Alice

Experience

I have successfully prepared students for St Mary’s Ascot, Latymer Upper, JAGS, Francis Holland Sloane Square, Francis Holland Regent’s Park, Queen’s College, Queen’s Gate, Kew House School, Putney High School, Surbiton, City of London, KCS Wimbledon, Brighton College, Dulwich College, Harrow, Highgate, South Hampstead, Channing, North London Collegiate and City of London School for Girls.

I am also able to provide tutorials covering the following:

• 7+ English & Maths: public school entrance exams

• 8+ English and Maths: public school entrance exams

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

• (I)GCSE Latin, Ancient Greek, History, and History of Art (All exam boards)

• A-level Latin, Ancient Greek, History, and History of Art (All exam boards)

• Oxbridge preparation

• Interview preparation

• Study skills

I have completed Keystone’s in-depth 7+/8+, 11+, and SEN training programmes and have a wide range of resources to help students with their studies. I can help students work towards specific exams and goals in addition to providing confidence boosts in subjects and supporting students with their ongoing learning. I am also able to provide Personal Statement guidance and subject specific expertise in Archaeology, Anthropology, and Museology.

Biography

I come from the North East of Scotland and undertook my secondary education at Robert Gordon’s College in Aberdeen. In my final year, I was awarded A grades in Advanced Higher Latin, Classical Greek, and History and obtained a place at Magdalen College, Oxford where I read Archaeology and Anthropology.

During my time at the University of Oxford, I was president of the University Archaeology Society and course representative. I also assisted with the interviewing process and spent the summer vacations on fieldwork in the UK and Cyprus.

I have completed a Masters in Heritage and Museum Studies at Universiteit Leiden, during which time I co-curated an exhibition on the role of women in the university and assisted with the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden’s Cyprus exhibition.

Prior to my time at Keystone, I worked as a political and cultural journalist, and art writer. I am currently pursuing a PhD in archaeology alongside my tutoring work.

My blog posts

22/03/2023: How to Get a 9 in GCSE Latin

20/02/2023: GCSE Revision Techniques and Skills

28/11/2022: How to Get a 9 in GCSE History

Personal Approach

I believe that the best education is one taught with passion. With a brief period as a home-schooled student, I appreciate the importance of adopting a style of teaching which best suits the student. I believe that children can learn best when they are taught with enthusiasm, and that setting clear expectations allows pupils to meet them.

What I do when I am not tutoring

My love of Vermeer was established early, when I was a semi-finalist on BBC Junior Mastermind at the age of ten, with the Dutch artist as my specialist subject. Since then, my interest in art and archaeology has grown, and I have volunteered at a range of museums and archives for over a decade, including the National Museum of Scotland, the Sir Duncan Rice Library, and the Haarlem Museum of Archaeology where I wrote the city’s first English children’s tour.

I am an active archaeologist, excavating across the UK and am currently working on my doctoral thesis. I have recently co-ordinated a successful NLHF grant application to return the Book of Deer to the North East of Scotland for the first time in a millennium. As part of this project, I was involved in the 2018 BBC Alba Documentary Air Toir Manachainn Dheir/The Lost Monastery of Deer. The next instalment is set to broadcast later in the year. My site director and I are also featured on Aberdeen Art Gallery’s Podcast, talking about the 2022 excavation.

Testimonials

"From striking up lively conversations, to diving deeper into the amazing world of English literature, Miss Alice has indeed piqued my interest in writing, speaking and appreciation of English works, as well as strengthened my understanding of various aspects of the learning of English. Besides assigning weekly homework on poem-writing, short story-writing and reports on well-known topics, Miss Alice has been my mentor in writing essays in the field of medicine and on philosophical issues highlighted by Cambridge’s ‘Transcending Ideas’ global essay competition and the Oxford’s John Locke Institute 2023 global essay competition respectively, of which I’ve been notified to be shortlisted in August and have received an invitation to Oxford in mid-September. I’ve noticed a significant improvement in academics with help and guidance from Miss Alice, not to mention gaining confidence in expressing my opinions vocally. She has really been a compassionate, thoughtful, supportive and inspiring teacher to me over these months, and I express my deepest and fondest gratitude for her unfailing commitment, support and encouragement along the way, and recommend her for any future endeavors and opportunities." (Year 8 English Student)

