Shona S

Academic History

Primary Teaching Studies with Qualified Teaching Status, Bishop Grosseteste University, Lincoln

Bachelor of Arts in Education, 2.1, University of Leicester

About Me

Teaching has been my passion my whole life. I love to identify areas where children require support and provide tailored lessons to tackle weaknesses. Teaching in a classroom is exciting but I believe that 1:1 is more powerful, you can focus on a child’s individual needs and use their strengths and interests to help them develop and grow in confidence. My philosophy lies heavily with relationships- building a rapport and getting to know the child really allows them to feel safe to make mistakes, take risks and learn from every experience. I believe that regular assessments and setting goals is key to measuring progress. Allowing children to have a sense of ownership of their learning and where they want to be, provides them with the motivation for wanting to achieve.

I favour a multi-sensory and individualised approach to my teaching, not only to teach the curriculum but to encourage confident and inquisitive minds, giving children a sense of empowerment and inspiring a lifelong love of learning. My approach to learning is child-led and fosters real-life experiences to ignite their spark with their well-being at its core. I have taught here in the UK and in the UAE so have a broad skill set in keeping children engaged, I like to use lots of visual, kinaesthetic approaches and use games, true or false, scenarios, flash cards etc. To keep the learning fresh and the children learning through many different methods. I find it really important for children to develop at the mastery level so will always test their understanding in different ways.

Recent Tuition

7+ Entrance Examinations and general concentration

This student was finding it difficult to concentrate in class and often missed key aspects of the learning. We worked together for an hour every week and I used different techniques to keep her engaged including games and interactive activities. I broke down the learning into steps and asked her to clarify her understanding before moving on. We worked on her maths and especially 2-step problems which she found difficult. She now highlights the key information and works out one part at a time before checking that the answer ‘looks right’. She is taking more responsibility for her own learning and is confident with her techniques. This student was offered a place at Bute House school, and I continued to work with her until her parents believed she was confident enough without the extra tuition.

11+ Entrance Examination English and Reasoning

This student was very confident in maths but lacked interest in English. I got to know him on a personal level and things he was in to. I used his love of basketball within my teaching and focused on his target areas – comprehension, grammar and using a broad range of vocabulary with basketball in mind. We explored what makes a good piece of writing before he indulged in creating his own. Once he became more aware of what was expected he grew in confidence and used the skills we had practised and secured entry into St Paul’s School.

11+ Examination

This student lacked confidence in his own abilities and got very anxious when faced with any kind of test. He was a very shy boy and I spent time having conversations with him to gain his trust. We worked together for three months before his 11+ examination for two hours per week. I demonstrated tasks where I got things wrong and learnt from my mistakes. I then worked with him on growing his confidence and believing in himself and his test score went up from 80% to 115% in reasoning.

11+ Examination

This student moved to the UK two years prior to sitting her 11+ examination. She lacked confidence in her English and found verbal reasoning confusing. We worked together for approximately 50 sessions. I focused on her pronunciation, grammar, reading, comprehension, inference as well as reasoning. The sessions were very interactive with lots of modelling of the English language. We practised lots of test papers and discussed areas she was struggling with; I provided examples and scaffolded the learning before allowing her to complete independently. I then fostered the ‘teach me’ approach which allowed her to demonstrate her understanding along with building confidence in the English language. She secured a place at Latymer School.

Year 6 SATs

I worked with a student to help prepare him for his SATs examination. I identified areas where he was struggling including grammar and creative writing and developed activities using his love of astronomy. He liked to find mistakes and work things out, so the lessons were tailored to what engaged him – I created errors within a piece of writing and gave him a time limit to find these. He enjoyed this way of learning and in turn, he timed me to find the key aspects of his work- speech, ellipsis etc. I worked with him for an hour a week for six months and I noticed a huge improvement in his writing. He passed his SATs with a much higher grade than he was targeted.

Hobbies and Interests

I am a keen swimmer and enjoy activities such as yoga and Pilates. I also enjoy running around the local park. I am an active person, I like to be outdoors and experiencing the world around me. I am also into cooking- I like trying new things and feel a sense of pride when I succeed.

Client Testimonials

“Shona provided 1:1 support for my son studying for the 11+ examination. She took the time to get to know him; his strengths and weaknesses and his interests. Shona developed bespoke lesson plans around his needs, the lessons were always fun, engaging, and specific to his learning. Shona paid attention to detail and identified gaps in my son’s understanding, she assessed his learning regularly through different methods and always fed back to me. I was very happy with Shona’s teaching and support, not only did my son receive an offer for the school we wanted, he grew in confidence in his own abilities.”

11+ Parent

“Shona is a very understanding and compassionate teacher. My daughter has dyslexia and is currently being tested for ADHD. Shona ensured that the lessons were always interactive and used different learning methods- they played games and acted out and my daughter often mentioned how she loved learning with Shona. If my daughter didn’t understand a certain concept, Shona would use different techniques and adapt the learning, she kept to my daughter’s pace but also challenged her.”

SEN Parent