The South Hams English Tutor
Nikki Brayne
Key Stage 3, GCSE & A Level English Literature & Language Teacher
20+ years' experience
Enhanced DBS certificate
A little bit about me...
I love teaching. I care about my students. I love connecting with students and witnessing moments when they suddenly understand a concept, theme or character.
That moment where - because we have had the time, the environment or different approach - they have been able to listen, process, consider and understand what they know in order to be successful according to today's educational standards.
GCSEs and A Levels nowadays are very knowledge and context driven, it is expected that children learn the skills in English at KS2 and KS3. If there are any gaps in knowledge that can cause more serious problems at GCSE level.
The Year 11 class you can see me with in this picture is just such a class: gaps in learning, leading to low confidence and low aspirations. I worked hard to create a classroom environment where they felt safe and wanted to be successful. We worked together to overcome their many and very varied barriers to learning. I used my years' of experience to tailor my teaching to their needs and maximise their results.
Me with Y11s on their last day, Surrey, 2016
Me with my dog Aggie at
Start Point 2022
A little bit about lessons...
I live in one of the villages near Kingsbridge and so am ideally located for travelling around the South Hams for lessons, however if you are further afield I may have to add a small additional charge to cover travelling time and fuel costs.
I will provide exercise books, lined paper and such sundries for lessons but students will need their own copies of any texts they are studying texts (I'll bring my own!). I will prepare all other resources for lessons, tailored to the specific needs of your child to challenge them and help them achieve their very best in the safe and supportive space.
Education
- PGCE Secondary English (11-18) from Roehampton University (2001)
- BA Hons from Royal Holloway, University of London (2000)
- Gained full QTS (qualified teacher status in 2002
Experience
- Taught in inner London, greater London and Surrey for 15 years before relocating to Devon.
- 6 years of experience teaching in Devon.
- Taught in a range of comprehensive schools, students ranging from 11-18 years old.
- I have also been head Media Studies (GCSE and A Level courses taught).
Skills
- Subjects I have particular expertise in are, of course, English Literature and Language (GCSE, mainly AQA exam board) , exam skills, general writing and grammar skills and much more!
- I can also offer support with some A Level English Literature courses (there are many different course combinations).
- I am also a trained children's mindfulness teacher.
Is tutoring right for us?
It's fair to say that not all teaching styles suit all learners. As teachers it is our responsibility to find a teaching style to suit the learning style of the learner we are working with at that time. One size doesn't fit all and that is why so many children often struggle at school - it's not the teacher's fault - based on my experiences in the classroom it's linked to class sizes and the unfortunate legacies of the pandemic.
As a tutor it's a real opportunity to work through any problems your child may be experiencing in a calm, safe environment. My aim as a tutor is to transform any potentially negative experiences into positive ones. To increase confidence and enjoyment of a subject which is the keystone to success in later life.
Underachievement in mock exams?
Need help preparing for a GCSE re-sit exam?
Poor essay writing skills?
Lack of confidence?
Falling behind due to illness?
Lack of understanding of the exam assessment objectives?
Poor reading comprehension skills?
Testimonials
Here are just a few of the lovely things some students and their parents have had to say about my work recently.
E, age 16
I worked with E in preparation for her GCSEs. We started in the Easter holidays. The aim was to to rebuild her confidence and develop her written skills.
My English Language GCSE and English Literature GCSE increased from a 4 and 5 to an 8 in both subjects
I was struggling with both English Language and English Literature and had been predicted a target grade of 7 in both subjects in my January mock exams but came back with a 4 and a 5. I was finding it hard to catch up and understand what I needed to do to increase my grades and didn’t have enough time at school to work through. I struggle with timing and writing quickly. Learning the fifteen literature poems was also hard for me.
Nikki worked with me once a week for 2 hour sessions from April until June and helped me to understand the poetry texts, what I needed to write to get my grade and taught me some great smart exam techniques that helped me so much.
