Freya

Experience

* 11+ English and public school entrance exams, including pre tests

* 11+ Maths and public school entrance exams, including pre tests

* 8+ English and prep school entrance exams

* 8+ Maths and prep school entrance exams

* 7+ English and prep school entrance exams

* 7+ Maths and prep school entrance exams

I also have experience with tutoring online for students beyond the UK; in Saudi Arabia and Hong Kong, as well as other countries.

I am a qualified Primary Teacher with several years’ experience teaching in London primary schools, as well as considerable private tutoring experience.

Through my 5 years of teaching in schools (educating children aged 2 to 16) I have successfully navigated a variety of subjects, learning challenges and educational settings. I have considerable experience in preparing children for year 2 and year 6 SATs exams; dedicating many hours to assessing children’s progress, pinpointing educational gaps and plotting out next steps. I also have a sound knowledge of the UK Primary curriculum and I have had extensive training in and taught the ‘Singapore Method’ of Maths, including Bar Modelling. Furthermore, I have completed Keystone’s rigorous 7+/8+ and 11+ training programmes.

Biography

I am the middle child (in a family of seven children) and I grew up in an old Tudor house in Kingston-Upon-Thames; rumour has it that a secret tunnel once linked the house with Hampton Court Palace! After completing A-Levels in English Literature, History, Sociology and Latin (with an AS level in Religious Studies), I went to study History and Culture and Spanish at Warwick University, achieving an Upper Second Class Honours degree.

Prior to pursuing a teaching qualification in general primary education, I worked in a secondary school as a Special Educational Needs Teaching Assistant as I was keen to understand the challenges that pupils faced. I enjoyed implementing different strategies to engage pupils and I completed Speech and Language Communication training (Elklan Level 3) to further support them. I then worked in a primary school as an unqualified teacher, providing cover to Year 6 teachers. I supported pupils through their SATs assessments, focusing on grammar and exam technique. I also thoroughly enjoyed teaching mindfulness and implementing strategies to combat exam-related stress.

I achieved Qualified Teacher Status through the Schools Direct scheme, an on-the-job training programme. Alongside teaching, I tutored privately and more recently I have been providing online tutoring for pupils aged between 4 and 10 through Keystone.

My blog posts

09/01/2023: How to Support Your Child at Home with Early Reading

05/12/2022: 7 Plus Interview Questions

Personal Approach

I take a collaborative approach to teaching and learning in order to provide the pupil with space to develop their own voice and confidence. I like to make my pupils comfortable with making and spotting mistakes (and then how to remedy them!) This is because I believe that teaching pupils to identify and then know how to work through their mistakes provides a key opportunity to harness the pupil's sense of ownership over their own learning. This is an essential part of training pupils to be independent and resilient in education and beyond!

What I do when I am not tutoring

Gardening and growing my own fruit and vegetables is a real passion that I've developed since having a garden. I love the outdoors and I frequently do long hikes (I walked a stretch of the South-West Coast Path from St. Ives to Penzance in 6 days). I bake regularly, everything from flatbread to Victoria sponge to custard tarts! I also really love going to art exhibitions and creating my own artwork. A couple of my favourite artists are Wassily Kandinsky and Patrick Heron.

Testimonials

"Well, the lessons with Freya are going amazingly well. I am enjoying them and learning a lot!" - Year 7 student from China

''Thank you SO much for your advice and energy. We will continue on with a little ‘practicing’ of our own and I feel that her time with you really highlighted areas to build both confidence and awareness.'' (Mother of Year 6 student in preparation for school entrance interviews)

''Thank you for all the time you spent with him, you had a very kind and thoughtful approach and I really appreciated the work you did with him.'' (Mother of Year 2 student)

''She likes Freya as her English teacher and the teacher was very professional. There wasn’t any time ‘wasted’. Thank you very much. For giving and recommending Freya to us.'' (Mother of Year 3 student, Hong Kong.)

''Freya has tutored our two children via Zoom for several weeks while their school has been closed. Both our daughter (nine) and son (seven) have greatly enjoyed the sessions. Freya has concentrated on supporting them with weekly tasks set by the school. She has made these tasks engaging and fun, helped them to improve and to get their work done. Freya has been friendly and warm during the sessions, which have been well structured and organised. Thank you Freya, we`ve really appreciated your tutoring!''