Florence C - Tutors - Keystone Tutors

My mother tongue is English and my second language is Spanish. You can contact me in English, Spanish, French, or Italian.

• Primary English
• 7+ English & Maths: public school entrance exams
• 8+ English and Maths: public school entrance exams
• 9+ English and Maths: public school entrance exams
• 11+ English and Maths: ISEB and public school exams, including pre-tests
• 13+ English: ISEB and public school entrance exams
• 13+ French (all exam boards)
• 13+ Spanish (all exam boards)
• GCSE/IGCSE English (all exam boards)

The majority of my students achieve the top grades. I have had more than one student predicted a 4 who has gone on to achieve an 8 or higher. I have also done some examining for GCSE English.

• GCSE/IGCSE Spanish (all exam boards, esp. AQA, Edexcel)

Extensive experience, including with Spanish ab initio. Many of my students go on to achieve top grades.

• School entrance interviews, especially 11+, 13+ and 16+
• A-level English (all exam boards, esp. Edexcel)

I have extensive experience teaching this subject, including home schooling and examining. The majority of my students achieve the top grades.

• A-level Spanish (all exam boards)
• IB English (I can also help with MYP)
• IB Spanish
• DELE, including B2 level
• IELTS, esp. IELTS Academic
• University Entrance, esp. Oxbridge

I have worked with schools across the state and private sectors, both in the UK and internationally, providing one-to-one tuition, group sessions, workshops, and giving talks. These schools include: Downe House, Eton, Southgate School, Kennet School, Kellett School (Hong Kong), and Qingdao Grand International School (China).

I have experience helping students with school entrance to: Eton, Westminster, Wellington, Radley, Harrow, Marlborough, Sevenoaks, St Paul's, Brighton College, Cheltenham Ladies, Cheltenham College, King's College Wimbledon, King's Canterbury, Oundle, Cardiff, Stowe, City of London, The Stephen Perse, Wycombe Abbey, Downe House, Wymondham, Abingdon, Magdalen College School, and St Edward's (Oxford), among others. The majority of my students get offers from more than one (if not all!) of their schools of choice.

I specialise in the four areas of prep for Oxbridge entrance: tests, guided reading and specialist knowledge, writing personal statements and interviews. A former award-winning University of Oxford teacher and researcher, I have four years of experience co-interviewing students for undergraduate places at Oxford University.

As a former academic, I am used to working with international students. For six years I taught literature and language at Oxford across the year groups and for several colleges, responsible for ongoing study as well as exam preparation, and pastoral care in some instances.

I have completed Keystone training including: students with special educational needs, English 7/8+ and Maths 7/8+, English 11+ and Maths 11+, school entrance interviewing (especially 11+, 13+ and 16+), GCSE/IGCSE English Language, GCSE/IGCSE English Literature, and A-Level English Literature. I have also completed Keystone’s online tutoring training programme and have a wealth of resources at my fingertips to enrich the online tutoring experience.

I have worked with the British Council, teaching English as an additional language to adolescents and adults.

Over 2020 and 2021, I completed an introductory qualification in child and adolescent counselling and psychotherapy with the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust in London.

I am very pleased to bring my extensive experience in the Higher Education sector, along with my training in mental health and wellbeing, to work as a tutor.

I grew up in the South West and attended grammar school, where I was fortunate enough to be encouraged to apply to Oxbridge by my English teacher. I gained four As at A-Level and took up a place at Oxford University to study for the BA Hons in English and Spanish, a degree that included a year abroad teaching English for the British Council.

After my BA, I worked as a private tutor. I then moved to the commercial art world, while studying History of Art at Birkbeck, University of London. With this experience under my belt, I decided to go back to Oxford to research early European literature and manuscripts.

I ended up winning a series of awards at Oxford, including a full Arts and Humanities Research Council doctoral studentship, and stayed to complete a DPhil and work in several teaching and lecturing roles. I also worked as a co-interviewer in undergraduate admissions for two Oxford colleges over four years. After completing the DPhil, I took up the post of Laming Research Fellow at the Queen's College. This role was international and I was lucky enough to live in Spain for some time while conducting research at local libraries.

During my post at the Queen's College, I started a family and was blessed with twins. Having the boys further fired my interest in the development of children and young people, and I completed introductory training as a child and adolescent psychotherapist with the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust over 2020/2021. I am continuing study in this area in my spare time while pursuing my career as a Professional Tutor with Keystone. I have been with the company since 2021.

I focus on building a rapport with my students in order to tailor content as much as possible to their needs. Traditionally, teachers and tutors have been valued as those who impart knowledge. Certainly, I can do that, but I see the true value of tutoring as providing guidance, mentoring, moral support, insight, perspective, maps, strategy, and structure to students through the knowledge maze.

As a former academic with an interest in memory and cognition, I specialise in study skills, motivation and solving problems around matters such as study anxiety and stress. I have trained in the field of child and adolescent mental health and am sensitive to the many issues that can arise for children in relation to their education.

I am open to a wide range of teaching approaches depending on the individual child or young person, although my overall goal is to promote self-motivated learning and student autonomy.

I like to teach across the skills base each lesson to ensure that students build their competence and confidence in a grounded and sustainable manner. For English, I would therefore aim to cover most of the following in a weekly class with varied, interactive exercises and discussion: vocabulary; reading; verbal reasoning; grammar/spelling/punctuation; literary competence; comprehension; writing. Special time slots can be built in for more manual skills such as handwriting and typing, if necessary.

When students are facing exams, I ensure that exam technique and study strategy are a central part of all that we do.

The majority of teaching that I do is online and I can offer a highly interactive, visual and exercise-rich experience to students. I use an online whiteboard to work with students in real time, along with a range of personally-sourced materials.

I am usually looking after my twins. When time allows, I pursue my interest in child and adolescent psychotherapy. I also love to write, cook, sing, listen to music, and practice yoga. I am keen on cats.