Jess

Experience

I have an OCR Level 5 qualification from Fairley House in Teaching Students with Specific Learning Difficulties and a Level 7 qualification in Maths difficulties at Edge Hill University. The Level 7 course specialised in Dyscalculia and looked at Maths anxiety, poor working memory and visual perception difficulties.

Prior to working at Emerson House, I taught in the learning support department of St Nicholas and the Lionheart School. I also taught English as an additional language in the Learning Support Department at Eaton Square School. I have a TEFL qualification, and have taught English at schools in both India and China.

I have been teaching privately since February 2011. Whilst much of my daily teaching involves working with children with a range of learning difficulties of different abilities, I also teach children who have fallen behind in a particular area, those children who have English as an additional language and children who are new to the UK and need help adjusting to our educational system. I have lots of experience with online tutoring, with children of all nationalities, based both in the UK and abroad.

Biography

I am qualified specialist teacher, currently based in London. I have taught in a number of mainstream and specialist schools, including Emerson House, and I have been teaching privately, both online and face to face, for several years. I have recently cofounded and set up Grow.

I am a born and bred Londoner and I grew up in Notting Hill. I currently live near Shepherds Bush with my dog Puddles and cat Enzo. I enjoy making the most of what London has to offer, playing sport and generally being active. I love to surf and enjoy doing this when possible.

I have spent quite a bit of time abroad, both working and travelling. My particular highlights include teaching English in Southern India and exploring Western China.

Personal Approach

Children learn best when they are thoroughly engaged in the lesson and the clear advantage of one to one lessons is that they can be tailored completely towards the individual. I believe identifying the child’s learning style is essential, as is using the child’s interests and hobbies to create personalised resources. I am enthusiastic and passionate about teaching and I aim to make my lessons as enjoyable and interesting as possible. My lessons are engaging and include a variety of activities and resources; children frequently use textbooks at school and therefore I try to break away from these and concentrate on finding other ways to teach. I like to help to build confidence and enjoy using rewards and praise throughout my lessons.

What I do when I am not tutoring

In my free time I love to write, play tennis, trampoline, cook, walk my dog, swim and take photos. I have an interest in film and music and enjoy catching up with what’s on at the Barbican, or any film festivals that may be happening.

I enjoy taking part in sporting challenges, such as open water swims and I completed the London Marathon in 2017.

Testimonials

"Very happy indeed with Jess's lessons and teaching". Eton pre-test applicant from Singapore

We would not be where we are today without you…. YOU are brilliant and it was very much because of your excellent, thoughtful, intuitive teaching, patience and insight that my son has made such transformational progress.

"We are so pleased - our son has done very well to get two offers at 10+. We are extremely, and genuinely, grateful to Jess for everything she has done." Mother of 10+ student.

"My wife and I have been so amazed and impressed by Jess. She is an amazing tutor and has been a wonderful contributor to our son’s development.

'Our son is loving his sessions with Jess. Jess is a superstar and always great with immediate feedback following the lessons. We are very happy and believe he is in good hands and we are confident Jess will assist him to overcome his development areas.' (Father of Year 3 student)

"We love Jess. She is so very helpful and pleasant to work with." (Mother of Year 7 Maths student)

Jess has been helping Alexandre for a while now and we are very pleased with the result. She has always been punctual for the sessions and flexible when we needed to rearrange. Alexandre likes her and she understands and handles our son very well, especially when it comes to his frustration of not being accurate all the time. She gives him very good guidance and clear tasks to help him get organised and improve his time management skills. We have seen an improvement in performance in his homework and school tests, especially in English. All in all, a great start. (Mother of 9+ Maths and English student)

We have known Jess at Keystones for over 7 years now. Both our children have flourished and tackled subjects they found intimidating with ease with Jess’s help. Her friendly approach and calm demeanour through all stressful exams has helped not only the children but us parents too. When a topic is tricky for the child Jess has been able to find alternate methods specific to the child and it has made learning easy and fun. Rarely do the children refuse a lesson and that’s a big win! Highly recommend.

''Jess's communication skills and ability to apply different teaching technics to suit Dunia’s academic abilities in the different subjects, has not only reflected on exam results but also on Dunia’s confidence and aptitude towards schoolwork.'' (Dunia's mother)

“Jess has helped Chloe remarkably with her Maths. She has gone from one of the bottom sets in the year and hating the subject to being, as her Maths teacher describes her recently, “a girl confident in the subject and doing incredibly well”. She has moved up a set and we are really happy with this result.”

(Chloe's mother)