifts as a writer, but faced significant struggles with writing ‘essay’ style critical responses, particularly for high-mark questions and under timed conditions. The work we did was partly academic (interpreting questions; understanding context; analysing quotations) and partly pastoral/mentoring (conquering nerves; time management strategies; quality vs quantity in different contexts, etc). Over time, their scores and feedback improved exponentially, and they ultimately received offers from a range of highly-regarded independent schools.

English Tuition (Dyslexia)

I worked with a pupil with dyslexia over an eighteen-month period, to help boost confidence, develop literacy skills and ascertain strategies to help the student access different forms of text. As well as exploring different strategies to support with decoding, spelling and structuring/interpreting text, we also experimented with different resources such as coloured overlays, timers and sensory aids as outlined in recommendations made by an external professional who had made the diagnosis. By the end of our time together, we had put together a package of resources and strategies that the student could utilise as they entered secondary school, allowing them to access curriculum content with a far greater sense of independence and confidence.

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