Lou

Experience

I have been tutoring in London for the past 8 years, and online more recently. My specialist subjects are French, Latin and English, General Common Entrance preparation in the Humanities and 11+ preparation in English.

I teach both Latin and French from beginner level, and have developed my own course of topic worksheets to complement any set textbooks a school may prescribe.

I have experience tutoring students for national exams (with experience of all major exam boards) and entrance exams to a wide variety of schools, including many leading London schools (Westminster Upper, Under & Cathedral Choir Schools, St Paul's School and Cathedral School, Sussex House, NLCS, UCS, City, Channing, Francis Holland, Queen's Gate, Queen's College) and independent boarding schools across the country (Eton, Winchester, Harrow, Bryanston, Tonbridge, Sevenoaks, Ampleforth, Downside, Bradfield College) as well as Bristol, Leeds, Exeter and Goldsmiths University.

Biography

Born in North London but raised in a tiny village in deepest darkest Somerset, I grew up interested in everything: school, sport, theatre, art, wildlife. Now in my 30s, I'm still just as enthusiastic and keen to learn new things. I did my first degree at Oxford and completed a 2 year postgraduate acting training at the London Academy of Music & Dramatic Art. Tutoring is a passion as well as a job, and the successes my tutees and I have had over the past few years have been incredibly rewarding. I recently spent a year working in an Early Years (Montessori) setting, and the training I received there has continued to fuel my passion for education, reflecting on how we learn and how important it is to set the student at the heart of everything we do as educators.

Personal Approach

I take teaching very seriously, and always try to form a solid, professional and hopefully friendly relationship with both students and parents. The student's experience is my number one priority, and I very much believe in finding exactly the right way to help an individual understand or to encourage him/her to think about a topic. I tailor my sessions for the individual student, not the topic and stay in regular contact with parents to ensure we all know what our objectives are and how progress is being made. As students often come to me feeling they are behind due to the speed with which content has been introduced in class, I hold it as imperative that the student be allowed the time to work and learn at his/her own pace in this enriching one-one-one environment - if I feel this means we will need more sessions to achieve the stated goal, I will communicate this promptly.

What I do when I am not tutoring

I’m an actress, so sometimes I’m rehearsing or filming. I'm also Mum to a toddler, so I chase my little girl about the place! If I do find a window of time to myself, I love to watch films (especially European cinema) and go for a long walk with my dog Lupin.

Testimonials

"My daughter's first lesson went very well and she seemed to have enjoyed it very much. Lou is lovely and very engaging." IGCSE French student in Singapore

"Not only did she come to us on (very!) short notice, but she was extremely helpful and prepared my son very fully so that he was able to go into his oral exam with confidence despite having missed an entire week of school. At the end of the exam, he was given very positive feedback on his performance by his teacher/examiner." Mother of previous GCSE student.

"I just wanted to take a few moments to express to you how absolutely delighted we were with our French tutor, Lou Broadbent. We were so pleased with our son's progress under her tutelage. She is lovely and warm to speak to, and utterly focused and clear in her teaching. We could hear, week by week, our son's growing confidence in his ability to speak French, and, by the end, he was doing very well indeed in his mock Common Entrance French Exams. Lou prepared him brilliantly! Thank you so very much for sending Lou our way. I shall be delighted to recommend Lou and Keystone Tutors to everyone." Mother of 13+ French pupil

‘Lou is a fantastic tutor so thank you for sending her our way.’ - CE English

‘It was great I really liked it and already had my second lesson and feel much more confident already.’ - GCSE student

‘B— is delighted with Lou and says she has inspired her to speak French for the joy and not just the exam.

Very much a success!’ - GCSE student

'I just wanted to write a quick note saying how much the girls enjoyed their last session with you. A--- enjoyed the reinforcement of what she had learned in class, and for L--- it helped clarify what had been covered in class. She had previously found it very confusing.

11+ and 1st year GCSE French students

'I spoke with Mrs K-- yesterday and she told me A-- and parents themselves are very happy with Lou. She seems very friendly, considerate, highly professional and dedicated.'

1st year Common Entrance student

“My first lesson with Lou was extremely good - it was evident that she knows both the book and the film inside out and provided lots of great insights for us to talk about and explore further. Lou is exactly who I was looking for! I am looking forward to having more lessons with her.” - A Level French student

'Just wanted to say that N-- and M-- have both had their half term reports from their new schools (Sevenoaks and Eastbourne College respectively). They are both doing quite well, but what I wanted to say in particular is that French (for both of them) and Latin (for N--) were among the highlights; each received perfect or near perfect marks for the subjects they studied with Lou. N--'s report remarked that she is doing ''particularly well'' in Latin. We couldn't have asked for better results considering N-- hadn't ever studied Latin before and M-- had not done French for a year prior to taking it up again at a new school. It is remarkable how much Lou was able to achieve with such a short series of lessons.'

pre-GCSE French & Latin students.

'I wanted to say a huge thank you for all the support and guidance you have given E--. She speaks about you in glowing terms and you have really inspired her to work and have given her a great deal of confidence. I'm sure she'll do well but frankly, whatever the outcome of the exam you have really been a positive influence in her life - thank you so much.'

A Level French resit student

'Lou tutored our son O-- in French and Latin in the weeks coming up to CE. He loved his sessions with her and really engaged in the work and learnt a lot through her help allowing him to get more confident in his ability to pass the exams. Now in his first term at his senior school he has continued to do well in French and Latin and I'm sure that's a follow on from the work he did with Lou. I'd highly recommend her to you.'

CE student