''My 9 year old daughter absolutely loves her English sessions with Alice. She looks forward to them, and in spite of increasing homework from school and my offer to stop if it felt like too much, she has elected to continue with them because she enjoys them so very much! Alice has a fantastic energy and presence which comes across even on zoom; she utilises her wonderful imagination and acting ability to enhance her lessons with story telling and voices, bringing English composition and comprehension to life. Alice is a 'larger than life' personality who will draw interest and spark energy into learning. From a parent's perspective, she is happy to schedule phone meetings to enable joint understanding and planning.'' - Parent of 9 year old student

"Alice goes above and beyond every single session to help me with my learning, as well as bringing a fun and open attitude to every class." - Year 11 student in Singapore

“Alice is a fantastic tutor. She is engaging and fun. My 11 year old daughter very much looks forward to her sessions with her every week. She is always energised and comes out of her room full of confidence after each and every session and comments how much fun she's had with Alice. She wanted to continue with her session even during the half-term break! Her teacher at her school also commented how my daughter is now much more confident with her ability to tackle and solve more difficult math problems at school. We are very lucky to have her as our daughter's tutor.” - Parent of 11+ student in Hong Kong

"Alice is a wonderfully engaging tutor who has completely changed our daughter’s online learning experience. We constantly hear how much fun each lesson with Alice has been and how she has made every subject more interesting to learn. It is fantastic to see a 9 year child, who had become disillusioned with remote learning over the course of a year, suddenly perk up and look forward to her sessions with Alice. We are already seeing improvements in confidence and in results in school tests. We are very grateful to Alice for her thoughtful and considerate approach with our daughter, not to mention her tremendous organisational skills, which have materially reduced the parental struggles of timetabling, printing & marking work, whilst we are also working remotely during this challenging lockdown." - Parent of a Year 5 student

''Alice helped our daughter, H, successfully prepare for her ISEB English 2021 exams. The English testing format, particularly comprehension, is very different and far more sophisticated than H is used to in her current school. With only a short time to prepare, we were a bit apprehensive of the extent of the benefit. H usually takes time to warm up but learns best when she is comfortable and builds a rapport with the instructor. We lucked out with Alice. On the subject matter, she is very qualified and experienced. She stays focused but has an easy going manner which put our daughter at ease right away. H always looked forward to her learning sessions with Alice. With her patient and friendly encouragement, Alice was able to coax our daughter to be more forthcoming with ideas and receptive to the content. H never felt her attention flagging, despite having some lessons after a tiring school day. Alice responded to all our queries and requests in a timely and satisfactory manner. Keep up the good work Alice! Our best wishes for your future endeavours.'' - Parent of Year 6 student in Singapore

“Alice had to step in just a few weeks before 11+ ISEB began and she hit the ground running. She breezed into the house bringing tranquillity and professional calm. I have never met a keystone tutor who is not on top of her brief but what was most welcome was that the kids absolutely loved being with her as well. “But, lessons are fun with Alice”, said my daughter when the 11+ exams ended. Quirky, intelligent, flexible, fun and worked a treat for my kids”. - Parent of Year 6 and Year 8 students

''We have been so grateful for Alice. She has boosted my son’s confidence and helped elevate his competence across Maths, English and Reasoning in preparation for his 11+ and ISEB campaign. Her friendly disposition, professional demeanour, timely communication, creative methods and personal connection with my son have all come together to help unlock challenging topics and bolster his existing knowledge. Alice is an extremely talented individual with the right balance of cerebral and emotional intelligence which is why my son really enjoys his lessons with her.'' - Father of year 5 student

''I am so grateful to Keystone Tutors for arranging to have Alice as my daughter’s teacher.

Alice is very friendly, kind and most importantly she is a sincere and devoted person which contributes enormously towards a perfect tutoring experience.

