Thorn Tutors and Thorn Tuition

Personal Description:
I am a fully qualified teacher with Cambridge MA, PGCE & DELTA, with 30 years' experience of teaching in a variety of contexts including general secondary school English and Drama, GCSE, A Level, IB, and tuition at university and postgraduate level, including assistance with theses and similar.
I have considerable experience of TEFL/TOEFL and a successful record in teaching Cambridge FCE, CPE, etc as well as Business English classes for non-native professionals.
I recently returned to the UK from Spain for family reasons and I am new to the York area. I'm taking time out for a while to write that elusive million-seller or sitcom! Meanwhile I am a member of SfEP and work part time as a professional proofreader and copy editor. I am very happy to help groups or individuals with their academic needs.

Teaching Experience:
15 years in all key stages of secondary school education in England.
5 years Adult Education, TEFL and private tuition in the UK.
10 years teaching a British curriculum in an international secondary school in Spain at all key stages incl. GCSE, A Level and IB.
Group and individual EFL classes for children and adults, including Business English for professionals and TOEFL in an American-affiliated college.
I have an excellent record of success in preparing students for English and Drama exams - GCSE, A Level, International Baccalaureat and beyond - as well as for Cambridge First Certificate, Advanced and Proficiency in English.
Amongst other notables, I was employed as personal tutor to the actress Rebecca Hall as a child and also to one of Tony Blair's sons!

Tutoring Approach:
I believe in a supportive approach and a friendly relationship, but without forgetting it's work: you're paying me because I can improve your (or your children's) future prospects.

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Personal Description:
I am a music passionate friendly & reliable person, who is creative in exploring new teaching methods. I enjoy meeting new people. I am an honest motivated person, well organised and trained to teach people of different age groups. I had a proper musical training by my guru thus have a wide range of musical skills which are required by a performing artist.

I hold two bachelors degrees; one from Akhil bhartiya gandharva mandal (music university in india) and another on from nagpur university. I have performed on various platforms across india and uk. Currently based in Cardiff-Penarth.

Teaching Experience:
7 years of teaching experience.

Tutoring Approach:
All practical and theoretical approach while teaching Indian classical music. Voice culture training and use of meditation in music.

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Personal Description:
MANY APOLOGIES, I AM CURRENTLY ON MATERNITY LEAVE HENCE I DO NOT ACCEPT STUDENTS


Please, feel free to contact me to see my works - I will send you the link via e-mail.

Who am I? I am a creative female human being, who is about to graduate in BSc (Hons) Architecture. I have been:
• breathing for 23 years;
• creating art for more than 12 years.

I am a darling of fortune. I do what I love and love what I do. Moreover, in my case, it is the most precise definition of my future career. I am in a deep, incurable love with Rain, Poetry, Black Coffee, Philosophy, Books, Music and any manifestations of elegant, thoughtful and inspiring Design & Art in all areas of life: from the greatest "Bilbao-effect-Architecture" from Powers-that-be at all times (starting with Ancient innovations to Modern Deconstructionism) to the 50's rockabilly dresses in my wardrobe.

Teaching Experience:
Mostly, I privately tutored children every summer between 2005-2009, helped primary school teacher to prepare art classes. I am currently looking forward to expand age category of my tutees.
I am now starting tutoring again after a break (since 2009), therefore, references will be available soon.

Tutoring Approach:
Before I start tutoring I always prefer to arrange a meeting to have a chat about what your requirements/preferences/needs are first. Once this is discussed, I take couple of days to arrange a brief plan for our lessons, which will be sent to you by e-mail. That way we adjust it together and I have time to prepare helpful information/books/software etc. for you. Once it is confirmed we arrange the date for the first lesson.

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Personal Description:
An outstanding Grammar High school Maths teacher, I teach Maths up to A-Levels and beyond and have been teaching for 10 years now.

Teaching Experience:
I am a fully qualified Maths Teacher (QTS) registered with UK National College of Teaching and Leadership. I work in an outstandingly high achieving Grammar school near London.

So far I have tutored over 100 students on a 1-1 basis in the past 7 years alone. This is over 4000 hours of tutoring (40 weeks for each student a year X 100 students = 4000 hours)!

Moreover, I work as a Grammar school teacher and I am required to deliver outstanding lessons in accordance with the OFSTED Framework. Hence I have an accurate and in-depth knowledge of the most recent syllabus changes and the exam boards. That combined with my daily touch of solid Maths puts myself in a very strong position to very quickly and thoroughly assess the educational needs of a student and then build upon their strengths. My lessons are Laser sharp and objective oriented wherein I intend to achieve a very concrete goal at the end of each of my tutoring sessions.

With this immense experience, I have developed an approach which is very simple. I make the lessons fun and engaging. I try to promote interest in the subject so learning Maths becomes fun and an ongoing natural process. Students take this into the school environment and start seeing the results immediately. This reduces the burden from Maths and hence my students can focus on other subjects and achieve well holistically. (It's not about getting an A* just in Maths. I know that!!)

