Harry

I am a highly qualified and dedicated English teacher with over ten years` experience in secondary schools and sixth-form colleges, and have recently taught undergraduates as part of my PhD at Birkbeck, University of London. I strongly believe that students learn best when they see English as a channel for developing their own ideas, opinions and perspectives on the world. That impulse then provides the most powerful and lasting incentive for them to build the linguistic and critical skills they need to express themselves and attain high grades. I aim to develop this genuine passion and confidence in every way I can, from helping students to develop sustained, balanced arguments on A-Level Literature texts, to guiding them in shaping personal experiences, opinions and memories into focused and vivid writing for KS3 and GCSE extended creative writing tasks. Once I have helped to create this basic engagement, I also place strong stress on systematic exercises to improve sentence structure, grammar and spelling. I also think it is vital for students to have a toolkit of techniques for planning and writing in response to specific exam questions, and make sure that students put this into practice regularly and repeatedly as exams get closer. It is this combination of confidence, strong writing skills and knowledge of what examiners are looking for that is the key to transforming students’ achievement.

Availability: Currently, I am available on weekdays and weekends from 2pm onwards - please get in touch and we can discuss what works best for you.

Willing to travel: 15 miles

Experience: I have been a qualified secondary teacher for over ten years, working in a grammar school, and then two sixth-form colleges in Greater London. Teaching this subject is a vocation for me, and I am very proud to have helped my students gain excellent results over the years at every level, especially in A-Level and GCSE in English and English Literature. For example, at Christ the King Sixth Form College in Kent, where I worked until 2018, my GCSE English retake students achieved over 80% Grade 5 and above for three years running; our team’s achievement was recognised in a nomination for the TES FE Teaching Awards. Meanwhile, a high proportion of my A-Level students consistently achieved grades A* to B. I thus have a great deal of recent experience in helping students prepare for the requirements of specific exam boards at GCSE English Language and Literature, and A-Level English Literature, English Language and Literature and English Language. My current PhD research in English Literature (I am writing a thesis on early 20th-century fiction and ethics at Birkbeck, University of London), meanwhile, means that I am especially able to stimulate the high-level critical thinking skills and expressive flair which are required for the highest grades in English.