What is more, she is approachable for additional discussions or recommendations for the sake of achieving better academic consequences.

From my perspective, she goes beyond teaching as she gradually leads my daughter up to love for reading and writing which forms the core of any future educational success.

We are so blessed to have her!'' - Mother of year 5 student

''Alice has been a wonderful tutor for our 10 year old twins heading towards their 11+. She has a way of making their tutorial sessions fun but also incredibly helpful. I have noticed a huge increase in their confidence tackling both English and Maths under her care. I could not recommend her highly enough.'' - Mother of 11+ students

''Alice is one of my children’s most favourite tutors. She began teaching my 13-year old son and then taught my 10-year old daughter on an ad-hoc basis. She’s confident teaching many of the core curriculum subjects such as Maths, English, Science as well as NVR and VR - these were the areas and subjects she covered with us, but I’m sure she’s more than capable teaching other subjects as well. Alice is delightfully good fun and a very kind and warm-hearted tutor who will go a long way in both her tutoring and archeology careers!'' Mother of year 5 and year 7 students

''Alice has been wonderful for my daughter in terms of both building her confidence and in enhancing her learning and knowledge base in both Math and English. She has an ability to combine the elements that have to be learnt in a fun and interesting way. She stretches my daughter without her being conscious of it at all. We are very lucky to have her as my daughter’s tutor. '' Mother of year 6 student

''Our nine year old daughter is benefiting from the support and great advice that Alice offers. The two bonded quickly over archaeology (something our daughter knew little about): going to museums in Greece over the summer became much more fun when she could take photos to show to Alice! Our daughter goes to the local primary school, where they take a relaxed and hands-off approach. She had never had homework before. The sessions with Alice are fun and the homework she sets is interesting and imaginative - our daughter looks forward to it. We feel relaxed in the knowledge that our daughter will have the necessary skills and tools to do her best in the exams ahead. We feel very lucky to have found Alice!'' - Father of year 5 student

''Our 8yo son was falling behind in reading, writing and maths during 2020. In the past he presented with some mild academic concerns requiring some support. But he lost interest in 3 previous tutors and was especially “bored” with most of them. Firstly, Keystone took a great brief from us regarding the kind of tutor we felt would best match our son’s personality and needs. Second, they introduced us to Alice and it was clear on so many levels that this could be a great fit. Alice brought a direct, yet fun approach to learning, really spent time to connect and get to know our son and took onboard our suggestions, allowing for a very collaborative brainstorm on ways of engaging him with the content. He enjoys variety and a fast pace, so she introduced a bunch of quizzes that seemed more like games for maths! He was able to see his own progress, which was very motivating. Her project based approach to English has also gone very well with a lot of engagement and enthusiasm from our son. In addition to the fundamentals of Maths and English, we asked her to help introduce some humanities and geography, which she’s done in a very organic and relatable way for a young person. He now looks forward to his time with Alice and even shares his learnings with us! It’s beautiful that she has achieved one of the highest goals we set out, to ignite and engender his love of learning.'' - Mother of year 3 student

''Alice is a wonderful tutor to our nine year old daughter.

We started lessons during lockdown to supplement online school provision, but our daughter has loved them so much she didn’t want to stop! Alice makes the lessons fun but challenging using interesting techniques such as doing maths via a crossword. They discuss a diverse range of topics from poetry to classics, whilst covering the core components of the curriculum. Our daughter cannot wait for her weekly session and comes away energised and inspired. Thank you Alice! '' - Mother of year 5 student

''Thank you so much, my daughter said you were really helpful in terms of downloading knowledge and structuring ideas for essay writing - the sessions were really beneficial!'' - Mother of year 12 A level History student

''Thank you to Keystone Tutors who have never disappointed me in finding the most relevant tutors according to my sons’ ages and abilities. We had the chance to meet our latest tutor, Alice, when she started supporting my youngest son with his Maths lessons. I don’t know how she does it, but I never see him speaking with me at home the way he speaks with Alice. After each lesson I see a difference in my son’s courage and improvement. They are a great team and I am sure he is going to reach his goal while enjoying what he is doing. Thank you Alice – he is really excited for the next lesson!'' - Mother of year 5 student

