After retiring (on ill-health grounds) from classroom teaching in 2016, after 22 years, I decided to explore a few new ventures, including examination assessment, postgraduate study, and home tutoring.

I examined for Pearson (Edexcel), OCR and CIE over a 2-year period, whilst simultaneously continuing my love of teaching by offering private tuition in Mathematics at KS2, GCSE and A-level. I no longer offer A-level tuition, and still occasionally offer KS2, but I genuinely prefer preparing students for their external GCSE examinations in Mathematics. Alongside the tuition, I embarked on a part-time Master's degree in Mathematics with the Open University. After gaining a Distinction in 2023, I have just completed another Open Master's degree with Distinction; so, I truly empathise with the commitments required for students to succeed.

I fully appreciate the needs of students when it comes to preparing for internal mock examinations, which can eat up 3-4 weeks' study time in year 11. During these times, it is purely at the discretion of the students as to whether maths tuition continues apace in the background. To compensate, I usually offer extra tuition during the Easter break and in the May half-term break to help students best prepare for their GCSEs in May/June. I do offer tuition in the summer break for students going from year 10 into year 11 if required, subject to holiday commitments, etc.

If tuition is sought by someone outside a 3-mile radius from Braintree town centre, then I reserve the right to charge an additional mileage charge of £1.00 per mile to cover costs and lost tutoring time, e.g. if someone is 7 miles from the centre of Braintree by road, then an extra charge of £4.00 per lesson will be incurred.

The pricing of my lessons is a little misleading. The lessons invariably last around 70-80 minutes; so, my hourly rate is approximately £34, not £42 for GCSE tuition. I had been a successful tutor with First Tutors from 2016 until May 2026. Alas, after 10 years of unwavering service and excellent reviews, I was unaware that this tutoring portal had ceased trading until recently.

I do hope that this brief summary of my experiences inspires you to consider me as a prospective tutor of your child/children. Special rates are negotiable if a student requires home-schooling during school hours or if more than one lesson is required per week.

I was a Teacher of Mathematics for over twenty years until my health deteriorated around 2013-14, and as a result of this, I regrettably had to retire from classroom teaching in 2016. I had additional responsibilities for the coordination and development of the Sixth Form maths provision for over ten years, and for most of my latter years, I was a Sixth Form tutor, responsible for university applications and the like.

Around 2016, I joined First Tutors, subsequently successfully helping students through face-to-face, one-to-one tuition since that time. Much of my work has been through word-of-mouth, for which I am truly grateful, but I wanted to increase my exposure through this channel too.

I am also an enthusiastic pianist and would welcome the opportunity to share my passion for music (classical upbringing, although anything goes if requested) by offering musical theory and piano tuition. I could have gone on to study at diploma or degree level, but I stopped at grade 8, although part of my Open University Bachelor's degree did contain some musical studies. I can realistically only offer this tuition to adult/casual learners during school hours, at the tutee's home, although there might be slots available in the evenings, but I tend to reserve these for maths tuition.

Here is a more detailed summary of my teaching career before commencing with one-to-one tuition:

After training in 1994, I started teaching as a Teacher of Mathematics and Science for a couple of years before being promoted to Key Stage 3 Coordinator in Mathematics at an 11-16 school in Norfolk, where I also wrote music and conducted the school choir over a couple of very busy years. In 1998, I then moved to Braintree, and took on a role as a full-time Teacher of Mathematics at a school in Witham.

In 2001, I then took on a broader role at a large 11-18 comprehensive in Colchester (Philip Morant School). From 2005 until my early retirement in March 2016, I was Key Stage 5 (post-16) Coordinator in Mathematics at this school, and I developed resources and teaching strategies across the faculty, as well as creating new courses for post-16 students (including for those that did not want to study traditional A-levels in Mathematics).

I have considerable experience in preparing students for assessments (working as an examiner for the exam boards has helped to this end), and I can support learning across the ability range. I am especially experienced in delivering the Mathematics curriculum at Higher GCSE level, including GCSE Statistics and GCSE Further Maths, and I am confident with the delivery of all elements of the CORE (pure) content of A-level Maths. However, I have now elected not to offer tuition beyond GCSE level.

I am very flexible in terms of what style of tutoring is required. If you merely want a short-term boost prior to exams, or a longer period of tuition to support and complement the learning that takes place at school, I can help to improve your child's (your) skill base and boost your child's (your) confidence in Mathematics.

I really prefer tutoring students in years 10 and 11, preparing them for GCSE or iGCSE, although I do tutor students somewhat younger than this on occasion. Regardless of what your needs may be, I always try to ensure that students enjoy learning Mathematics, and I try to instil my enthusiasm and passion for the subject in any discussions that take place, in the hope that some of what I say will inspire the students in my care to embrace Mathematics.

Deep down, my true love is music though, and I would truly welcome the opportunity to share my joy of music with a casual (or an even more committed) learner. I've only had a couple of tutees for singing and piano tuition in the past, but I'm always in the mood to make music or help someone with their grasp of music theory up to around grade 5-6.