Finlay

I`m an ultra-endurance athlete. I`m here to help you with your academic goals and interests. I specialised in quantum and experimental physics so, if you are interested, we can spend time after the lesson discussing that. Lessons are fun with me. If you`ve read what I`ve done so far, you`ll see it involves a wide range of people and the common ground I`ve found with them all is they want to have fun and so do I. I`ve walked the length of Wales, Ireland and New Zealand solo and unsupported. I also hunted for and foraged about half the food I ate. I met some pretty interesting characters out in the wilds of those countries and have been approached to write a book about my journeys so far. Next is walking the length of Australia!

Willing to travel: 50 miles

Experience: Since 2021, I have been tutoring (over 200 hours), teaching horticulture and teaching primary school children. I`ve taught a very wide variety of people from rehab and ex-offenders to 5 year olds at primary schools and even aboriginal children who live in the bush! Mostly, I have taught A-Level physics and maths but have also taught foreign exam boards. Whilst specific content requirements will be different, if given the time, I will try to teach the same skills - problem solving and troubleshooting. It is of course important to gain confidence and other such soft skills as well. My students often learn content beyond the scope of the course which is interesting and makes the course content seem much easier. We focus on exam technique and also how to study effectively which varies from student to student.

I work fun into lessons and quickly gain the favour of my students due to my experience working with a very large variety of people (and having a good time). My students often laugh and joke in the lessons and I generally schedule an extra 5-10 minutes at the end to answer questions outside of the content like today, Marlo asked me what I think of the film Oppenheimer and if I could explain how a Geiger Muller counter works. There was also the time Charlie asked me about the electron double slit experiment (quantum physics) so he could show off to his friends and after explaining, I sent him the research paper I wrote on it. The list of fun is endless.

There is also more than enough space and time for students to make mistakes. It`s how we find gaps in their knowledge. Creating a safe space for people to put themselves out there and risk making an error is something I do well. I could say something hinting at the rehab groups I worked with having more anxiety about making mistakes but honestly, I think all of us find it hard to do so when we worry how someone might react - especially young people. My job once the content has been learnt is to coax out the mistakes so we can go back and smooth over the whole understanding of a topic and then to do the same with practice questions so as to find where a rock solid understanding of a topic may slip under exam pressure.

DBS Check: Yes