Tutoring Approach:
Teaching Pedagogy: The vast majority of One-2-One tutors simply 'turn-up-and-teach' without adequate preparation. Maths is mostly about 'understanding', and less about 'throw up facts'. A tutor gets ONE CHANCE to impart 'understanding' in a clear and coherent way. Not having prepared and risking an incomplete, confused or incoherent explanation instills confusion in the student, rather than confidence.

• Regular feedback and homework: Most tutors either set no homework at all or thoughtlessly set exercises from a textbook containing inappropriate questions. My homework is specifically written to complement the lesson, containing some questions designed for routine practice and some questions designed to challenge the student; encouraging them to 'think' and to develop their logical capacity.

• Exam Practice: I give students plenty of past paper practice - but only at the right time, once they have a deep understanding of all of the individual topics within the syllabus. Far too many tutors use exam papers to 'teach' from, which means they are setting papers when the student isn't ready: The upshot of that is the student's scores fluctuate wildly and their confidence is destroyed.
The lessons are invigorating, inspirational and cutting edge as I keep a very thorough hold on my subject.

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Personal Description:
My name is Dr Andrew, I have a doctorate in Psychology from Bangor University, where I used behavioural experiments to investigate the funcational signature of integration between social inferences and body perception.

I have experience spanning many domains of psychology, including a deep understanding of scientific writing practices and contemporary inferential statistics.

Teaching Experience:
Hundreds of hours teaching psychology in higher education: running classes, seminars and drop-in sessions for a variety of modules.

FHEA (Fellow of the Higher Education Academy) awarded by Advance HE. Fellowship status signifies professional recognition for my experience teaching and supporting learning in higher education.

Ample experience writing and editing scientific papers to APA standards.

Tutoring Approach:
Skype/Google/Teams for face-to-face discussion, and/or detailed comments through track-changes in Microsoft Word. Depending on specific requirements I can prepare materials (e.g. example data to demonstrate statistical analyses).

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Personal Description:
A graduate of Cambridge University and a father of two children, I have been teaching Economics, Business and Mathematics in a secondary school.I have also been tutoring Economics and Mathematics and have a keen interest in how children have different methods of mastering subjects, using their own skills to progress, improve and attain examination goals.

Teaching Experience:
I have been teaching Economics, Business Studies and Mathematics for the past 6 years at an independent school where I was based in the Sixth Form department.

Tutoring Approach:
The key to success is to understand where the student is starting from. By cementing what they already know, I then encourage them to gradually extend their knowledge so that they feel themselves to be making progress and they are then inspired by their own confidence.

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Personal Description:
My name is Toufic, I'm 32 years old originally from Lebanon. I have an Engineering Degree in Software Development from the University of Burgundy (France), and a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) with Distinction from Bradford University (UK). I am currently working as the Web Development Manager in a company in Bradford.

Teaching Experience:
I enjoy teaching, and love sharing my knowledge with different types of people, either young beginners or adults.
I helped many young students who had difficulties in their academic studies. But I also taught adults and professionals various skills in the IT sector.

Tutoring Approach:
Tutoring is all about caring and patience. I'm a very calm person who enjoys talking to people and knows how to teach in a fun and relaxed way.
First introduction hour is given for free for us to discuss your needs and the approach we'll take for teaching!
Special discounts given for students wishing to learn Arabic!

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Personal Description:
I am a chemistry graduate living and teaching in Worcester and am happy to accommodate tuition at my home or to travel from Worcester to Droitwich, Malvern, etc... For many years I have privately tutored individuals and small groups of students alongside teaching in secondary schools and examination marking for the major boards OCR, AQA and Edexcel.

Teaching Experience:
I have taught in 4 highly successful and distinct independent and state schools over the past 23 years. I have overseen students in key stage 3 Science; GCSE single, combined and separates; A-level Chemistry. For the vast majority of my time at each of the institutions within which I have worked I have held positions of responsibility to manage the curriculum and ensure the quality of teaching and learning is outstanding to lead to excellent student attainment.

Tutoring Approach:
Tutoring can be a little different to learning in the classroom, despite the fact that individuals' needs must be catered for in both situations, tutoring maximises the opportunities for a tailored approach to optimise a students learning in a one to one situation. As such it is vital to have conversations with a student and the parent/carer to discover the best approach prior to the first session. This of course can be modified and developed in future sessions.

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Personal Description:
I studied Latin from a young age and have long been entranced by Ancient civilisations. I have a first class honours degree in Classics and have a Masters degree at Merit in Ancient Cultures.

Teaching Experience:
I am currently working as a Teaching Assistant at a special needs school and have been there for about 2 years. I have also been tutoring a student in Ancient Greek for 40 minutes a week for a year and a half. I have previously assisted a younger sibling with understanding their homework.

Tutoring Approach:
My approach can be that the tutee would be able to send the points that they wished to be addressed before the session, so that each session could be tailored to meet their needs, with any questions remaining after the session being answered in a subsequent email. Homework would be an optional reinforcement.

