Richard

Refused access to my own school’s English A-Level, I have worked considerably hard to overcome an anomaly of two Cs at English GCSE. Through five degrees, achieving a best literature dissertation prize and attaining outstanding trainee on TeachFirst’s Leadership Development Programme before graduating as a TeachFirst Ambassador, I see myself as proof that intelligence is not fixed; that we must strive to enable our students for futures beyond an education system that can so easily fail them. To that end, I have sought to enhance my understanding of the current challenges facing education and today’s students. I invested in a Masters in Educational Leadership as I was enthused by exploring alternative approaches to essay writing and the corollaries between academies and high-stakes testing for all year groups. I was particularly interested in developing, in my dissertation, a clearer understanding of the challenges faced by SEND students and a richer picture of how to easily establish support for all in the employment of, for example, powerpoints and resources.
Utilising a diverse background of educational, technical and creative skills, I have been fortunate in both my choices and opportunities; to retrain as a Secondary English teacher and to study under the likes of Melvyn Bragg at the National Academy of Writing have been particular delights. My creation of and support for ICT systems and infrastructures across local government, a blue-chip company and the publishing industry has helped guide my enthusiasm for creating highly effective and sustainable resources to ensure my students’ progress; be it supporting a number of students to attain a CISCO apprenticeship whilst at UTC Reading, privately tutoring an eleven year-old to successfully pass the Reading School entrance exam, helping to identify and support an eight year-old’s dyslexia, or developing a number of literacy and analytical strategies for the English departments at Nova Hreod Academy, UTC Reading and John Madejski Academy. Since joining JMA, I have continued my commitment to TeachFirst’s goals of ending educational inequality and providing a fairer education for all, continuing to develop best practice in response to latest research. And, I have worked diligently to provide for my students by establishing a programme of support and intervention at Keystage 4 alongside the development of a series of non-fiction articles aimed at developing students’ contextual awareness of their examination texts.
While I have been praised for building strong working relationships with my students, I have become most effective in maximising my responsiveness to student needs: marking KS4 against exam criteria and tracking their progress on a weekly basis whilst establishing routines such as Talk Model Write and aiming to reduce extraneous cognitive loads in favour of what is germane to learning. As an enhancement to that, as literacy coordinator, I have worked in conjunction with the Head of English and the SENCO to develop a three phase approach to instating literacy alongside oracy as the school’s key focus moving forward. I am currently in the process of producing a literacy toolkit for use by both staff and students and integrating a number of measures into school life.

Availability: Due to personal circumstances, I am open for online tutoring, preferring email, phone and Skype tutoring (as appropriate).

I am not averse to meeting, I just don`t think it`s always necessary. For example, you don`t need to pay me to sit and wait while your child completes an exercise.

Experience reveals that we can achieve the same level of development without tying you into travel costs and waiting time. I have developed a number of resources and methodologies that will help you reflect on your own learning in a way that will guide you to more effectively build your confidence for and understanding of your examinations.

Willing to travel: Home Only

Experience: After fourteen years of working in IT support, project management and systems development I decided to transfer my skills into teaching.

I originally worked at the Brakenhale School in IT support a year after leaving school, where I divided my time between supporting the IT systems and infrastructure and providing in-class guidance and one-to-one tuition. I engaged with students across the curriculum, working with teachers and teaching assistants to help develop the students’ learning. The classroom support I provided, along with extra-curricular activities, Summer schools and project work with students, all helped to develop my understanding of learning and the sense of community within the school. We all learn in different ways and I understand the importance of moderating or tailoring certain content to meet the learning needs of each student.

I consolidated my ICT skills, achieving a 2:1 with Honours in Computing and moved to a library environment, where I worked with the council’s corporate IT team to expand my IT knowledge across multiple disciplines so as to meet the needs of the business and our customers, who came from various backgrounds and abilities. That work developed into project management for Bracknell council’s business systems team, with whom I worked to revolutionise disparate service points using the latest technologies, from database management systems to PDA integration and public self-service.

In 2010 I began tutoring in A-Level IT for Funtech Ltd. As well as providing one-to-one tuition, I led the development of in-house lessons, meeting the specifications of the AQA A-Level syllabus and the needs of the students. This included structuring two hour sessions, programming assignments and a range of homework questions.

In 2012 I began volunteering as an English-lesson teaching assistant at Oakbank Secondary School, where I am learning to enhance my awareness of differing student abilities.

Prior to commencing my PGCE, I continued to develop my personal skills and awareness through courses and workshops, such as a certificate in counselling skills (2006), introduction to domestic abuse (2006), assertiveness and self confidence development (2009), introduction to safeguarding children, young people, and vulnerable adults (2009), keeping cool under pressure (2010), and Reading university`s Red Award scheme (2012).

After a year as an unqualified teacher at UTC Reading, I was accepted onto Teach First`s prestigious Leadership Development Programme, and completed my PGCE (with distinction) and achieve QTS whilst at Nova Hreod Academy, in Swindon. I completed my Master`s Degree in Educational Leadership and continue to research methodologies that best support student working, as I returned to UTC Reading, John Madejski Academy, and - in September 2019 - the Wren School.