Radley College School Entrance Guide

Greg is a kind and caring teacher, with enormous patience and good humour. My son lacked confidence following extended periods of online schooling and the ISEB /13+ entrance exam process on the horizon. Greg built a trusted relationship with my son, who looks forward to their sessions. It’s a safe and happy space for my son to ask questions when he doesn’t understand a topic or concept. He has achieved some good senior school offers and Greg has undoubtedly helped him to achieve his potential in the 13+ process.

Due to the pandemic year, UK boarding school exams were delayed and in lieu of a spring exam, a September date was ascribed in the middle of the summer holidays so it was a bit of a scramble. As such, and as we reside in Switzerland, I reached out to Owl Tutors UK and the team was incredibly responsive and swift, and sourced my son a math tutor so he had three intensive weeks of online tutoring with Michael. As my son is schooled in a bilingual French-British School, the English subject was taught as a second language and my son lacked some key notions, notably in reading comprehension and writing composition as well as vocabulary. Michael reviewed texts with him and forced him to think critically and creatively and my son experienced an a-ha moment and to use his words, "Michael gave me the key which unlocked the necessary door.” My son's ideas flowed and he was able to organise his thoughts and his writing compositions more carefully. Michael would send poems and excerpts from passages for my son to analyse ahead of their online meetings and my son really grasped the general meaning as well as the more subtle nuances, even in old English! Given that he had limited time to prepare for the big test day, Michael encouraged him and gave him the confidence needed for my son to give his best. Michael lent my son as much time as he needed in those critical three weeks and was a testament to how positive reinforcement and great teaching can inspire a young mind. My son performed phenomenally well on his exams and his online interviews and received two offers to his top two choices, so he is elated. Thank you ever so much, Michael!

Due to the pandemic year, UK boarding school exams were delayed and in lieu of a spring exam, a September date was ascribed in the middle of the summer holidays so it was a bit of a scramble. As such, and as we reside in Switzerland, I reached out to Owl Tutors UK and the team was incredibly responsive and swift, and sourced my son a math tutor so he had three intensive weeks of online tutoring with Phil. Phil is an incredibly talented teacher and uses whiteboard techniques to cover math problem solving and techniques so all notions were clear to my son. Moreover, he is full of energy and great ideas and my son loved meeting him for bi-weekly lessons. He was also incredibly flexible and amenable to my son’s school schedule as they met during the week and over the weekend. Phil would assign prep homework so my son was able to carry on learning autonomously and Phil would then review the work prior to the lessons. Phil is a rare gem of a teacher as he holds the superb qualities of breaking down complicated math concepts into digestible bites. He is patient, kind, and encouraging. He positively reinforces a pupil under immense pressure as these entry-exams are not for the faint-hearted and my son is still a pre-teen so a fairly young age to work under such duress. Moreover, my son was not familiar with the British system as he is schooled in the French National Curriculum so Phil made the test preparation very enjoyable. My son still asks whether he can continue learning math with Phil, a testament to how much he enjoyed his time with math tutoring.