She gave me the confidence to express my ideas and helped me to memorise and learn and showed me how to revise and prepare for my English exams. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without her and I was so pleased when I got my results through an 8 in each subject. Nikki is the BEST english tutor and she understood exactly what I needed to do. Thank you Nikki!
t
This is what E's mother very kindly had to say:
My daughter’s English GCSE grade increased from a 4 and a 5 in English Literature and English language in her GCSE mocks to an 8 in both subjects.
After my daughter’s mock results came through we realised she needed some help with her English Language and English Literature GCSEs having previously been target graded of 7 we realised we needed help when her GCSE mock results came through as a 4 and 5 respectively.
Nikki worked with Emily for 2 hour sessions for 8 weeks from Easter until her exam in June and helped her with her confidence, exam technique, writing efficiently and getting ideas out and onto paper. She expanded her writing and vocabulary techniques and helped her to understand what she needed to write to push herself up the grade boundaries. She taught it in a way that Emily understood, could retain the ideas and information, and find her most effective learning strategies.
Not only did Emily get outstanding GCSE results (an 8 in English Language and an 8 in English Literature) she also gained huge amounts of confidence in her writing techniques that will stay with her for life.
We would have absolutely no hesitation in recommending Nikki as an English tutor.
FAQs
- How long will a lesson last?
2. Where will the lesson happen?
3. How much does a lesson cost?
4. How do you decide or know what to teach?
Here are just a few of the most common questions, please feel free to send a email if you have any others to nikki@southhamstutor.co.uk .
1 A lesson can be anywhere between 1 and 2 hours long (depending on age and concentration levels, and travelling time). I don't like to cognitively overwhelm students as this can be counter-productive in the longterm.
2. Ideally, lessons will take place in a quiet area of your home where we can work undisturbed. If not, we can work in my home but be aware that I do have a golden retriever and two cats (all very friendly). Alternatively we can do lessons online.
3. Lesson costs will depend on whether I am coming to you, or vice versa, any additional travelling time and the duration of the lesson. We can discuss this this.
4. In our first lesson we'll spend some time talking about what you are doing in school at the moment and where you feel you strengths and weaknesses currently lie. we might look over any current work in your exercise book (if you have it) and use that to help us identify areas to to work on. I'll use that to work out a learning plan for our sessions.
Finding out that you have to re-take English Language GCSE doesn't have to ruin the end of your summer.
Thursdays at the end of August aren't relaxing if you're a teacher either!
4
In fact you start to get jittery as soon as the media start to mention the Scottish Higher results, or at least I do. - a week before A Level results It means results season is coming. It means the lazy days of summer are coming to an end soon and that reality must bite soon too. But what if that bite for some is more of a savaging than a quick nip? What about those students who just miss out on those all important grades?
Well, at A Level there's Clearing, a rather intimidating sounding process. The vast majority of students who miss their predicted grades manage to gain a place at university this way (47 000 last year, source: UCAS, 2021). At GCSE it's rather different.
Summer 2022
Result
Winter 2022
Re-result
Summer 2023
Re-result
GCSE students who miss out on the English Language grade 4 or higher have to re-take the qualification at sixth form/college level. It is always better to aim to pass first time - it is my experience that a student will find it harder to pass the exam second time. But, if a student does find themselves opening an envelope on 25th August and seeing a 4 - all is not lost!
In November schools and colleges have the opportunity to enter students for the qualification again. The problem is that schools and colleges rarely have enough curriculum time or teaching staff available to give students the support needed to prepare. It's not uncommon for year 12 students to have just 60-90 minutes of lesson time per fortnight and be told to 'get on' with work in any private study lessons. But what if they don't understand a key concept? What if they were absent when the class explored the effect of sentence structure in year 9 because they had COVID and again in year 11?
In this scenario, tutoring can help. It can plug those gaps. We can also work on creating a meaningful timetable of lessons and revision to prepare for the re-sit exam in November, in order that they can pass the exam and move forward with their sixth form education.
Get in touch!
If you think that tutoring is for you then please get in touch. Just send an email with your contact details and some basic information about what you might need and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.
Many thanks,
Nikki Brayne
The South Hams English Tutor
nikki@southhamstutor.co.uk