Charlie Covell - Tutors - Keystone Tutors

I predominantly teach:

AS/A2 English , Essay Writing

I also teach:

11+ English, 13+ English, GCSE English, Oxbridge Preparation

Other Subjects

I can also help with any drama exams (e.g. LAMDA) or audition pieces for drama schools/courses

Experience

I've been tutoring for over two years, and have taught students from a range of backgrounds. I've tutored many for exams as an addition to their work at school, but have also taught a few pupils completely by myself, on account of their not being at school for one reason or another. A boy last year achieved a high 'A' for his AS examination on 'Cold Mountain', and one of my students at the moment has just got an extremely high 'A' for Unit 5 of her A-Level that she took in January (comparative texts).

Biography

I come from London, but attended school at Benenden in Cranbrook, Kent. I studied English Literature, History and Theatre Studies at A-Level, gaining straight 'As' and a place to read English at St Hilda's College, Oxford. I got a 2.1, managed to be in two or three plays a term, and was awarded the Juliet Bernard Memorial prize for the university's most promising actress.

Since leaving, I've been working as a tutor and professional actress: I've appeared on stage and television, and have just finished work in short and one feature film. I've also recently started doing some stand-up.

Personal Approach

The most important thing is to establish how and why a student is struggling, and consequently develop an approach to work that suits them better. I find the best way to do this is to involve the student fully, and get them to give me constant feedback on lessons and various approaches to tackling problems.

I'm friendly and relaxed - I find students respond better to tutorials if they don't feel as formal as a lesson at school or college.

Preferably, I like to be able to talk to parents pretty regularly about their child's progress, and am also very happy to have a dialogue with their teachers at school (but only if the student feels comfortable about this and would find it helpful).

With older students, i.e. those working for GCSEs and A-Levels, I am extremely exam-focused, and base many lessons around understanding the assessment objectives and planning essays. Lack of preparation in these areas tends to be why students need tutoring in the first place, and focusing on the exam ahead gives students much more confidence. I encourage them to go through past papers, look at examiners' comments and mark schemes, and get a sense of what they will be expected to do. Once they've been doing this for a while, most people seem to find impending exams less daunting!

I'm always available on phone or email for problems that occur outside of arranged lesson times.

Testimonials

“Recently we were required to spend 12 weeks in London (Feb to May 2008).

Being in London meant missing nearly a full term at the beginning of the final two years of school in Sydney for our son Jack, who was 16 at the time.

School had yet to ignite Jack’s interest, so we were hoping that having a period of time with a tutor might help him: we were lucky.

I found Charlie’s ad on the internet and spoke with her on the phone before leaving Sydney. I was intrigued and impressed by the quiet, confident authority in her voice and arranged for her to meet with my wife who was already working in London. “She is great” was my wife’s response, and so Charlie was engaged for two hours twice a week during our time in London to cover advanced English and Modern and Ancient History.

From the start, Charlie engaged Jack’s attention, and over the time he changed his entire attitude towards schoolwork. (Not that it didn’t take more than a few days where he sat at the computer writing with Charlie pacing up and down insisting that he stay on task!)

The real value in having Charlie was for Jack to experience long, deep discussions about the work that would be impossible in the classroom. Charlie enabled Jack to experience a depth of understanding and confidence that is still blossoming. His perception and confidence grows by the day, and it started from that time in London. His English work is progressing at a very high standard

The only downside to Jack’s experience of working with Charlie is that he is now determined to return to London for his university education and I hope London without her tuition will be as exciting.

I can wholeheartedly recommend Charlie as a teacher who will encourage and inspire any senior high school or college student.''

Stephen O’Rourke, Sydney (September 4th 2008)

''Charlie Covell has tutored my daughter, Georgia, for the last year of her English Literature A Level for 7 months now.

We decided to take Georgia out of the formal system for her last year for a couple of reasons. She had found the public school boarding system to be a struggle and had been unhappy for some years and also had a strong desire to focus on her first love, the electric guitar. So we decided to have her at home in London and combine a higher diploma in guitar with home tutoring for English Literature and Film Studies A Levels.

In no small part thanks to Charlie, we have had no regrets at all about this slightly unusual decision. Georgia was rather fed up and unmotivated about her A Levels, despite being bright, yet Charlie has completely turned this around.

Charlie really knows her subject (Georgia has covered a comparison of Northern Lights and Huckleberry Finn, Wordsworth/Coleridge poems, Hamlet and 1st World War Literature) and manages to convey the content very effectively, as well as knowing exactly what the examiners appear to be looking for.

She makes the lessons fun, yet challenging, and the quality of discussion and debate during each 2 hour session is extremely impressive. She can also be firm when she needs to be.

She is extremely sensitive and empathetic with Georgia’s needs. I don’t get the impression that she can only teach in one way. She took real trouble to understand what worked best for Georgia and adapt herself, the material and the pace to that. She gives huge confidence, is encouraging and supportive. She is also cool – very important to a teenager!

However the bottom line is the result, and the first public exam Georgia has taken since starting home tutoring in Jan, resulted in a mark of 96%! Charlie of course says that Georgia did it all herself, but Charlie’s contribution has also been enormous.

I highly recommend her without reservation.''

Diana Patterson

“I never expected to laugh so much studying Wordsworth’s romantic poetry…. Charlie makes every lesson interesting, engaging and dangerously close to being fun. By far and away the best teacher I’ve ever had for anything.” Georgia Patterson (17)