A bit about Sara C

This year's results (2023) were very good with one of my SEN tutees scoring five grades higher than the school prediction, and one boy acheiving four grades higher than expected in Literature and two grades hgigher in Language - and I only taught him for three months. My other students mostly went up by two or three grades in language and literature. In A Level Literature, a student predicted a U grade by her school teacher actually attained grade D after just six weeks of tuition, and another student (with three months of tuition) improved by two grades. Consistently across my whole teaching career, learners who follow my guidance have achieved - and do achieve - at least two grades higher than their teachers anticipate. It helps if you read for fun! The benefit of having an experienced-examiner as a tutor is the precise awareness of the exam board requirements and what each is meant by each criteria. I am a qualified and experienced English teacher who has worked in various schools and colleges in SE England and abroad. Across various establishments, I was Head of English for six years, and trained a significant number of teachers then. I've also marked exam papers at GCSE and A Level for well over 10 years. Secondary English is my specialism. My passion is creative writing but I also like teaching poetry and Shakespeare. I typically focus on essay-writing skills and am good when you need to cram. As an examiner, I am acutely aware of the exam board requirements and interpret them to inform my teaching - and push the success of the learner. My lessons are, of course, excellent! In the first lesson, I typically begin addressing at least one of your chosen areas of focus - such as essay writing. The second lesson will begin with going through the homework and addressing strengths (to develop) - and weaknesses (to reduce and eventually eradicate). It is therefore imperative that homework is completed in order to maintain cohesion between lessons, and improve ability and potential. I started tutoring in the second year of my career, which was back in 2004. I have been tutoring 1 to 1, 1 to 2, and groups since then. Increasingly, my lessons have gone online - which is better in many ways. I love seeing teenagers begin to think for themselves, discussing books with me and asking the right questions when they explore what is beyond the obvious. I like to teach in a focused way but often with humour as I get to know you more. I can be rather concise and find this helps with content and clarity. I like seeing results and not having to deal with behaviour problems. I believe that any learner can achieve if he wants to. Trust is really important and following the guidance from the trusted-teacher is essential. With greater input and effort, there typically comes greater success. Success does not come from stubbornness or refusing to change; for different outcomes, there needs to be different input. Please only accept a qualified tutor and not a student who only thinks he knows what the exam boards want. MA Children's Literature PGCE QTS BA (Hons) My own primary-school teachers inspired me to teach. I have always wanted to teach and I have always taught. I am an experienced martial-artist and qualified judo coach, BJA approved. I endure gym classes at least thrice a week. I walk a lot every day. I play the flute - and can teach that too. I have had most experience with AQA, Pearson/EdExcel and WJEC. OCR is no stranger to me. I have taught children in years 5 and 6 for 17 years, and students aged 11-19 for 18 years. I have also taught adults including a Sri-Lankan man who needed better English for his engineering reports, and a lady who worked on the rivers and had to write structured reports on progress there.