Laura T
"Laura is nurturing, kind and fun. My son progressed so much with his writing and got excellent SATs scores for English due to Laura’s support."
KS2 English
A Level
English
GCSE
Humanities
Primary
Psychology
Sociology
University Applications
Academic History
PhD Sociology of Education, UCL, passed with no corrections
MRes in Educational and Social Research Methods, Institute of Education, University of London, distinction
PGCE with QTS Primary, Institute of Education, University of London
BA Hons English Studies, University of Nottingham, first class
A Levels, The Misbourne School: English Literature (A), History (A), Psychology (A)
GCSEs, The Misbourne School: English Language (A*), English Literature (A*), French (A*), Double Science (AA), Drama (A), History (A), Religious Studies (B), Maths (C)
About Me
I am an experienced educator who approaches each student with kindness and care. My PhD research indicated that the key to academic progression is a safe and supportive pedagogic relationship. In my tutoring work, this safe relationship provides the basis for students to build their confidence, work on areas they find more challenging and strive for their goals. I get to know every student as an individual and will build on their interests to keep them engaged. I adapt my approach to what is needed. I have worked with students from nursery age up to A level and beyond to postgraduate level. I have particular expertise in working with students with SEND. I worked in a primary school with specialist provision for autistic students and students with speech and language challenges and I devised lessons for these students to support them to engage with the mainstream primary curriculum. I have carried out research about strategies to support students with SEND in schools and have developed intervention programmes in primary schools to support children with SEND to develop their literacy skills. I have worked with many students with dyslexia. I use creative strategies to support learning as well as lots of repetition of skills until students are able to cope more independently. I am very familiar with neurodiversity and have worked with autistic students and students with ADHD both in school contexts and through home education support I have provided. When I am not working as a tutor, I am an academic at the University of London. My research, teaching and doctoral supervision focus on the sociology of education, pedagogy and children’s literature and I have had my writing published in top, international peer reviewed journals. I have developed modules at undergraduate and postgraduate level and lead lectures, seminars and one to one tutorials and supervisions. I use my knowledge of university admissions processes to support tutees who are writing personal statements and developing their interview techniques as they prepare to move to the next phase of their education. I can also support students more generally as they transition from A levels to undergraduate study. Sharing my passion for learning with students is a joy and I love to find ways to capture students’ curiosity in what they are studying.
Recent tuition
Reception Child with English as an Additional Language
I worked with this student who was finding the alphabet and phonics a challenge. I used multi sensory approaches to assess his understanding and scaffold his learning. For example, I used a game with foam letters to assess which letters he knew and then we traced the foam letters with our fingers to feel their shape. We sang alphabet songs at the same time as looking at the letters and also made letters with polymer clay. Once he had mastered the letter names, we began working on sounds and simple cvc words. He taught my puppet ‘Clive Cat’ to read the words he learnt as ‘Clive’ was just beginning to learn. He grew in confidence so much and started to enjoy the reading books he was asked to practice by his school. I read to him a lot and we retold his favourite stories to support him to develop his language skills. I tutored him for a year, at the end of which time he was confident in navigating the challenges of early literacy.
Year 2 English and Maths
I supported this child with both their English and maths. They had difficulty processing information and understanding tasks in their busy classroom environment at school. I worked with her to develop strategies to check she understood and also assessed her ability on a range of English and maths tasks. She had a particular love for animals so I used this interest to plan activities for her. For instance, she wrote a step by step guide to caring for guinea pigs and we did maths based on quantities, weights and measures for working out food needed for an imaginary animal sanctuary. Both supporting her to find ways to make sure she understands tasks and by practising and developing her skills through tapping into her interests meant she coped much better in class. Her parents became better able to advocate for her needs at school once they understood her need for greater processing time.
Year 5 Student English tutoring in preparation for year 6 SATs and 11+
I supported this very capable child to manage their anxieties around SATs and the 11+. I did this by breaking down the different sorts of questions in the different tests and helping her to develop strategies for answering them. This helped her to feel more at ease and, therefore, less anxious. She did extremely well in hers SATs and got into her first choice of high school. I supported her until the end of year 7.
Year 10 OCR GCSE English Language
My work with this student focused on supporting her with her creative writing. She was dyslexic and very creative but struggled to organise her ideas. We read different short stories and looked at the longer texts she was studying at school, mapping out the structure the narratives followed. I then used writing frames to support her to structure her stories. Once she had a clearer idea about how to structure her work, we practiced GCSE past papers, using the same format to approach structuring her writing. This approach meant she no longer felt so daunted about the creative writing aspect of her GCSE.
Sociology AQA A Level and University Preparation
I tutored an extremely engaged sociology A-level student during her time in Year 13. As she was going to study Sociology at Kings College London, I worked to extend and develop her knowledge beyond A level to prepare her for her first year of undergraduate study. Initially I worked with her to feel confident with her A level exam so we focused on exam technique for AQA A level Sociology. After this, we looked at areas she was particularly interested in, including feminism, childhood and urbanisation. My expertise in sociology enabled me to extend this student beyond the material she covered at school. She achieved an A* in her A level and went on to excel at university.
AQA Psychology AS and A Level
I worked with a home educated student taking this A Level. They were learning the subject via an online class but they wanted help to better understand some topics and to practice their exam technique. Tutoring provided them the opportunity to focus on each topic until they fully understood. I guided the student through strategies for answering exam questions and demonstrating their understanding to examiners. They achieved a B at AS level and an A at A level.
Edexcel A Level English Literature
This student wanted support to interpret texts so we focused on each of their A level texts as they covered them in school. We moved between analysis of small sections of text and the text as a whole. Starting with their understanding, I helped the student develop their interpretive skills by introducing the possibility of other readings. The student began to enjoy grappling with textual interpretations and so started writing essays with more nuance and detail. They achieved an A in their English Literature A level.
Hobbies
I love reading because books show me different perspectives and immerse me in other worlds. I also enjoy cooking and am always keen to learn new recipes from around the world. Cold water swimming is a particular joy for me – it wakes me up and always helps me to feel good.
Testimonials
“My son had lots of anxiety about school and what he was learning but Laura was so patient and calm. She made lessons fun and brought lots of resources with her to engage him.”
KS1 English
“Laura is nurturing, kind and fun. My son progressed so much with his writing and got excellent SATs scores for English due to Laura’s support.”
KS2 English
“Laura has been brilliant at motivating my daughter and developing her knowledge of the subject further as she prepared to study at university. My daughter always looked forward to sessions.”
A Level Sociology
