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Qualified Teacher

Finnbar

£40/hr

Qualified, enthusiastic English Teacher & Examiner -KS3, GCSE, A-Level

Examiner Replies within 6 hours 410 lessons taught

Sherpa's Summary

Finnbar is a friendly experienced and qualified teacher of English and Psychology to A Level, who loves helping his students to achieve beyond their expectations.

A bit about Finnbar

My name is Finnbar and I am an enthusiastic, qualified English teacher and examiner. I was teaching in a secondary school until 2022 and have now moved my work online. I pride myself on delivering top quality sessions that are tailored specifically to the needs of each individual. I grew up in the south of England, but have sinced lived in Spain and the Carribean. I love travelling to new places and learning about them from within the community. It has also meant that I can chase one of my passions - surfing. I have surfed in 4 different continents, and counting! A highlight has been running a weekly surf program for kids in the Dominican Republic, where I got to see them develop their skills, confidence and passion. Thanks to my background in Psychology, I hope to train as an Educational Psychologist in the future. With this background and this aim, I approach every interaction with a young person positively and respectfully. Any moment of a lesson can be a moment of learning, whether it be educational or personal. I aim to be a positive, reliable adult in the life of every young person I meet. This is informed by my personal philosophy and my formal education and training. As mentioned above, my background is in Psychology. In 2020, I graduated with first-class honours from Bournemouth University with a degree in Psychology. In my final year, I specialised in educational psychology, which gave me valuable insight into the significant impact that addressing each student's individual needs can have. When tutoring, I always ensure that sessions are tailored to each student, recognising that every student is different and requires a unique approach to their learning goals. In 2021, I received Qualified Teacher Status at a secondary school in Yorkshire. This followed a year of being embedded in a fantastic school community and a review by two independent mentors. In 2022, I achieved a distinction in my Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) - Leadership in Learning. This was part of the Teach First Graduate Programme, which aims to end educational inequality in the UK by training excellent teachers and placing them where they are most needed. Through this unique and comprehensive training route, I was required to research and implement my own teaching interventions, honing my skills using recent and relevant education research. I emerged from this experience with an empowered mindset, equipped to access and apply best practices to all forms of teaching. More recently, I have worked as an examiner for AQA and OCR, two of the largest exam boards in the UK at GCSE and A-Level. This experience has deepened my understanding of exam technique, enabling me to help students maximise the use of their knowledge by applying it effectively. As a result, I can assist students in improving their grades without them needing to spend excessive time learning additional content, although this can also be beneficial. The school that I first trained in used AQA; the most popular exam board in the UK. As a result, I am most experienced with this exam board and have even worked as an examiner for them this summer. I also had the opportunity to work as an examiner for OCR at A-Level, so feel particularly confident with this exam board as well. Since becoming an online tutor, I have made sure to study the specifications, assessments and mark schemes of other major exam boards also. I have now successfully tutored students from OCR, Edexcel, Eduqas and Cambridge IGCSE from year 7 all the way through to A-Level. A satisfying success on a personal level has been one student whom I have been teaching since they were in Year 11. When they first came to me, they had never achieved above a 3 in English and were really struggling. Within the same academic year, they eventually earned 5s in both Literature and Language, and they are now attending their dream college. The experience was so positive, that I now tutor their siblings as well on a regular basis. It was an extremely enjoyable and rewarding journey for both of us. My record for academic improvement was another year 11 student, who raised his grade from a 5 to a 7 within 1 month of beginning tutoring with me. After another month, he actually felt so confident about getting into his post-16 options that we stopped our lessons. I am very proud of his accomplishment! I love teaching in a classroom to a large group, and thrive on the the spontaneity of having so many people focused on the same idea or task. However, I have realised that there is just as much satisfaction in coaching a student 1 to 1. I often teach students who I wish I could teach by themselves to see what they could really achieve with my undivided attention. For this reason, I have turned to tutoring so that I can help people master a variety of English skills. I have already helped my online students to achieve and surpass their predicted grades set by their teachers at school!

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Teaches

Subject Rate
English
Level
KS3
 £40/hr
English
Level
IB
 £40/hr
English
Level
GCSE
 £40/hr
English
Level
A-Level
 £40/hr
English Literature
Level
GCSE
 £40/hr
English Literature
Level
A-Level
 £40/hr
English Literature
Level
KS3
 £40/hr

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