John

I'm a trained (BSc, BEd) and experienced (9+ years) teacher working primarily as a tutor for students in both East Anglia and across the UK. In university I completed a 4-year Bachelor of Science degree, which included a specialist in psychology and a minor in English literature. After completing my teacher training in 2012 and gaining experience in schools, I soon focused on 1-to-1 tuition, making psychology, English, maths and coding my main subjects, teaching the following levels:

Psychology for GCSE and A-Level
English for Key Stages 1-3 and GCSE
Maths for Key Stages 1-3 & GCSE.
Computer Programming Foundations (Age 8+)

My rates can be found at the bottom right of my profile. Exclusive to FirstTutors, I offer the first lesson at 50% off the listed price.

Tutoring Experience

I have 10+ years of experience tutoring students. I started tutoring students in 2013 one-to-one and in small groups in both London and Surrey. In 2015-2016 I relocated to East Anglia, doing primarily in-person appointments in Norwich, Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft. Since 2018 I mainly focused on online tuition, tutoring students across the UK, as well as a number of international students (typically those following a UK curriculum).

Tutoring Approach

My approach involves first providing a basic assessment to understand a student's strengths and weaknesses. I then make a tutoring plan tailored specifically to the student I'm working with. Using a mix of curriculum and non-curriculum materials, we focus on making quick gains in any areas that are preventing them from reaching their full potential. This is a more indirect approach: focusing on improving foundational and other key skills, which inevitably translate to higher predicted grades. When exams approach, whether for GCSE or otherwise, I transition to a more direct approach of covering all types of exam questions so that my students are fully prepared to succeed.

My students typically fall into two groups. The first group are students who are getting predicted scores of 3 or lower, in which the goal is to raise predicted scores up to 4-5 as soon as possible, and then potentially making further gains. The second group are students who are predicted to pass, but are underachieving. In these cases, we work towards raising predicted scores to a 6 or 7.