Class teachers don't always catch misunderstandings, particularly if the pupil is embarrassed to admit to it. Or perhaps they understand clearly enough to complete the work in class, but later lose that clarity. In this way, gaps get left, leading to shaky knowledge foundations.

Particularly in maths, shaky foundations make subsequent learning harder. The result can be confusion, frustration, and a sense of just not being good at maths.

I can help with this.

I can help fill in those gaps and shore up the foundations as a basis for more confident learning in the future. Working one-to-one with a learner, I can observe how they tackle mathematical problems and tease out where knowledge gaps are causing difficulties. We then go back to basics and work on the foundations before building back up to the original task.

What I can offer

I am based in the north of Ceredigion, mid Wales. I offer individual, in person tuition to learners aged 11 and over, up to GCSE level. I specialise in working with neurodivergent learners. My primary subject is maths but I also teach science (and see below for other options).

Introductory session

Whichever option you're interested in, I offer a one hour session to start getting to know the learner, find out what issues need addressing, and see whether we can work together. After this, you can decide whether you want to proceed.
Price: £10, payable at the end of the session

After school tutorials

For learners struggling with schoolwork, I offer one hour sessions at the end of the school day. These are based on material being covered at school.
Price: £37/hr, payable on day of tutorial

One week summer catch-up

For learners feeling unprepared for the next school year, particularly those going into Yr 11, an intensive one week course of study can help get things back on track. This gives enough tutorial time, at two hours per day for five days, to really dig down into any misunderstandings and practise skills in different contexts. Note: There will be homework! I offer this option for convenience of fitting in with summer plans, but intensive study is not the best for long term memory. I will prepare a series of short worksheets to be completed at prescribed intervals over the next month, to ensure that new skills are remembered. This package also includes a follow-up session approximately six weeks later.
Price: £450, payable in advance

Home schooling

Parents have a variety of reasons for choosing to educate their children at home. Whatever your reasons, I can work with you. If you simply need professional support to meet the standards for GCSEs, I can do that. If your child's interests are developing in a direction that doesn't match your expertise, I may also be able to help there. I strongly believe that a child's (or adult's) natural curiosity should be encouraged and I can tailor my teaching to suit your child's interests. The internet offers vast resources, but correspondingly vast challenges. Particularly in the age of "AI", we need the skills to navigate misinformation, disinformation, clickbait, etc, to find the information we're looking for. I can teach these skills to empower learners to research their interests independently. In addition to maths, science, and research skills, I also have expertise in philosophy and psychology.
Price: will depend on your requirements, but in line with the above prices.

Adult learners

Maybe you thought you'd left maths behind when you left school, and now wish you'd paid more attention. Perhaps things come up at work that could be a lot easier if your maths skills were stronger. You might need a better GCSE grade for a promotion. Whatever your reasons, I can help. I know it can be embarrassing, but my tutorials are a judgement free zone! I find out where the difficulty lies, then work with you to overcome that difficulty.
Price: from £37/hr for a defined syllabus (e.g. working towards GCSE exams) to £45/hr if I need to develop a programme of learning.

My credentials

Academic qualifications

I have a 2:1 from Oxford University in Psychology and Philosophy and a PhD (doctorate) in Cognitive Psychology from Sussex University. These give me expertise in learning and memory, which I apply to my teaching and occasionally bring into tutorials where I feel the learner would benefit from understanding more about how their own brain works.

Teaching qualifications and experience

I started my teaching career as a university lecturer and gained a PGCTHE (teaching qualification in higher education). Working as a lecturer in psychology, I taught statistics and research methods. That is, I taught maths and (how to do) science to students who mostly would rather have left these subjects behind at school.

More recently, I have been working as a maths and science tutor for secondary school pupils (levels K3 and K4) who are unable to attend school for one reason or another.

I hold an enhanced DBS certificate and am subscribed to the update service.

Cymraeg

Unfortunately my Welsh isn't good enough to teach through the medium of Welsh. However, I can read the language tolerably well so I am able to support pupils in Welsh medium schools and use teaching materials provided by their school.

Terms

To see an outline contract for after-school tuition, you can download the pdf here.

If you think I might be able to help you, please get in touch so we can discuss your needs: Contact

If you would prefer to communicate via text or WhatsApp, or to discuss your situation in a phone call, please include your phone number in your message and I will reply that way, rather than by email. I aim to respond to all messages within a couple of days.