Castle Tutors & Castle Tuition

Personal Description:
I'm thirty and have lived, worked and studied in the south Hampshire area my whole life. I love the area and intend on staying here for the foreseeable future! I'm a doctor currently working as a GP Registrar, having completed a Graduate Entry Medicine degree at the University of Southampton. I've worked in a wide range of specialities, including Child Health, Acute Medicine and General Surgery - and a stint in A&E during the Coronavirus pandemic!
Before starting my studies in Medicine, I completed my BSc. (Hons) Human Physiology at the University of Portsmouth in 2015. I attended Hamble Community Sports College, achieving 14 GCSEs at grade A and A* - top of my year - and Peter Symonds College, studying Maths, Biology, Chemistry, Psychology, Critical Thinking and General Studies. My Mathematics and Statistics GCSE (taken a year early) were the highest the school had ever achieved, both gaining an A* (99.5% and 100% respectively).

Teaching Experience:
During my GCSE preparation and exam period, I tutored several students in my year and below for Mathematics and Statistics, alongside their current teaching at school. I have also, however, given tuition to other adults, most of whom were taking their Mathematics GCSE as an extra qualification in order to get a promotion at work. I currently tutor students of a large range of ages, covering Key Stage 2, 3, GCSE and A Level.
I have now taught many students, ranging from ages 5 - adult, and all of those which have sat exams have at least achieved the grades they were after. I have helped students to reach required grades, supplementing class teaching, catching up on missed lessons, improving old Maths skills and more recently as a standalone teacher of the entire GCSE syllabus. I have also helped individuals gain much needed confidence in their own skills and I have a lot of experience in helping students to believe in themselves!

Tutoring Approach:
Mathematics being a specific passion of mine, I encourage students to apply their own knowledge to the question, before adding any new information. By showing proof of how a calculation or question works, I believe that anyone can grasp a method if they are shown the reason behind its usage. I believe I can offer an alternative to the class driven method of teaching, and allow students to gain aptitude in spotting the need for a calculation just by reading the question, and hopefully then on to creating their own calculations and solutions! I also aim to make a heavy question of 5 or 6 marks appear to be just a group of smaller questions, making each mark easier to get. I've been teaching for twelve years now and I've seen many students suffer from a lack of confidence in their own ability, and I always ensure that not only does the person have core, and advanced knowledge, but that they have confidence in the fact that anything can be achieved!

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Personal Description:
Hi! I'm Nick, a 46 yr old graduate of Oxford University, where I studied French and German, and a postgraduate of the University of Manchester, where I obtained a Masters and Doctorate in English. I currently teach GCSE English in my institution, and also work in a university part-time.

At the moment I prefer online teaching, which I can do via Zoom, Skype or maybe other platforms.

Teaching Experience:
I always really enjoy teaching individual pupils at GCSE and A-level. I've had some great results in the recent exams - very proud of my pupils doing well, privately and at my school, and feel that I helped them achieve their best. I'm now looking to take on some more.

I have been teaching English in Higher Education since 2004. During this time I also taught an A-level student English on an individual basis, as extra preparation for Oxbridge entry - the student gained a place at Oxford. I've also taught two summer schools for visiting American students at the University of Manchester, and a first year university student privately last year.

I've been doing online teaching also over the last six months - there are real benefits!

I have experience with AQA syllabuses in French GCSE and English (Literature) GCSE and A-level (Gothic and Pastoral), and also OCR French.

I also worked for some years in the retail/hospitality sector, where I was an induction trainer, and had some involvement with NVQ assessment.

Tutoring Approach:
I believe the most important thing in teaching is to create a relaxed and friendly atmosphere, where students are not afraid to ask any questions. I like to avoid overt formality, and make the teaching as enjoyable as possible. I'm very encouraging and positive, but within this will always offer constructive criticism when it's needed. I make sure sessions end with clear goals about what students need to do to improve - clear and achieveable goals, that I will check your progress with. I enjoy teaching a great deal, and will push you to achieve your very best.

For under 16s, I have a programme for teaching English, French, and German. This includes conversation, grammar, composition, and working with literature suited to the pupil's age range. It's flexible and pitched to any age and ability between 11 and 16.

I can offer teaching remotely - which I prefer at the moment.

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Personal Description:
When I was a boy I was taught by people who were larger-than-life characters who dominated the classroom. They made clear to us boys what was expected of us and that if we didn't make the effort we would simply not achieve the rewards.

