Rob

2008 National Teaching Award Winner (Southern Region.)

Volunteer linesman every Sunday - for my 3 sons’ football teams.

Keen cyclist – I’ve cycled further than the distance around the equator as I commuted to and from school.

Animal lover – I enjoy jogging with Scout, my rescue dog.

Educational author – I wrote a maths assessment book that was sold in WHSmith.

Piano player – I accompany a large choir that performs in both the Guildhall and the Cathedral in Portsmouth.

Prioritiser - In 2010 I decided to reduce my hours so that I could spend more time with my wife!

Availability: Monday to Friday daytime - when sixth formers have their free periods.

I use this website to find additional A level tutees as my 2:45pm onwards schedule is fully booked with local families who have contacted me through recommendations. I typically have a waiting list of around 4 families.

Willing to travel: 2 miles

Experience: Recent update:
My experience of tutoring many A-level students from several colleges (both local and further afield) is that most pupils would be attaining much better results if only they received better tuition. Hardly a ground breaking statement but what does better tuition look like?

- a focus on understanding concepts rather than just memorising processes. (A significant number of pupils come to me saying that in lessons they are fine but they just can`t apply things in exams.)

- ensuring students have acquired the pre-requisite building blocks of learning so that the next unit has a firm concepual base on which to rest. (Unless this happens, lessons are okay in the short term but a waste of time in the long term as most of it just falls away.)

- joining up the dots of the maths curriculum rather than seeing it as a group of unrelated skills.

- most pupils need support in developing ways to organise their learning. Creating an overview of their competence helps them to recognise strengths and to identify areas that need significant work.

- most pupils also need support in finding ways in which they can be helping themselves to do well. My involvement helps both pupils who are reluctant to invest time in maths and also those pupils who want to improve but aren`t sure how to best use their time and effort. Together we find effective and efficient ways to re-examine old topics so that the skills stay fresh. This is vital because maths is such a hierarchical subject and the second year syllabus builds straight on top of first year topics.

- ultimately good teaching finds out what a student most needs in order to progress further. I have helped pupils at risk of failing to attain C and B grades, as well as moving higher attainers up to an A*.



Previously:
I have been a classroom teacher for 23 years in 3 different schools I was head hunted for the last job and when I left it in November 2016, it was graded outstanding by OFSTED. I have predominantly worked in year 6 where I have helped to raise standards of attainment – I have been successful in accelerating progress for many pupils (particularly in maths) to double Government expectations.
I have spent most of my career as a maths manager in schools but I have also led English and science. I have been a key stage leader for over 10 years and have mentored trainee teachers who have gone on to have their own successful teaching careers.

Winning the 2008 Award for Best Primary School Teacher in the South was an amazing experience. The judges interviewed pupils, staff and parents - families who weren’t able to attend the meeting were able to submit letters of support and the highlight of the whole process was getting to read these testimonials afterwards.

Every pupil is different: each pupil has their own particular knowledge of facts, procedures and concepts, but they are also unique in their attitude, experience, confidence and motivation. Finding a tutoring approach that best suits each child is very important and, where appropriate, I make use of the recent educational principles of ‘Growth Mindset’ which challenge the notion that some people are just born clever, and encourages pupils to value risk taking, criticism and effort.

Individual tuition allows time so rarely afforded in whole class lessons to track back and identify the misconceptions that can sometimes be the underlying cause of slow progress or issues with confidence. The focus of good teaching is about building all new learning onto secure foundations and making strong and varied connections between concepts.