I have tutored for 44 years. I am fascinated by learning styles and am really passionate about facilitating my pupils to achieve their highest potential.

As a tutor I create a very different atmosphere to school. My teaching room is a stimulating, but calm, environment with lots of exciting games and books. My dogs are very affectionate and responsive to the pupil’s needs. If a child is upset, then one of the dogs will come up to them and calm them down.

I taught the Year 4 scholars maths and English at the Dragon School in Oxford. There were 6 sets and they were the top, so they were extremely clever. I realised that I could teach them differently, in that I could set them a task and give them clues if necessary. That way they got the “ah ha moment” themselves when they solved the problem. I realised that all children would like to have that feeling, so began teaching in a totally different way, which gave them a much more exciting and rewarding learning experience.

I like to think that I encourage active learning. Many schools actually encourage passive learning which, in my opinion, is not a good preparation for life. They are rarely trusted to mark their own work. I encourage them to do so and to try to correct their mistakes themselves. I give stickers as rewards for mistakes.

I use the tools in my toolbox to make their learning experience as exciting as possible. I have a clear objective in mind but follow the child’s needs and mood to get the best out of them. I do expect them to concentrate and work as quickly as possible to get as much covered as possible. I work effectively and expect them to do the same.

My aim is to inspire them and for them to reconnect with the innate love of learning that all children have naturally.

I am often called a door opener. I like to think creatively to solve problems. A girl came to me about 6 weeks before her GCSEs. There had been a family bereavement and she was really struggling. She was most worried about her maths and she had reason to be concerned. I suggested that she delayed taking her maths GCSE until November, which allowed her to focus on her other subjects. She did well in those and came to me in the autumn and was awarded a good grade in her maths.

To me, education means the drawing out of a child’s latent talents. Einstein said, “We cannot solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them”. I use a very different approach to school, to sort the problems that were created at school. If I taught the same material, in the same way, I wouldn’t be able to facilitate the dramatic improvements that happen all the time in my lessons.