James

I am an attentive and compassionate English tutor with fourteen years experience in education. I enjoy working with young people and wholeheartedly believe that the key to unlocking a student’s potential lies in praise and encouragement. My approach to tuition is simple and based on my classroom philosophy: build a rapport with the student, identify gaps in learning, and explore techniques to narrow, then surmount, that gap, cumulatively, over time, to ensure the student commits knowledge and skills to their permanent, long-term memory.
I teach essay writing (to undergraduate level) and understand students’ difficulties organising and structuring their ideas into logical and cohesive arguments. I can enable students to write about any text, fluently and with confidence. Moreover, I teach revision and exam technique, adult learners, KS3 English, Year 6, and 11+, where I apply the same expert approach.
I will be very happy to support your progress.

Availability: I am available for online/in person tuition, after school and evening, Monday to Friday, and Saturday mornings.

Willing to travel: 10 miles

Experience: Ten years teaching English Language and Literature at Secondary Phase (KS3, 4 & 5), holding positions of responsibility for seven of those years as KS4 Coordinator (responsible for up to 480 students) and Lead Practitioner in English. Just over a year as a private tutor covering 11+, KS3, GCSE and A Level. I can also teach to undergraduate level in Literature, and essay writing to a range of humanities degrees.
- Outstanding progress and results at GCSE and A Level
- Teaching graded ‘Outstanding’ in 20 formal lesson observations
- AQA GCSE English Language Examiner
- Designed and planned entire KS4 and KS5 curricula
- Mentor of PGCE students through Institute of Education and St Mary’s Teaching College
- Awarded the Prince’s Teaching Institute mark in consecutive years
- Run small group and one-to-one English intervention
- Extensive experience with SEND students (autism, dyslexia, SEMH, ADHD and anxiety)
- Coordinated, awarded and moderated Teacher Assessed Grades (TAGs) and Centre Assessed Grades [GAGs] during the COVID-19 pandemic


In terms of exam boards, I specialise in AQA and Edexcel at GCSE, and OCR and AQA at A Level and have expert knowledge of those set texts, but I can cover Cambridge iGCSE, OCR GCSE, Eduqas, and WJEC.

GCSE Literature Texts I cover:

- A Christmas Carol
- A View From The Bridge
- Animal Farm
- Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
- Frankenstein
- Great Expectations
- An Inspector Calls
- Jane Eyre
- Julius Caesar
- Lord of the Flies
- Merchant of Venice
- Macbeth
- Of Mice and Men
- Oranges are not the Only Fruit
- Othello
- Pride and Prejudice
- Romeo and Juliet
- Silas Marner
- The Importance of Being Earnest
- To Kill a Mockingbird
- The Poetry Anthologies, Love & Relationships and Power & Conflict


English Language I cover:

- GCSE English Language Paper 1
- GCSE English Language Paper 2
- Transactional writing: argue, persuade, advise, inform
- Creative Writing: descri ptive, imaginative, narrative


A Level texts I cover:

- A Streetcar Named Desire
- Brave New World
- Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
- Death of a Salesman
- Fences
- Hamlet and Othello [I can cover all Shakespeare plays at A Level]
- Heart of Darkness
- I am Legend
- Nemesis
- Nineteen-Eighty-Four
- The Children of Men
- The Drowned World
- The Handmaid’s Tale
- The Time Machine
- Translations
- We
- When We Were Orphans
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo`s Nest
- Wuthering Heights
- The Great Gatsby


I can also recommend a very wide range of reading which is undoubtedly the most fundamental part of learning.

DBS Check: Yes

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