Maths Tuition - Peter Bridge 1.93

Maths and Stats tuition / revision and resits: Primary including entrance exams, GCSE all boards / levels, as well as adult numeracy including QTS exam. Competitive rates with cost related to the level and length of lessons. Sessions (45 to 90 min) are available weekdays, weekends, daytime or evenings. As a recently retired Clinical Scientist / Researcher (Paediatric Respiratory Medicine), a member of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications and a STEM schools ambassador, I strive to make maths alive by showing how it is useful outside of school. I am happy to meet for a no obligation / no charge chat and information exchange. I have an enhanced CRB / DBS checked and I am married with an nine year old son;-) and I am a non smoker.

Tutoring Experience: Although, I do not have formal teaching qualification and I only started offering private tuition at the beginning of 2015, I have already tutored a range of tutees from Common Entrance Exam level to adult learners including CGSE students (one who is 71 and just sailed through her exam) for both Mathematics and Statistics. However, my "teaching" roles go back to 1973, post graduation. I taught maths to several friends’ children as well as adult friends / colleagues who needed to obtain better qualification. My research positions included teaching / lecturing roles at all levels from work experience pupils up to consultants, as well as giving invited talks and lectures on B.Sc. and M.Sc. courses. In the laboratory / clinics, I found particular pleasure explaining to children and parents the purpose of the tests / research and the "mathematics" behind the analysis and interpretation of the results. In my own time, I helped several long term inpatients with school work in science and others with projects related to the maths and biology of their respiratory problems.

Tutoring Approach: As George Orwell never said “All tutees are not the same but some are more different than others”. I have a variety of approaches, depending on factors such as (i) whether the tutee needs teaching or revision; (ii) the number of lessons they can fit in before the exam; (iii) their strengths and weaknesses, as well as their interests; (iv) the length of the sessions 45-90 mins and (v) the work they are willing / keen to do between sessions. However, there are aspects that are common to all tutees: I spend as long as necessary to clarify import issue such as (i) which board, level and paper they will be sitting; (ii) the text book they use and which parts of the syllabus have been covered and whether any need revising or explaining and (iii) wherever possible, obtaining suggestions and feedback from their teachers including where marks had been lost in recent exams.

Other aspects of my approach include (i) the tutee attempting appropriate questions / papers from other boards and even old O'level papers to make them “think outside the box” and be more prepared for questions that do not fit the usual mode; (ii) e-mailing questions of papers in advance of session to allow adequate time for preparation; (iii) feeding back how sessions have gone and suggestions for changes; (iv) moving up and down the difficulty ladder depending on the progress; (v) working on exam technique and teaching how to not misinterpret questions, sometimes, badly written; (vi) prepare tutees for difficult topics about to be taught at school, to ensure the tutee gets the most out of upcoming lessons and (vii) using examples from everyday life to demonstrate the use and usefulness of maths and statistics outside of the classroom.

I make extensive use of marking schemes and examiners reports to discuss how the tutee may have obtained the correct answer but lost marks or lost time by providing too much details and this has been very successful and interesting for the tutees.

Some of my feedback:
Primary
Female
Mum of 11 year old, KSF2: Just to let you know that S***** passed her exams and we were very happy with her marks. She really looked forward to your lessons and we appreciated how your lessons were well planned but also how you adapted to changes that she needed when you turned up. She managed to improve both her ability and understanding of maths whilst having a few laughs on the way. We’ll definitely come back to you if she needs help at the secondary level but she has certainly got a better foundation that she would not have had without your input. In reality, the exams results are secondary to the stronger foundation.

Mum of an 11 year old KSF2: Great news, E*** passed her Maths and English SATS and did well although I can’t remember the marks she got. Fingers crossed that things go well in County High and that your good work to raise both her ability and confidence will stand her in good stead. I will be very happy to pass you name and details onto other parents.

