Alexandra

I have been teaching for around 15 years now. I started as a History teacher in a north London secondary school but I quickly swapped to English (language and literature). I came into teaching later in life. Before teaching I spent three years as a teaching assistant but before that, my profession for about 15 years was as a magazine journalist.
I am a mother of two grown up children who have both been through the education system (GCSEs, A Levels and degree). I am originally from north London but I moved to Norwich in March 2017. I grew to love the city from when I used to visit my son who came here to study at UEA.

Tutoring Experience

My most recent teaching has been as a KS2 supply teacher in Norfolk primary schools as well as tutoring small groups through the National Tutoring Programme. Before this I taught KS3 and KS4 English Language and Literature. In my second to last teaching post I was sent on an AQA course to learn about the new GCSE exam specification for English Language and Literature and have taught the new spec since it was introduced in 2015. I am very comfortable in teaching/tutoring this specification, not just for AQA but also for Edexcel, which is very similar.
I have also taught the coursework module for A Level English Language/Literature and the media section of the BTEC Creative and Media course.
I am now involved in the National Tutoring Programme and spend one day a week in Norfolk schools tutoring small groups of Year 6 pupils (getting them ready for the KS2 SATS in May 2022), Years 4 and 5 pupils and three groups of Year 2 pupils. I do enjoy teaching in small groups as it's so much easier to engage the children and build up a relationship with them. I also believe they get so much more out of the small group sessions. I do a little Maths work but my main tutoring focus is on English skills, including spelling, punctuation, grammar and reading comprehension exercises.

Tutoring Approach

Organised and methodical with prepared lessons/tasks that help to access basic grammar issues, how to construct sentences, encourage reading and how to access Papers 1 and 2 of both the GCSE English language and literature exam papers and the KS2 SATS papers. I am happy to tutor KS2, KS3 or KS4 pupils.