''My 10 year old son actually looks forward to his tutor sessions with Alice. That is no mean feat considering his previous view on tuition classes. Alice has invested time and effort to get to know my son, his personality and interests which has made him feel appreciated and valued. She assigns him homework which he is independently keen to dive into because it’s fun as much as it is educational. I think Alice has cracked the code of making the learning journey joyful and stress free which has helped my son gain confidence in his English and Maths. She is also very helpful and flexible when it comes to working with us as parents, as we navigate sessions from another continent and time zone. So happy that we found Alice!'' - Mother of year 5 student in Singapore

''Our daughter is extremely fortunate to have Alice as her English tutor. Tasked with helping mainly with writing skills and also comprehension, Alice patiently guides and encourages her to have her own voice. Alice's friendly demeanor and engaging approach means my daughter always feels positive after each session. She is also responsive to parent email queries and is willing to take on last-minute content requests.

My daughter's improvement, not just in English but also in verbal reasoning, in just a few months is obvious and we are very grateful to Alice.'' - Mother of year 6 student in Hong Kong

''Alice has been tutoring my children for 5 months, and she’s been simply outstanding. Both of my children like her because she makes the learning experience fun and engaging and she’s patient with them. Alice has really activated their imaginations and brought the material to life. My children are not only more capable and confident academically, they’re motivated and interested in the subject matter now. Alice has been particularly effective at taking areas of complexity and breaking them down in a step-by-step approach, which makes all of the content more accessible to each of them. We couldn’t be happier with Alice’s educational support and highly recommend working with her. '' - Mother of year 6 students

''Alice is a wonderful teacher who engages my son during lessons to make classes fun and inspiring. We are based in HK, and via online/virtual classes, Alice is helping to prepare E for his ISEB English 2021 exams. Beyond this preparation, a key focus for us is for E to develop confidence and a love of learning and we feel that Alice through her fun and engaging teaching method delivers with high impact on all these fronts. I can often hear laughter from the E’s study room during his lessons with Alice. Alice is also very responsive to my requests and feedback and flexible to adjust learning methods and curriculum to suit E’s changing needs.'' - Mother of 11+ student in Hong Kong

“Alice has been tutoring my son since September and my son has flourished with her help. He looks forward to class with her every week and truly enjoys learning thanks to her. She encourages him to gain confidence in his skills and gently pushes him to surpass his goals. Alice is truly a gifted tutor and a gem of a human. We are so thankful to have found her.” – Mother of year 7 student

''Alice has been teaching our children (currently 8 and 12) for almost 3 years and she has become one of our our favourite teachers in our 6 years experience of home schooling . Alice makes every lesson, not only, educational, but also enjoyable and stimulating, which can be quite challenging for many teachers online, especially in that age group. Alice enters every lesson with an infectious enthusiasm which creates a positive energy.

She has a a genuine curiosity for each child’s passion and adopts that in her teaching. She will blend their current hobbies and interests into their Maths and English classes, preserving their fondness of each subject. We have watched our children progress positively and successfully in Maths and English and we hope that Alice will continue teaching our children over many more years.'' - Mother of 8 and 12 year old students

''My son has been working with Alice for a couple of months and he genuinely looks forward to his sessions with her. They have a wonderful rapport and Alice makes the sessions varied and fun, keeping my son fully engaged. The optional homework she sets gets done every week with no nudging from us. She is an inspiring teacher!'' - Mother of year 5 student

''Alice has tutored both my sons (10 and 7) so I’ve been able to witness how she is able to adapt her approach and style of lessons to get the best out of the child she is working with. Her lessons are fun enough to engage my sons, especially my reluctant youngest, and Alice gives them input in content choice for the sessions so they really feel like they aren’t just being given the ‘same old same old’ to work on each week. We’ve used other tutors before and I can honestly say Alice is one of the best!'' - Mother of 7 and 10 year old students