Josie

I am an experienced maths tutor, covering everything up to (and including) GCSE maths, as well as adult maths. I work with all ages and ability levels, including dyscalculia and adults. School or home educated, studying towards exams or working to improve maths skills, all students are welcome and supported.

The unprecedented events of the last year, and the disruption that they have caused to students of all levels, mean that tutoring support is more helpful than ever. Whether it is rebuilding confidence in learning, revising older topics, catching up or keeping pace with other students, or learning from scratch, having the right tutoring support can make the difference that you need.

For students who are sitting their GCSEs in 2021, the long gap from stopping school in March to resuming in September means that a large chunk of the syllabus will have been missed, and much of what was previously learned will have been forgotten.

Also, the ongoing disruption caused by repeated isolations for tutor groups or even whole year groups means that there is even less time available to learn and revise in a structured way. Inevitably, the teachers are going to have to squeeze the extra four months of content that were missed due to COVID, into this academic year instead, in place of the revision that would normally be taking place. No student should be at a disadvantage because of events so far out of their control, so I can help both with revising past topics and with making sure that the students are supported through the faster pace of the coming academic year.

Key Stage 3 and primary students face challenges of a different kind. Their issues are less about time pressure, and much more about missed content and confidence in resuming learning. My detailed knowledge of the curriculum allows me to support them both in reminding them of what they have learned in the past, and in moving forward alongside the work that they are doing in school. The reassurance that a tutor brings is huge, taking the pressure off from having to get it right first time, and allowing the learning process to happen in a more natural, supported way.

Adult learners often have the biggest gaps of all to fill, both in terms of being out of the swing of learning, and recall of things that they learned when they were at school. I can help them to ease back into the mindset required for a successful progression through the maths curriculum, alongside building their confidence in their own abilities and showing them newer, more effective ways of doing maths that were not taught in the past.

I am now working with all students online so they can continue their learning in the safety and comfort of their own homes, with a tutor who understands how to explain things in a way that they can understand, and who can notice and solve problems as they arise.

Availability: I am available throughout the day, evenings and weekends. I am tutoring entirely online while the effects of the virus are limiting our movement and social interactions.

Willing to travel: Home Only

Experience: I have been tutoring maths since 2008, and home educated my two children who gained 16 IGCSes and GCSEs between them. I have tutored over 60 students individually, ranging from young primary to adult learners. Many were GCSE students, and I am particularly successful at helping struggling students to gain good passes. I work successfully with a whole range of ability from dyscalculia through to high achievers. I can support school learning, or take home educated students through from no maths at all to examination level. I do not require any prior maths experience from my students. I have taught IGCSE, GCSE, Common Entrance, SATs, adult functional maths, and Common Core (with American students).

I have a thorough understanding of how all the maths topics fit together, and what knowledge is required in order to understand each one. If any of these foundations are missing then inevitably the student will struggle to properly understand whatever follows on, so an important component of my tutoring is to locate and fill in those gaps. My lessons are a combination of helping the student to learn the topic, and ensuring that they are not missing anything fundamental that underpins it. I take care to only build forward in a way that is linked to the student`s individual learning style, and to other things that they already understand, so that the steps are small and incremental. The most frequent comment that I hear is "You make it so easy!"

DBS Check: Yes