As a teacher, I share the same ethos. I expect pupils to follow my lead and work to the best of their ability.

I spend a lot of time reading and thinking.

I think it was George Bernard Shaw who said that 2% of people think, 3% think they think and 95% would rather die than do any thinking at all!

Sadly, I think that over the last thirty years dumbing down and inflated grades have shown how accurate Shaw's assessment was.

I see my role as one of reversing the tide of apathy and mediocrity and encouraging pupils to value themselves as individuals each with unique potential.

I finally achieved my educational potential because I came to see intellectual growth as the only sure path to happiness and fulfilment.

Helping pupils reach the same understanding about their full intellectual potential is my vocation and the foundation on which I build all my one-to-one tuition relationships.

Teaching Experience:
After teaching in the UK Primary and Secondary sectors as well as managing English and History departments in three international schools overseas, I now devote my time exclusively to private tuition.

My experience includes 12 years teaching English and History to GCSE and A level in the UK secondary system and eight years teaching the same subjects to the same levels in international schools in Italy, Egypt and Kenya.

During this time I have always had a number of students on my books for home tuition to provide extra help in Primary, Secondary and University level subjects.

My English GCSE students last year all achieved A-C grades and my A level History student achieved an A (predicted C after Year 12) and is now at university. In previous years, my A level History students have never achieved less than a C and in 2014, I had a student who reached A* and is now studying the subject at Exeter University.

Tutoring Approach:
My experience has led me to believe that one-to-one tuition is the best way to educate pupils. It brings them to the realisation that the whole point of education really is to set us free. It's not easy for a student to discover this when confined every day in a class of 30 or more others! Learning to think independently as an individual, and to read and write fluently enables pupils to participate fully in society, to achieve their full potential and thereby become happy, confident adults. Once the student is enthused and inspired by a tutor to think for themselves there is only one way forward.

I like to encourage pupils to develop independent thinking and logical analysis. Too many schools are teaching the children WHAT to think when they should be teaching them HOW to think. Naturally, many pupils become disengaged and even some of the most talented are simply going through the motions rather than actually studying. This lack of motivation together with highly inflated grades means that many of our youngsters are leaving school with minimal reading and writing skills. Indeed, few now have the aptitude for doing much reading, thinking or writing at all.

I like to build up the student's confidence by establishing their strengths first. Thereafter I identify weaknesses and gauge the student's awareness of them and motivation to put them right. Above all, I encourage my students to read widely and with full concentration. My best students learn to read closely and publish their reviews on Amazon. Aside from the huge adrenaline run, the boost in confidence and proficiency students get from seeing their writing in print is awesome to behold!

To put it simply, when they're reading they start succeeding!

Homework set weekly by me will always involve reading, thinking and writing. My feedback will always concentrate on reinforcing the idea that the writing process never ends with the last full stop. I expect students to read back their work to ensure that their writing communicates their meaning clearly and fluently. Editing with the focus on making the right word choices, organising sentences with the words in the right order and structuring longer writing assignments into coherent paragraphs are all priorities schools are increasingly neglecting thereby greatly hindering the life chances of their pupils..

Once the student and I have agreed which areas need improvement we use lesson time to extend the student's competence and skills by undertaking thinking and written assignments that allow the student to develop these.

Weekly homework set will advance and reinforce the skills the student has been encouraged to bring to the lesson.

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Personal Description:
I am Italian by nationality but was brought up in Belgium. I went to school and university in Brussels and spoke Italian at home throughout. I have a Degree from a School for Translators and Interpreters located in Brussels where I have studied English and Italian as foreign languages. I have lived in the UK since 1987.

Teaching Experience:
I am currently working in a secondary school as a teacher assistant, EAL teacher and French Sixth Form teacher. I am familiar with the demands of the curriculum, especially at GCSE level. I have tutored several students for French GCSE and helped them achieve their potential. I thoroughly enjoy teaching languages, especially on a 1:1 basis.

Tutoring Approach:
I think I am flexible and patient.

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Personal Description:
I'm a vivid, enthusiastic English and Turkish languages teacher and musician. Languages and teaching are my passions along with my qualifications, so my students have always been content with our interactive lessons.

Having completed my undergraduate degree at Bogazici University, English Language and Literature Department, I had my MA degree at Royal Holloway, University of London, Department of English.

