Tutor profile - Sarah

Sarah studied Biochemistry and genetics at the University of Nottingham gaining a BSc degree. She went on to complete her PGCE in science at the University of Chester and whilst working full time as a fully qualified teacher, completed her Masters in education there. She gained a distinction grade in her Masters degree and continued to work full time in secondary education. Firstly working in an outstanding Cheshire high school for one year where as well as teaching full classes she was given the role of core Science specialist. This meant she used data to track those pupils who were underachieving and worked with individuals or small groups to get them back up to target. She was very successful and finding new ways to help them learn and all but their targets after their intervention with her. She then moved on to work in a BESD school for four years. Here she gained experience of dealing with pupils who struggled in a classroom setting and needed individual bespoke strategies in order to learn and progress both academically and emotionally. Sarah learnt to build upon her teacher toolkit and quickly assess the type of learner she had in front of her. Tackling such issues as autism and ADHD meant she used techniques not common to mainstream which made her a better all round teacher and tutor. She was the only Science teacher in the school and therefore was responsible for writing the schemes of work, completing and sending off coursework and monitoring the effectiveness of Science for all pupils in the school.

After four years she went on to an all girls outstanding high school where she remains a full time teacher of science. After her first year there she was asked by the headteacher to take on the role of head of year 7. This was due to her experience of pastoral issues and her kind and nurturing nature. Within this role she learnt a lot about how and why pupils don't hit their academic targets and how to put this right through mentoring and target setting. This allowed her to have a deeper understanding of her pupils and how to reach them in order to get the best from them both academically and emotionally.

Sarah has a four year son and a partner who she enjoys spending family time with.