Nicole - Plymouth tutor





Nicole's profile picture

Information About Nicole:


Personal Description:

Hello! I'm Nicole.

I studied History and English at the University of Oxford (Wadham College). I graduated with Double First Class Honours in 2010, finishing top in my academic year.

My excellent results reflect several important characteristics: my exceptional academic ability, my high academic standards, my mastery of study-skills, and my dedicated and conscientious work ethic. I look to encourage these qualities in all of my students.

More importantly though, my outstanding results are a result of my absolute love for, knowledge of, and commitment to, my subjects. I am a lover of learning, and aim to help my students to find a similar excitement and passion for their studies.



Teaching Experience:

I have extensive experience working with young people and adults in educational or supplementary learning contexts.

I have been tutoring privately for over a decade. My students have come from a diverse age range - spanning from the very young to the much older. I am comfortable working with children, teenagers and adults, and experienced in adapting for a range of access needs.

I have tutored students in History; English Literature; English Language; reading comprehension; speaking, listening, reading and writing skills; primary level Maths; entrance exams; university applications.

I have tutored multiple 11+ and common entrance applicants, including those applying to competitive London private schools. I have a 100% success rate for acceptance into one of the family's desired schools.

I am also experienced in mentoring potential Oxbridge applicants, and advising on study and revision skills.

I am also an experienced theatre practitioner, working regularly for the Theatre Royal Plymouth, the Barbican Theatre, the Exeter Northcott Theatre and additional regional and national theatre companies. I am experienced working with a range of groups, including primary school age, adults, adults and young people with complex and multiple needs and/or learning difficulties, and children from migrant or refugee and asylum seeking backgrounds, and am committed to making sessions accessible to everyone.

I work regularly as a facilitator on specialist cultural educational projects in schools. This involves designing and delivering programmes of work and one off workshops or extended learning days for primary and secondary aged pupils, including those with complex and challenging behaviour.

After graduating, I spent a year working full-time as a Cover Supervisor in a secondary school, covering classes in all subjects across the secondary curriculum, for students ranging from 11 - 16 years of age, and offering specialist teaching support for GCSE and A-Level English classes. This gave me the opportunity to observe and work with students of all abilities and learning styles, and to learn how to adapt my teaching style accordingly.



Tutoring Approach:

I am passionate about learning - and look to encourage a similar excitement in my students. In History this might be through some particularly fascinating or gruesome details, or in English, through exploring a beautiful line of poetry.

I am very individual-student orientated, so I seek always to establish each individual's aims for tutoring, and then we will work together toward these. For one student, this might be to know how to deconstruct a poem; for another, how to write a good essay.

With some students, I will plan structured lessons, whereas others prefer simply to earmark time with a dedicated tutor, before deciding what to do themselves at the time. Perhaps they will bring their homework, a study-book, or something they are stuck with - whatever the case, I aim always to listen and respond to the needs of each individual student.

With all my students (but especially the younger ones) I am a big believer in making learning FUN! I therefore often design lessons which use a variety of practical learning activities to keep them stimulated, rather than just relying on book-learning. In the past, I've mummified a teddy, conducted a press conference, and taught times-tables via Grandmother's footsteps! I find this to be particularly effective for students who struggle with concentration.

I believe that when offered education through the right methods, everyone is able to maximise their own ability to learn. Having completed a full-time degree and worked extensively in educational environments and contexts, I am equipped with plenty of different learning methods - including, through my theatrical background, more kinaesthetic or practical approaches, particularly suited to students who may struggle with 'book learning'. With my students, I look to discover which approaches work well for them, and then to use these to help them master the subject material. This in turn helps students to gain in confidence and self-motivation as they discover their own capacity to learn - and enjoy learning.

If students are working toward exams, I first seek to establish what a student feels his or her weaknesses are, and then focus tuition on areas or skills which will help them to plug the gaps or grow in strength and confidence. If more general support is needed, I will combine working with core material with a focus on ensuring that they have a solid grasp of the assessment objectives, question-types, and what the exam will look like, so that they can go into the exam confident and well-prepared. I also find that practice, practice, practice is essential, so we'll often work with past papers.

I seek always to establish clear lesson goals, and to review material learnt several times within each lesson, ensuring that the student feels comfortable with using the material learnt, rather than swamped by facts and lists.



Map showing Nicole's location

Qualifications:

  • September 2016 - 2019 - Theatre Royal Plymouth Practitioner training scheme
  • July 2010 - First Class BA (Hons) degree in Modern History and English from Oxford University
  • July 2007 - 100% A-Level result in English Literature - ranked within the top 10 marks in the country
  • July 2007 - 100% A-Level result in History - ranked within the top 10 marks in the country

Further Information:

Availability:  Weekends / Weekdays (all times)
Types of Tutoring:   Travels to you / From their home / Online
References Supplied?   Yes
Current DBS/CRB Check?   Yes