Olly

Experience

• 11+ English and Maths: ISEB and public school exams, including pre-tests.

• 13+ English, Latin, Ancient Greek, History and Maths: ISEB and public school entrance exams

• 13+ Scholarship Latin, Ancient Greek

• GCSE/IGCSE English, Maths, Latin, Ancient Greek, German and History (All exam boards)

• 16+ English and Latin: public school entrance exams

• A-level Latin, Ancient Greek (All exam boards)

I have been tutoring and mentoring students from age 8 all the way to undergraduate level for over five years now, and I am comfortable teaching both face-to-face and online.

Currently, I am tutoring 11+ Maths and English, helping with entrance to Eton, Radley, Bradfield and a range of Consortium schools for next year. I am also preparing students for their Common Entrance exams next year in Latin, Maths and Ancient Greek and older students for their Oxbridge CAT exams in November.

So far in 2020 I have helped two students through interview and CAT tests secure places at Oxford and Cambridge universities respectively. Students I have tutored this year have also secured places at Eton, Harrow, CLSG, Latymer Upper, Bradfield, Godolphin and Latimer and Frances Holland School.

Outside of tuition, I worked as an Outreach Assistant for Oxford University during my studies, which involved me leading a workshop in London encouraging 10 year-olds into Classics and teaching them some elementary Latin and Ancient History. On top of this, I worked for Boardworks a few years ago, narrating their GCSE History and Geography syllabi for use on classroom Smartboards.

Biography

I am a tutor and writer from Oxfordshire. I grew up in Goring and went to school nearby at St Andrews Prep before moving to Abingdon School when I was 12. I had a wonderful time at Abingdon; I discovered my love of languages, literature and debate and had excellent teachers to guide me on my way.

I chose to study Classics at the University of Oxford, where I got to explore language, literature and history even further, and whilst at uni I found that I also loved the theatre & comedy worlds; I took part in countless productions over my four years, acting, directing and producing shows in equal measure, which was such a joy!

During my time at Oxford I also began tutoring privately, online at first but then expanding into mentoring face-to-face. I took evening classes in German too, as I wanted to develop a modern language to sit alongside my ancient ones.

I graduated from Oxford in June 2017 and since then I have taken two shows to the Edinburgh Fringe festival and spent the winter months working in Austria to perfect my German.

My blog posts

14/02/2019: Oxford Classics Admission Test (CAT)

Personal Approach

I think students perform the best when they are the most engaged in what they are learning, when they can connect their learning to things they already love, whether that’s activities, interests or hobbies. The most important aspect of private tuition, in my view, is that I develop a relationship with my students which goes beyond the teacher-pupil arrangement, so they can grow in confidence with the knowledge that they have a mentor to support them both academically and in personal development.

What I do when I am not tutoring

My passion outside of tutoring is in comedy, theatre and sport and this is what I occupy my spare time with. I write for the BBC Radio 4 Show 'Newsjack' and occasionally for the London Review of Books. In the theatre world, I am currently doing improv comedy and look forward to the Edinburgh Festival in 2021.

I love to play tennis and football whenever I can.

Testimonials

''It was fantastic. Couldn’t have gone better! My daughter was quite dubious/nervous on how it was going to be, but enjoyed it. Olly was great and my daughter really likes him. He helped immensely and took her back to basic algebra, as it was apparent that she had missed some vital steps. She completed her homework immediately after the session and already had a better understanding. So pleased with this set up and she is very much looking forward to her next session with Olly!'' (Mother of online 13+ Maths student in Hong Kong)

''My son received his CE results from Eton and he managed to secure an A in Latin...my son is the first one to know how instrumental you have been in helping him in those weeks leading to the exam - he learned tons, developed a greater passion for the subject and was truly inspired by your teaching and character.'' (Mother of CE Latin student)

''Olly brought great structure and insight to my daughter’s preparations, enabling her to achieve A*/A in English language/literature at GCSE. Highly recommended!'' (Father GCSE English student)

''Olly is amazing, he is so engaging and has built a rapport quickly with my son. He used to reluctantly go to extra tuition before. He now looks forward to the session and is proud of his work.'' (Mother of 11+ English/Maths student)

“My son found the lesson very clear; he said Olly really cleared up a lot of his confusion on cases just in the first lesson. Really great lesson! Thank you Olly.” Father of GCSE Latin student)

“Olly, my daughter is enjoying her tutorials with you immensely. A wonderful example of your teaching skills is her using points she has learnt in every day conversation. Thank you.” Father of Beginner Latin, Ancient Greek and Ancient History student)

“Olly is an extremely intelligent tutor: he spots exactly where the student's weaknesses are and works on them very effectively.” Mother of GCSE Latin & English student)

“Brilliant! Olly certainly makes the sessions interesting and strives to make sure that the student does understand all that needs to be covered. Currently doing Protagoras and the notes I've written down are incredible -and it's just the beginning! Looking forward to the next session!” (A-Level Ancient Greek student)