Tutor profile - Meredith

Meredith is a passionate and engaging teacher who has over 11 years of teaching and tutoring experience in London and abroad. After gaining a First in Psychology she went on to complete her PGCE at the prestigious teacher training department of the University of Roehampton. Since then she has taught within both Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2, following the UK Curriculum at home and the Cambridge Curriculum in an International School abroad, teaching subjects across the Primary Curriculum including English, Mathematics, Science, Verbal Reasoning /Non-Verbal Reasoning and Phonics.

Meredith has experience of working with students targeting the 7+, 8+ and 9+ Common Entrance exams, helping them to utilise areas where they feel confident and support them in areas of challenge. She can quickly identify target areas to work on and develop programmes of study in order to help students meet their goals. She has a systematic approach to exam preparation and is familiar with the content and procedures of a number of schools. She understands that the exams can be demanding on both children and parents; therefore she has found that communication with parents as well as working together as a team to support the child is the best approach. Most importantly she realises that tutoring must be fun and so ensures every session she prepares is an enjoyable one!

Her background in psychology and counselling enables her to apply many useful techniques to teaching and learning, including ‘positive reinforcement’, ‘knowledge organisation’ and ‘working memory capacity’. Having studied it to degree and diploma level, she have an in-depth knowledge of the Psychology A-Level curriculum and a passion for helping students understand key theories, concepts, issues and debates in psychology. She recently successfully supported an A-Level student to raise their grade from a C to an A.

Her psychology studies also means she has an essential understanding of child development, values the emotional well-being of the children she is teaching, and is able to engage with the child from an empathic and nurturing position. She understands the value in developing a good rapport with students, believing this a key aspect to foster confidence, a positive approach to learning and a sense of self-efficacy. She is interested in different learning styles - acknowledging her own as visual - and ensures she tailors her teaching and tutoring plans to take individual differences into account. Her personal experience of mindfulness and meditation - as well the training she has undertaken to teach mindfulness to children - has enabled her to run workshops and clubs for children in the schools she has worked at, and she is able to employ these techniques to manage stress and promote focus with the children she tutors.

Meredith has also taught and tutored ESL children in the UK and abroad, having gained a TEFL qualification in 2011.

She is a trained counsellor for adults working in private practice and has just qualified as a children and young people's counsellor.