Wendy

With a York University biology degree and years as a research scientist for pharmaceutical company GSK, I have excellent biological science knowledge and a deep understanding of effective learning skills required to achieve great results.

As a dedicated biology tutor your child’s educational success is my highest priority. School can be stressful. With personalised support I am here to help fill knowledge gaps, advance their study skills, and increase exam confidence.

I am happy to share references with you from previous students, along with an up to date DBS check, to help put your mind at rest.

Tutoring Experience

September 2022 - present
Professional Tutor for AQA and Edexcel GCSE Biology syllabus and the biology component of AQA & Edexcel Combined Science: Triple.

I have found tutoring very rewarding as I've seen students achieve a biology GCSE grade they didn't think possible, enabling them to continue their studies with increased confidence at the sixth form of their choice.

During my time as a tutor I have witnessed students master topics they have previously struggled as well as become much more efficient and successful at memorizing the knowledge - two vital steps required to be able to then go on and master the skill of successfully answering exam questions.

My key to successful tutoring includes the following:

• Effectively communicating with parents and students to ascertain their goals in terms of grades and session objectives
• Ensuring all syllabus content is covered for each topic
• Adapting the teaching style to sustain the student's attention and interest
• Using active recall techniques in sessions to help memorization
• Developing the student's ability to use active recall in their own study time
• Using reading, writing, visual, auditory and kinesthetic learning styles as appropriate
• Exploring note taking methods with students to improve their learning
• Creating quizzes tailored to students to lighten the learning experience while building their knowledge and confidence
• Fostering the student's sense of achievement with regular praise and encouragement
• Developing interactive diagrams to demonstrate biological processes that students find hard to grasp
• Using videos to show real life examples of biology in the natural world
• Relating syllabus topics to the interest of students, to help bring the knowledge to life
• Being sensitive to the anxieties of students, adapting teaching style to reduce negatively impacting pressure
• Incorporating exam questions into sessions to provide valuable practice in applying knowledge learnt to exam answers
• Referring to students’ mock exam papers to identify gaps in knowledge to cover in future sessions
• Discussing revision skills with students to help them achieve the most in the time available to them

Tutoring Approach

The topics to be covered in a session are decided with the student the week before. Students are encouraged to look over the topic before the session.

Each session typically begins discussing any queries from the previous week and looking through the homework before moving on to this week’s topic. Student interaction is encouraged using aural questioning, worksheets and quizzies to check their understanding and increase their recall and memory. Past exam questions are regularly incorporated to practice applying the knowledge they have learnt, often being given as homework.

Marking of homework or exam papers outside of sessions is not included in the weekly session fee.

An e-mail summary is sent to you following each session of what was covered and how it went.

I look forward to hearing from you to discuss your needs.