It’s easy to feel alienated and disillusioned by an education process that doesn’t ‘get’ your child. The solutions may feel like being left to fumble in the dark, hoping for the best or putting more pressure on an already sensitive situation.

English Tutoring with Nicola

The students I work with are sometimes anxious, often neurodivergent, but incredibly capable and keen to grapple with interesting and rigorous ideas.

They want the safety of knowing that they are on the right track, which my role as a qualified teacher (MA Educational Leadership) and accredited AQA exam marker can offer them.

I advocate for a patient and inclusive approach that promotes student voice and autonomy.

For me, inclusion is about having the right tools in my toolkit to be able to adapt to the child in front of me. Using research-backed strategies, I lean towards a semi-flexible structure which always prioritises relationship-building and student engagement. In collaboration with teens and parents, we find creative ‘ways into’ learning and progress towards academic pathways at a pace that suits them.

What does this look like in practice? Engaging conversations, stimulating resources, a vocabulary-rich environment and instilling a love of reading and language. 

The teens I work with don’t want any more pressure, but they don’t want to be patronised or underestimated either- instead we patiently build accountability and I help them reconnect with learning.