Sophie

An Engineering Graduate from Durham University who is currently working within the Environmental Sector.

I’ve had a passion for Mathematics from a young age, I was never strong in languages but Mathematics was one I felt fluent in. It was this passion that lead me to study General Engineering at Durham. I decided it suited my ambitions to work with the application of Maths rather than study pure maths.

I always found that no matter my ability for a subject it was my teacher that made the difference to my enjoyment. For children school lessons can often feel like a chore rather than a privilege, however I know from my time in study it was the tutoring that often felt like fun. Tutoring is a time to ask any questions you want, wether these are based around the syllabus or external learning, any extra knowledge will alway be advantageous to syllabus studies, especially if it ignites interest and passion within the pupil. Schools rarely produce one on one study time, and therefore the student has to work at the pace of the slowest child and the questions of the most confident. It is during tutoring that the student can ask any question without embarrassment or time pressure. It is also in this time that students strengths and weaknesses can be really acknowledged and developed or improved. It is my aim to not only develop the students knowledge of Mathematics but also to try and make the lessons fun and varied, hopefully igniting passion into the student. To me the students the wellbeing is top priority.

In current times revision and solo study is more pivotal than any. However, self study and revision is the way to solidify any knowledge absorbed through study (schooling or tutoring). I have therefore always found it important to review already covered topics at the beginning and end of each sessions and complete revision lessons when appropriate. However, one thing I have learnt is thats self study is just that, no one other than the student can perform it or even know how it best works for the student. This is something I like to help with. It is not only had to work out your leaning style but it also hard to know how long you can concentrate for and which study techniques help you the most. Although I can not tell the student what methods, time or learning style suits them, I can help them work this out and teach them certain techniques that they can use for their own learning.

I am fully DBS checked and First Aid Trained.

Willing to travel: 10 miles

Experience: I started tutoring when I was around 15 years old. I started by assisting a Spanish teaching group for Primary School children. In this class we had to come up with exciting techniques to teach the students to ensure they were not distracted, especially by the other classmates. We also used a variety of different study techniques, this not only kept the lessons interesting but also ensured we met the needs of all students. When not only having a class of different abilities but also ages it was important to make sure the strongest student could thrive and the weakest could flourish.

After a few months I began to lead these classes. Creating the lesson plans, meeting and talking with the parents about the students progress and getting to know each student individually to ensure they were getting what they needed. As the classes began to grow so did the company I worked for and therefore so did the sessions I was taking. I began weekly sessions with a 4 year old on Basic Learning, as well as well Maths lessons for Private School Entrance Exams. I continued these until the summer before I left for university. In this summer I helped a student in their first year of GCSEs, these were summer lessons to help him get ahead of other students during the break. At the beginning of our sessions he was a D/E student, after taking a mock test with him before leaving for university he produced A* answers.

During my AS and A Level years I helped a a Science Club for students with learning difficulties. This class were aimed to engage the students in Science based subjects. It can be hard for some students to develop a passion for a subject if they are in a class with students who do not share that passion. The sessions were mainly practically based.