Tutor Profile

Ellena

Private Biology Tutor in High Wycombe

I am an A-Level Biology specialist that has tutored over 200 tutees - I live and breathe the OCR and AQA specifications every day.

I have decades of experience as a senior examiner and question setter - writing exam questions and mark schemes. I am a Principle Examiner too, so am best placed to coach my tutees on exam technique.

I deliver face-to-face teacher training for Tutor2u and I visit schools for bespoke inhouse training days, for OCR spec A and the AQA spec, so teachers can achieve more success with their classes.

I am now taking bookings for September 2026 for new Y12 and Y13 tutees. I'm afraid I am booked up for regular weekly sessions this academic year 2025-2026.

I want my tutees not only to get their top grade but also to love Biology as I do!

I find it a privileged position being able to work closely with tutees to cover their specific learning needs. I divide my time between tutoring, assessment work and authoring A-Level Biology resources. These all complement each other very well. Each tutee is different and it is always a pleasure to watch them grow in knowledge, understanding and confidence.

I support every tutee in a bespoke way to support their specific needs. I often focus on exam technique, the importance of the practical skills in written exams and the use of specialist terms.

Whether on Microsoft Teams or in person, I will guide each tutee through topics to enable them to clock up marks on exam papers.

I tutor Monday to Thursday. After school prime times are at 3.15pm, 4.30pm and 7pm. I am available to tutor during the school day as well for students with non-contact time. Places are limited and go quickly

Teaching Experience

I am an experienced teacher of 28 years, previously head of Biology at a local grammar school. My PGCE comes from studying at Cambridge University.

I am a Principal examiner and senior examiner for 2 exam boards. I have set exam questions for A-Level papers for many years and work with assessment material daily.

I am also an author of A-Level Biology educational resources for several publishers.

I give Webinars for students and teachers and deliver teacher training workshops for Tutor2u. I am the Tutor2u Lead for Biology, rolling out resources and training. I was a Hodder Education trainer for many years before they stopped this service in Nov 24.

Tutoring Approach

A Level Biology is a very demanding course. There is so much content to learn – some of it is quite challenging to understand too. Many exam questions involve application of knowledge and understanding and skills are needed to be successful with these questions.

When I go over a topic I emphasise the specialist terms needed to get marks in exam questions. The mark schemes can be very specific! We look at exam questions together - I teach my tutees how to interpret the information given along with the question, and then to make a specific and concise answer.

As well as a focus on exam technique, we look closely at the importance of the practical skills. A minimum of 15% of exam questions test the practical skills, so being confident in the language of measurement, science methodology, data interpretation and analysis and evaluation is a grade changer.

I use a graphics tablet and Microsoft OneNote as my whiteboard. My tutees tell me this is really useful to refer back to all the session notes. I also send through resources ahead of each session. Using Microsoft Teams with a Webcam allows me to share my screen and we can look at resources together. These can be diagrams, past paper questions or video resources.

I have a friendly approach with my tutees and quickly build up their confidence. My patient demeanour means tutees feel able to ask questions and contribute and I always endeavour to let my enthusiasm rub off onto them. As my tutees improve in confidence, that translates into top grades. I am lucky to often see those precious lightbulb moments when a tutees’ understanding is solidified.

It is very satisfying to receive calls on results day and to hear of the wonderful successes.

Qualifications

PGCE in Science with Biology

PGCert · University of Cambridge · 1998

Qualified Teacher Status

QTS · Homerton College, Cambridge · 1998

BSc Biological Sciences (Animal Physiology)

Bachelors · University of Leicester · Upper second class honours · 1997

Reviews

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SudiptoFirst Tutors
IramFirst Tutors

Ellena has been an amazing biology tutor for my daughter. Her balance of focusing on both exam questions and core content has really helped improve my daughter’s grade, and she has made a big difference to her exam technique by giving useful checklists and helpful tricks for approaching questions. She is very friendly and supportive, and has a great way of making difficult content feel much more manageable. She also created a structured timetable where my daughter completes one past paper each week, and Ellena then goes through any questions she struggled with, which my daughter finds extremely helpful.

OlgaFirst Tutors

Ellena is a fantastic tutor, she managed to find the right approach to a problematic student and get amazing results out of her. The only minus is a complicated and inflexible payment system. Though it's nothing when your child starts to improve.

JinkyFirst Tutors

Thank you for your support and well-organised schedule in tutoring my son. We’ve noticed a significant improvement in his understanding of key concepts and his confidence in tackling exam-style questions. He finds your explanations clear and appreciates how you tailor lessons to match his pace and areas of difficulty. Jinky G.

PrashantiFirst Tutors

Ellena made a huge difference not only in my daughters grade but also her overall learning attitude. Her way of teaching is excellent and is tailor made to suit every student . We did both face to face and online and Ellena's teaching was excellent in both. As a parent I felt supported throughout the A Level journey along with my daughter. Ellena's knowledge about exams, content , questions, pattern is by far the best, I have seen .We couldn't have asked for more, we are just lucky to have Ellena as our daughters tutor .

Tutor response

Thank you so much for your kind words. It has been a pleasure working with your daughter and a joy to see her confidence grow as she prepares for the exams this summer.

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  • This tutor offers a 25% discount on their first / introductory lesson.
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