Twenty-three years teaching English in London classrooms — from GCSE and A-Level to 11+ entrance — now working one-to-one with students who want to read more closely and write with more control.
The writer uses the storm as more than weather — it becomes an extension of the narrator's own unravelling, so that the setting performs the emotion the character cannot yet name.
good — link this to the AO3 context point push further: why this image, why here?I have spent over two decades teaching English in both state and independent schools across London, with experience as a Head of Department and as a Key Stage 5 Coordinator. I have taught the key texts for over two decades and I also know the mark schemes, the examiners' reports, and exactly where students lose the marks they should have kept.
My own background is in English and American Studies (BA, first class) and postcolonial literature (MA), which shapes how I teach close reading: not as a checklist of techniques, but as a way of noticing what a text is actually doing.
I have direct teaching experience across all the major UK exam boards, including CIE iGCSE, AQA and OCR. I have been an examiner for AQA GCSE and A level, so I know exactly how each one marks, and where the same skill needs to be presented differently for different papers.
Sessions run from my home in Dulwich, or online, whichever suits your family.
Comprehension, creative writing and verbal reasoning for independent and grammar school entry at 11+ and 13+, plus scholarship-level preparation for the most competitive papers.
Language and Literature papers across the major boards — essay technique, unseen poetry, and the set texts, taught to the mark scheme.
Close reading, critical theory and coursework support for A-Level, plus IB English — I wrote the curriculum as Key Stage Five Coordinator, so I know the syllabus from the inside.
Structured feedback on drafts — planning, argument, and the line-level editing that turns a good essay into a strong one.
Focused revision sessions in the run-up to mocks and finals: past papers, timed practice, and targeted weak-spot work.
Wider reading, personal statements and interview preparation for competitive sixth-form and university English applications.
Before we touch a text, I read a recent piece of the student's work: an essay, a report, a paper etc, to see exactly where the marks are being lost.
After the writing task, We mark-up the page together, the way an examiner would, so that the student absorbs and understands the assessment criteria. Students students learn to see their own writing the way it will be graded, not just the way it feels to write.
Tasks are targetted and managable.
A short written update on specific progress and targets will help you stay connected and supportive.
My first job is always the same — build real confidence, real skill, and real stretch, whatever a student's starting point. For the most able, that means genuine extented thinking to promote analytical skill rather than simply repeating tasks. Over 23 years I have taught students with autism, ADHD, dyslexia, slow processing speed and other specific learning differences, and worked with blind, partially sighted and deaf students, so I adapt readily to how a particular student learns best.
She moved my son's essays from vague to specific; he finally understands what an examiner is actually looking for.
Patient but exacting. My daughter's confidence in her own reading changed completely over one term.
Based in Dulwich, SE24 — sessions in person locally, or online by arrangement. Get in touch with a little about the student and what you're hoping to work on.