Rob

I am a friendly and engaging tutor who, for the past fifteen years, has been tailoring lessons to suit the needs of each individual pupil and have seen many exceed all expectations.

I started teaching at school. From a long line of teachers in my family that stretches back three generations, I was regularly asked to work with the junior years in Drama and English whilst still doing my A levels in my native Cumbria.

After a masters degree at St Andrews University and a TEFL at The London School of Economics I taught EFL to children in Hong Kong. Outside of school hours, I spent time working with Triad youths in centres for offenders who had no English, teaching them English, Spanish and Drama. This was an eye opening experience in teaching under often trying circumstances and without a common language.

Thereafter I trained as an actor whilst supplementing my income by tutoring and have been doing this since 2005 to pupils of all ages and abilities and from many different walks of life. I have yet to see a pupil not reach their potential and, more often than not, they exceed it.

Initially, upon graduating from The Guildford School of Acting, I also worked in mainstream schools, Moderate Learning Difficulty schools and Pupil Referral Units. During this time I was able to familiarise myself with English curriculums, teaching methods and create my own methods for adapting to the vast array of needs and abilities before me.

It is this that I believe defines my abilities as a tutor. I thoroughly enjoy the challenges of matching the needs of tuition to a tutee. Being freed from the constraints of a classroom eases finding what makes a pupil tick. Though I am resolutely professional, I am a child in spirit and lessons have to be fun for both tutor and tutee. We can then improve and ultimately achieve the set goals, we may even discover new interests that chart new paths!

This is what I believe tutoring is for and I am delighted to see pupils (many of which, alongside their families, I now count as friends) become all that they are capable of being.

Below are a few comments from past parents and pupils. I would be more than happy to put you in touch with any parents or pupils you might like to contact to provide further reference:

Ekaterina: `Rob tutored our son for a few months in preparation for 11+ exams and has been amazing at it! Rob has been very methodical and able to recognise our son`s weak areas and work on them. He particularly helped our son in his creative writing tasks!

Davorin: `Excellent work in preparing my daughter for her 11+ entrance exam (English and Math). Knowledgeable, great at explaining and keeping her interested in the subjects. Great manner and dedication, always punctual and extremely reliable. Would not wish for a different tutor in this important time for our daughter.`

Kate: `Rob has been my tutor for AS AQA Drama Theory for nearly three months now and I am thrilled with the progress I have made thanks to our lessons. Rob is an encouraging and engaging teacher and his lessons have allowed me to improve from a grade C to consistent A`s in a fraction of time.

Deborah: `Rob tutored my daughter for GCSE English. She found these sessions hugely helpful and enjoyed them even. Rob was very reliable and punctual. I would whole heartily recommend him as an English tutor`.

Zoe: For the last year, Rob has tutored my son in English GCSE. I really cannot recommend Rob enough. He has a magical way of engaging and teaching a typical laid back teenager and getting him to look forward to each lesson.

Mary: Rob very quickly restored her confidence and, with his help, moved from predicted level 7 to 9 in all areas. Not only has it been an absolute pleasure to see how Rob`s tutorials have benefited my daughter but she has really enjoyed her lessons too! I am so pleased I clicked on his profile!

Fillipo: A dedicated, knowledgeable, passionate tutor, he successfully supported my daughter preparation work for her drama A Level exams, at the same time working to help for her audition to Drama school.

Vanessa: Rob has tutored my son in English throughout his time studying GCSEs. He has made such a phenomenal impact on my son’s progress during this time. Rob’s enthusiasm and passion for the subject has given my son a love of the texts he has studied and a full understanding of how to approach answering questions with structure and flair.

Ann: If you want a tutor who is friendly and builds a good relationship with his students quickly, thus gaining their trust, then Rob is the person for you. He has an enthusiasm for his subject that is transmitted in each lesson, whether face-to-face or online, which helps to build the student’s confidence in their own ability and understanding of the subject.

Clare: Rob was a superb tutor for our son who wasn’t really focusing and getting on with the work. Rob turned that around. He is a great communicator and a good laugh, but was firm with our son and wouldn’t let him get away with slacking or not doing his work. And our son passed both English papers.

Kim: It`s such a cliche to start "I can`t recommend Rob highly enough" but I really really can`t recommend Rob highly enough! He`s been helping our son over several months now. My son is reserved to say the least, he also has some elements of Dyspraxia - poor memory and organisation - yet Rob has come to truly understand him and consequently see how best to tutor him with very good results, particularly in English.

Carla: My daughter started tutoring with Rob 6 weeks before her 11+ exams. It was clear from the beginning we had struck gold. Rob is a master of pedagogy, not all teachers are. My daughter was able to achieve so much in such a short amount of time and went on to receive offers and waitlists from all 5 of the London day schools she applied for.

Hannah: Rob has been a lifesaver for us! My son was very resistant to any form of creative writing. Rob immediately built up a great rapport with him and built his confidence, using themes my son loves, such as Star Wars. My son is now at secondary school and wishes he could do more creative writing!

William: Rob helped me refresh my level of writing from a GCSE level. I am a 23 year old who struggled with writing as a native speaker. The tutoring helped bring up my level in order to pass a series of tests for my job. Rob is energetic and extremely easy to get along with. I would recommend him to anyone of any age.

Availability: Monday-Friday 10am-10pm. Weekends available upon request.

Willing to travel: 2 miles

Experience: 15 years tutoring English language & literature, Drama, Art History, Spanish and Common entrance in and around London. to all levels and abilities.
Teaching Assistant in MLD, Referral Unit and Mainstream Schools.
A year spent working with EFL students in Hong Kong mainstream school and Triad detention centre.
Experienced stage & screen actor & director.

DBS Check: Yes

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