Teaching Experience:
Teaching English and Turkish languages to various levels of students and various age groups have always been my primary occupation.

I'm a qualified English teacher with CertTESOL Level 5 Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages- TRINITY COLLEGE LONDON. + Cambridge DELTA Qualified.
I teach English to students from the beginner level to advance, special qualification English Exams such as FCE, IETLS, First Certificate as well as to native speaker, primary and secondary school students for Key stages 1-4, GCSE, A Level and AS Level.
Furthermore, I'm a Turkish native speaker entitled with a bilingual linguist. The same teaching areas, beginner to advance, GCSE, A Level and AS Level, for students who wants to improve their Turkish.

Tutoring Approach:
My methods are based on inductive presentations, more students talking time than teachers talking time and loads of interactive activities which I'm taught during my teaching experience and most importantly during trainee education.

It is never boring and never passive for either the student or the teacher.

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Personal Description:
I am native Turkish. I am living in London now and teaching / translating Turkish.

**DBS CHECKED (ENHANCED)**

Teaching Experience:
I have been teaching languages for over 20 years. I am native Turkish and studied English Teaching in University in Turkey. I provide either online lessons via Zoom and Skype or other online platforms, or face to face lessons at student's premises.

Tutoring Approach:
In tutoring, what works is the one-to-one relationship between the student and tutor. With only one person to focus on, tutors can try a variety of teaching techniques in order to work out the most effective way of helping the student understand a topic.

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Personal Description:
PhD Biochemist, female with long term interest in the Neurosciences who enjoys teaching, the outdoors and arts and culture including scientific culture. Happy outgoing personality. Interactive lessons.

Teaching Experience:
I have 3+ years experience as a tutor of Biology and other STEM subjects and classroom experience based on teaching EFL mostly to juniors. I also have completed a Master's in teaching Biology at the University of Athens, in Greece and 2/3rds of PGCE science with Chemistry at Oxford University.

Tutoring Approach:
I try to give my tutees a comprehensive understanding of their subject including the relationship between exam papers and their specification, study skills and exam technique and build their confidence so they would eventually be able to study without a need for a tutor and become independent learners. I also use ICT to make the lessons more engaging-lively and try to accommodate their individual learning styles.

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Personal Description:
I am a Cambridge and Royal College of Art graduate with five years of freelance tutoring experience. This is primarily at BTEC, A Level, University and for independent adult learners.

I have been in co-ordination with art and cultural institutes and regeneration programs both in Kent and London to teach film in public workshops including working with the Royal College of Art institute, Stories and Suppers, Dartford Arts Network and Medway Film Festival. I have worked for NGO`s in India teaching art and media, and I have four years of experience working freelance on film productions both pre and post.

Alongside teaching I work as an actor, improvisor and creative theatre practitioner. My hobbies are medieval history, cinema, art, horror and hiking.

Teaching Experience:
Devised curated film studies programs practical, theoretical and historical. Assigned study, development and critical engagement with the following:

- History of French Cinema
- History of German Cinema
- Hollywood Golden Era
- New Hollywood
- The Avante Garde and Experimental Cinema
- Foundation to Film Studies
- Genre
- Documentary
- Production
- Silent Film
- Cult Cinema Classics
- Contemporary British Cinema


Alongside tutoring I currently offer essay and dissertation guidance, proofreading and editing services.

Tutoring Approach:
I tailor the classes to fit the needs of the student, and I work a direct goal oriented approach. Whether this is for an exam, essay or specific aspect of information, I will strive to help you develop and understand what is required to reach the desired learning outcomes.

The classes are built upon a teaching foundation developed through my years of study, research, practise, and mentoring, all of which takes place in a well structured and fun environment. For me lessons are most memorable when they are engaging dealing with relatable content, robust context and a decent dosage of humour! I strive to make the teaching environment a space for nurturing creative and critical thinking around the desired subject.

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Personal Description:
If your child is lacking the self-belief they need to do well in mathematics, then I can help. Many students are limited in their enjoyment of mathematics because of some historic experience which has an impact on their achievement. I will help your child to overcome this and transform their beliefs, to increase their mathematical skills and enable them to achieve their potential.

Teaching Experience:
An existing qualified mathematics teacher - PGCE.
BSc Hons Mathematics Specialist
Experience in trade and industry, training over 1000 adults

Tutoring Approach:
A collaborative approach, working in partnership to incrementally improve the knowledge of students.
Adaptive and considerate of issues and barriers to learning.
Multidimensional approach to teaching mathematics with a great emphasis of Mastery.