Male
Mum of a 9 year old: Really sorry Peter but due to our shift commitments having changed, we will have to stop lessons for the time being. R***** really enjoyed the sessions and was always quite excited about the next one, as you seemed to pull novel ways out of the bag (your ruck sack!) to get points and concepts across. He improved a lot or should I say that you made him aware of how much he knew without knowing that he knew. LOL Also, thanks for your willingness to changes times and days to fit in with our shifts. I get the feeling that we will need more lessons when he gets close to his KSF2 exams and you will be first on the list. Hope you will be able to fit us in!

Mum of a 9 year old after his school exam: We are all looking forward to starting J****’s tuition again in September. The two terms he spent with you last school year reaped good benefits. His classwork improved dramatically as did the end of year exam result (compared to his previous exam). Mainly, he has developed some good ways of working around questions and understanding some quite poorly phrased questions.

Mum of an 11 yearr old: My son enjoyed his tutoring with Peter. He made the sessions relaxed and enjoyable whilst getting the hard work done. The sessions were well planned and fun I receive good, detailed feedback after each session. Happy to recommend.

Mum of an 11 year old boy with mild ADD: What a relief, that J**** did relatively well in is SATS exam and we were all very pleased with his results. What an improvement from when we started the tuition only two terms before the exams and he now realises that he is quite good at maths. Your professional and yet informal and somewhat unconventional approach was exactly what he needed. At the moment, we can’t afford tuition, even though your fees are low for what you provide and achieve. Hopefully he will get on well in the secondary school but we will definitely come back to you if and when the need arises.

Teacher's reply to an e-mail from the mother of an 11 year old boy (with mild dyslexia) about to take a Common Entrance exam: Thank you for your email. I am pleased that you son has a good tutor and is happy doing extra Maths. The best paper to prepare him for our end of year test would be a practice SATs test as they follow a similar format to ours.
Mum of an 11 year old: I have spoken with H*** last night and I think that he is becoming a bit exhausted with after school activities as he is not getting home until gone 6 every evening and he has a very early start with his school being so far away. For now we are going to have to stop his extra Maths lesson as he is feeling very tired and that he is never at home to have any down time. Please do not feel that this is in anyway personal as H**** really enjoyed his couple of sessions with you and he thinks that you are amazingly clever but I do not want to put pressure on him and make him not enjoy his work as he is tired. I will definitely come back to you Peter when he needs help with his Maths at a more advanced stage and I would like to Thank-you so much for all the time and effort you have put into him and I promise we will come back to you
Lower Secondary
Male:
Parents of a 13 years old boy:Good morning Peter. Sorry for the delay, J***** did well enough in his KSF3 exam and his results were well above the predicted from his course work and mocks. As you know, he is not keen on having tuition but you do manage to get the best out of him. After his exam result, he said “Great, I don’t need any more tuition” to which we replied “Oh yes you do”! Does that sound like a pantomime to you? See you next week to fit in a few lessons before the end of the school year. Many thanks and also for the info and articles you send us about the changes in the syllabus and maths related educational articles.

GCSE
Female:
From the mum of a 15 year old girl who took Stats 1 year early:. Had a call from B**** today and she got a C in Statistics - which she's very happy about, as she completely failed her mock only 2 terms earlier!Just wanted to say thank you for the time you spent with her and how well you put her at ease from day one.

Parent of a Year 11 girl: Hello Peter, thank you for your follow up, your emails always have an interesting flair about them. We also enjoyed our meeting and out daughter particularly liked your relaxed approach to the subject, for that reason alone I think she would benefit from being able to ask questions without feeling awkward about what she doesn't understand, most importantly I agree with your 'spades a spade' philosophy in how to interpret the syllabus into the real world.

Father of a schoolgirl: Just to update you, E**** did very well overall and passed all 13 ! In Maths she was one point off a B so of course that's a C. I think we will request a remark for the maths paper. We now regret delaying starting the tuition with you and that she could only fir in 3 sessions. Many thanks again for your help in the past, best wishes