Alternatively, my approach to my current tutee, who has a textbook to work from is that I use the textbook and the exercises within to plan lessons and set homework much like in a school setting, with end of unit tests for each chapter.

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Personal Description:
I am an engineering graduate from the class of 2019 and completed my master's in Material Engineering in 2021. During my postgraduate studies, I had the enriching opportunity to participate in a one-year exchange program in Turkey, where I conducted significant research.

Teaching Experience:
With a solid five years of teaching experience, I have dedicated three of those years to home tutoring students from 5th to 12th standard. I have taught a diverse range of subjects, including Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Science, Computer Science, and IT. My teaching journey has allowed me to work with a wide range of students, each with unique learning needs and goals. This hands-on experience has honed my ability to tailor my teaching strategies to effectively support and inspire students across different age groups and academic levels.

Tutoring Approach:
My tutoring approach is centred around fostering a supportive and engaging learning environment. I believe in the importance of understanding each student's individual learning style and pace, and I am committed to developing personalized lesson plans that cater to these needs. My approach integrates interactive and practical methods, aiming to not only improve academic performance but also to instil a genuine interest in the subject matter.

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Personal Description:
I'm Richard, a passionate and experienced maths tutor with a Mathematics degree from the University of Manchester. I've spent years helping students build confidence, close knowledge gaps, and achieve results they never thought possible. I work with learners from KS2 through to A-Level, offering personalised support to help them thrive in maths. Whether your child is aiming high at GCSE, building the basics in Year 7, or pushing through A-Level hurdles, I'll meet them where they are and move them forward.

Teaching Experience:
I have been a tutor for 10 years, helping students of various grade levels gain confidence and achieve academic success in mathematics. My courses align with the curriculum, providing clear goals for your academic success. Specializing in math tutoring across various grade levels, I am committed to making your learning straightforward and effective.

Here are some words from students and parents I've worked with:

• "An amazing tutor that fosters confidence in Maths... friendly, warm, and welcoming." - Angela

• "Very patient... drills down in detail until the student understands." - Hennah

• "Lessons come together like a great movie." - Emma

• "My daughter achieved a higher grade than expected thanks to Richard." - Julie

• "He gave me so much confidence in mechanics and difficult pure." - Adila

• "My son really focuses and finds the lessons useful." - Jurate

• "My son is beginning to gain confidence in maths with Richard teaching him." - Sally T

• "Our daughter went up three grades between mocks and exams." - Sara H

• "Highly recommended... he handled a complex situation brilliantly." - Finley L

• "My son is fussy about tutors but loves learning with Richard." - Sarah R

• "He really helped us after a bad experience with other tutors." - Christina S

• "My son is now far more confident... can't recommend Richard enough." - Sophie C

• "Very patient, supportive, clear explanations." - Tina B

• "Tailored lessons... improving her grades." - Masooma J

• "I went from a predicted 4/5 to a Grade 7 thanks to Richard." - Sayfuddin M

• "Raised from a predicted 5 to almost an 8 in GCSE. Incredible tutor." - Maria I

• "Richard helped my son achieve a strong Grade 7 at GCSE." - Katie A

• "My boy got a 9 at GCSE maths... 100% recommend!" - Annie K

Tutoring Approach:
I focus on clarity, confidence, and progress. My sessions are tailored to each student ... I take time to understand how they think, where they get stuck, and how to build from there. My lessons are interactive and encouraging, with a strong emphasis on breaking down tricky concepts into steps that just make sense.

I've also developed a unique 'Belt System' ... inspired by martial arts....which turns GCSE maths into a structured journey of achievement. It helps students visualise their progress and take pride in every step forward. Many students arrive thinking maths is a subject they just have to get through .... they leave realising it's something they can actually feel proud of....

If you're looking for a tutor who values your input and offers a personalized learning experience, let's make mastering math straightforward and tailored just for you!

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Personal Description:
Hi! I'm Rayyan- a second year architecture student at Cardiff University. As I did my A Levels and GCSEs in different schools, I am familiar with AQA and Edexcel exam boards. I am passionate when it comes to teaching as it is something I believe is rewarding to both the student and the tutor. It has instilled patience and communication within me among other qualities necessary for the role and I am looking forward to passing knowledge onwards!

Teaching Experience:
I used to tutor GCSE and A Level students at my college to prepare them for their maths assessments from which they benefitted a lot in the lead-up to their examinations.

I also used to be a liaison for 2 years working with year 8-9 kids in a classroom environment. My job was to guide and teach them, on a collective and individual scale, revision techniques, exam preparation and carry out weekly activities with the class in order to provoke thoughts for their futures and improve their teamwork, communication and academic skills.

Tutoring Approach:
Teaching method (open to be altered according to the student, however my default teaching method is as follows):
- Short walkthrough of the module topic with QnA throughout to ensure the topic is understood
- Exploring and answering example questions together
- Exam questions for the student to attempt and walk through the answer together (we go through questions until the student is comfortable with the topic and is able to move on)

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