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Personal Description:
I am a scholar with experience in scientific writing, critical thinking, research and communication. As a researcher, my personal motto is that all of your academic writing ought to be the layman version of your work. This because a scholar - in my case, a philosopher - who cannot ground his reasoning in ordinary intuitions (or at least some intuitions the reader/hearer can grasp) is doomed to produce meaningless contributions to the debate. In addition, putting yourself into the perspective of a non-expert is a good technique for analyzing your own thoughts and spot the potential flaws. Thus, being able to communicate concepts to non-expert is a skill which for me is instrumental towards my own research goals, and one which I took great care in developing.

Teaching Experience:
I have been tutoring students since the time I was going to high-school. I have also some teaching-assistant experience as a doctoral student. Furthermore, I am currently working on a teaching and orienteering project alongside some teacher of my former high-school.

Tutoring Approach:
First and foremost, I run some quick tests in order to assess the general skills of the pupil within the relevant field, taking notes on his/her flaws. Once I have identified the area where the pupil has difficulty, I employ a goal-structured teaching strategy: first of all I verify whether the pupil has understood which is the application goal (or one of the goals) of the skill he is trying to (and currently has difficulty to) develop. In case he/she has not understood, I try to explain to him/her, i.e., I frame the relevant skill (for instance, derivative calculus) with reference to a general or specific application goal (for instance, the framing of the relationship between speed and acceleration). I find that often pupils lack cognitive incentive because they have not been presented with the practical application of the knowledge they are trying to acquire.
Regarding language learning, I first try to understand which communicative faculty the individual is more inclined towards to (speaking, listening, reading, vocabulary memorizing, etc.). Then I try to create a bedrock by developing his proficiency in that area, while at the same time encouraging him/her to go out of the comfort zone towards communicative areas where he/she is not confident. On that regard I apply a learning process based on increasing levels of contextual stress (for example, in the case of learning to listening a foreign language, I suggest to start from a situation where the hearer is speaking slowly and then I encourage the pupil to build up his confidence step by step by adding elements like a noisy environment, increased talking speed, lack of background context for the conversation, etc.) This because I believe emotional factors like self-confidence and stress-control are key in catalyzing the cognitive process of acquiring proficiency in a new language.

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Personal Description:
I am a friendly and experienced maths teacher and an examiner for Edexcel A level. I currently teach GCSE, A level and Further Maths. I have an excellent track record of helping my students perform at their best and will help students develop the confidence and specific skills they need to achieve their potential. My experience of being an examiner helps me in preparing students for their papers, so they are fully prepared for what they need to do to be successful. I can tutor GCSE, A level, Further Maths or STEP and I live in Redhill. I can tutor online or face to face.

Teaching Experience:
I have been a secondary school teacher for over 25 years and I currently teach GCSE, A level and Further Maths.
I prepare students for University entrance examinations incuding TMUA,MAT,ENGAA and STEP.
I have also tutored students at undergraduate degree level.
I am a senior A level examiner for Edexcel.

Tutoring Approach:
I tutor in a friendly and relaxed way, aiming to use encouragement to get the best from my students. My main objective with tutoring, is to develop the confidence of students. I help to reinforce key knowledge and practise key skills to help develop this confidence, so that students are able to achieve at their best in exams. I will give specific exam coaching and ensure students are fully prepared to tackle their papers. I have successfully tutored students at GCSE, A level and Further Maths. I am happy to tutor face to face or online.

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Personal Description:
A chemistry graduate with experience as a Teacher, Examiner and Head of Department. Teaching online Science kS3, Combined or separate sciences GCSE, Chemistry GCSE, Chemistry A level. I love teaching as much as I love the subject, so I feel privileged to help students reach their full potential.
I also now offer group lessons where lessons are charged at £20 with a maximum of 4 students

Teaching Experience:
Having worked with a range of pupils, I can offer support to build confidence, motivation, skills and techniques. The goal is to listen to the student and respond to their individual needs

Tutoring Approach:
In recent years I have identified underperforming students and mentored them to understand and overcome their barriers to success. I can help to raise confidence by adapting to individual needs and share techniques to improve knowledge, understanding and exam technique. Working as an e examiner has helped me to pass on those all important tips to students once they fully grasp the content

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