Michael P - Tutors - Keystone Tutors

• KS3 Computer Science
• GCSE Computer Science (OCR and Edexcel)
• A-level Computer Science (OCR and AQA)

My core teaching experience is in Computer Science, taught at GCSE and A-level throughout my PGCE at King's College London, across mixed-ability classes.
Alongside classroom teaching, I regularly provided 1:1 intervention support for GCSE students, working through misunderstandings individually using a mini-whiteboard to break problems down step by step. I also marked mock exam papers and topic tests for GCSE and A-level classes, which gave me a close working knowledge of exam mark schemes and where students commonly lose marks.
In my second year of A-levels, I tutored a peer in A-level Chemistry 1:1, supporting them over a full term. During my time at university, I completed a placement on the Government's Teaching Internship Programme, delivering the same lesson to multiple classes. Refining my approach each lesson based on feedback sharpened how I think about lesson structure and pacing.

I achieved 3 A*s at A-level in Computer Science, Maths and Chemistry at Turing House School, before going on to study Computer Science at the University of Southampton, graduating with a first-class degree and receiving two Netcraft Prizes for finishing in the top 4% of my year group, two years running. As part of a PGCE in Computer Science at King's College London, I taught GCSE and A-level classes throughout my school placements.
Alongside my degree, I taught in a range of settings: as a teacher helper at Turing House School across CS and other subjects, and as a teaching intern at Waldegrave School through the Government's Teaching Internship Programme. I've also taught in more informal settings for a long time — running weekend CoderDojo Python sessions for 10–14 year-olds as a teenager, and more recently as Collectable Card Game Officer for my university society, introducing complete beginners to complex rule systems over two years.

I put a strong emphasis on foundational understanding; in my experience, many sticking points in Computer Science trace back to gaps earlier in the syllabus rather than the topic at hand, so I make sure to both diagnose and address these before moving forward. I use concrete, real-world examples to introduce abstract ideas, and I regularly check understanding through questioning rather than assuming a concept was understood just because a lesson has been delivered. Ultimately, through these real-world connections, I aim to elevate the subject from rule memorisation to help students realise how integral computer science actually is to the world.

Outside of tutoring, I play a lot of board games and Magic: The Gathering. I find that there’s a strong link between explaining the rules of a complex card game to a total beginner and explaining tricky CS concepts. Both require many of the same techniques, including examples, planned structure and checking understanding. Over the next few years, I want to see where my skills from tutoring will take me.