Tutor profile - Lydia

Lydia is an enthusiastic and experienced English tutor with a lifelong passion for English Language and Literature. She brings her love of reading and writing to every lesson, aiming to inspire confidence, curiosity, and enjoyment in all her students.

An Oxford graduate with a degree in English Language and Literature, Lydia earned Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) through a Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PGDE). She has taught English in a London secondary school, working with a wide range of learners—from high-achieving classes to students with EAL, SEND, and SEMH needs. During this time, she also served as Head of House, where she planned whole-school events and supported student wellbeing through safeguarding and pastoral care.

In addition to her classroom experience, Lydia has over seven years of tutoring experience. She has helped students from KS2 to A Level, both online and in person. She has worked across major exam boards like AQA, Edexcel, and OCR, guiding students through set texts, unseen papers, and coursework. Her personalized approach has consistently helped students exceed their predicted grades, many of whom achieve top results at GCSE and A Level.

Furthermore, she completed an internship in 2024 with The Story Project, where she designed and delivered literacy and PSHCE sessions to help develop emotional literacy through fiction. Her lessons are always tailored, supportive, and motivating, ensuring that students of all ages and abilities are empowered to reach their full potential.

Lydia delivered AQA English Language and Literature GCSE content to both higher and lower prior attaining Year 10 classes, and a lower prior attaining Year 11 class with multiple complex needs and EHCPs. She adapted her teaching to meet diverse learning needs, resulting in significant progress: when she took on Year 11, only one of seven students was predicted to pass English Literature; by May, five of seven were predicted to pass Literature and four of seven Language. Although Lydia has not been an examiner, she has marked hundreds of GCSE mock papers and attended standardisation training.

Across KS4, she taught Macbeth, An Inspector Calls, Power and Conflict Poetry, Jekyll and Hyde, and Unseen Poetry, as well as English Language Papers 1 and 2. She also prepared students for the English Speaking exam in Year 10, with all achieving a pass, merit, or distinction. Alongside this, Lydia has tutored fifteen students for GCSE English over the past five years, acroSS AQA, Edexcel, and OCR

Lydia tutored a student for 2 years for IGCSE. They covered To Kill a Mockingbird, Macbeth, An Inspector Calls, and Unseen Poetry.

Lydia tutored A Level English for two years, working with two students on different exam boards. For AQA, she taught Keats Poetry, The World’s Wife, The Handmaid’s Tale, and Blake Poetry. For Edexcel, she covered Othello, Frankenstein, and Chaucer Poetry. She also guided both students through their coursework.

Both students exceeded their predicted grades of C, achieving an A* and an A respectively.