Dave

I have been a teacher of Mathematics for 24 years, teaching solely A Level for the last 10. I have spent my whole career teaching in Bradford and am based between Leeds and Harrogate in Yorkshire. For most of my career I was the Head of a school sixth from of 250 students and oversaw KS5 Maths. During this period I have taught well over 1000 students.
I have taken semi-retirement this year so have decided to offer tuition.
My working life has given me a real insight into how students can become successful mathematicians. I have a great depth of experience supporting students; from those who have struggled with the transition to A-Level study to those who seek to improve their problem solving skills to secure the very highest grades.

Tutoring Experience

It was purely by chance that I became a teacher. In the 1990s, through a family contact, I was offered a part-time post at a small school to tutor Maths GCSE. I was pleasantly surprised to find that not only was I enjoying the work but was also successful at it. This set me on the long path to becoming a teacher. I did have a degree (in Peace Studies) but had to complete an Open University Maths course (equivalent to two thirds of a Maths degree), whilst working full time, in order to be able to start a PGCE. This I completed in 2001 and have been teaching ever since.
The bulk of my teaching has been at A-Level and I have taught the OCR(MEI), Edexcel and, more recently, the AQA syllabuses. I have also taught OCR(MEI) Further Maths.
Whilst teaching I have done a great deal of work outside the Maths classroom. I have run support sessions for students struggling with particular skills, devised programmes of study to move students up to the next grade and led higher level problem solving tutorials for A* students amongst others.

Tutoring Approach

I have always had a holistic approach to teaching with the student at the centre of all my planning. I have managed this even in the larger classes at the Sixth Form College (21-25).

To be able to do this I have made sure that I have an extensive knowledge of the syllabus, resources and past paper questions. Thus, I can stretch students of all abilities.
In lesson observations throughout my career I have always been praised for my excellent modelling and different ways of explaining both reasoning and process. I also understand the importance of making links between different topics and that is always a key component of any lessons. Retrieval practice is another element in all my lessons usually by quizzing.
In short, every week’s lesson will be tailored to what you require. It could be support with current topics you are studying, review of topics studied earlier, general revision for assessments or getting ahead with topics to be studied later.
Whatever the aim of the tutorial is, it will always have some core elements: Retrieval, explanation and discussion and, most importantly, practice. Assessment resources will be provided during each tutorial and will be marked if submitted prior to the next one.
Online tutorials will take place over Teams (preferable) or Zoom and I can give personal tuition in the Nidderdale/Harrogate area.