During the initial onboarding process, students and their families are asked to complete a form detailing any strengths and areas of concern. Families are encouraged to discuss these insights with me before sessions begin, providing a clear foundation for our work together.

The first sessions concentrate on establishing a comprehensive assessment of each student’s reading and writing skills. This assessment aims to create a supportive environment, allowing me to tailor my teaching to fit each student’s unique strengths and areas for growth.

Once I have a clear understanding of my student’s needs, I will conduct sessions that are appropriately aligned with their abilities. These sessions will gently support them while also challenging them to improve gradually. We will achieve this through various methods, including discussions, an exploration of the marking criteria and activities tailored to their specific learning styles. I am always open to trying new approaches and welcome feedback from students about what is working for them. I always put this feedback at the front and center of my approach to their tuition sessions.

I recognise that every student with SEND is different, so my approach begins with getting to know the individual student – their strengths, areas of difficulty, interests, preferred ways of working and what helps them feel comfortable and confident when learning.

I have previous experience of teaching within a SEND department in a mainstream secondary school, alongside my wider experience as an English teacher. This has given me a strong understanding of the importance of flexibility and adapting teaching to the individual. Sessions can be adjusted in terms of pace, structure, level of challenge, resources and teaching approach, using strategies such as modelling, scaffolding, repetition, visual support and breaking learning into manageable steps where appropriate.

Where helpful, I am also very happy to work alongside a student’s school so that tuition complements the support they are already receiving. With parental agreement, I can take existing school targets or recommendations into account and provide evidence of work completed during tuition where this would be useful in supporting the student’s education in school.

Above all, my aim is to provide a calm, supportive and flexible environment where students have time to develop confidence, build positive relationships with learning and make progress at a pace that is appropriate for them.

Building confidence is central to my approach. I begin by establishing each student’s individual starting point so that teaching is pitched at the right level of challenge – allowing students to experience success while still making meaningful progress.

I break more complex skills into manageable steps and use modelling, guided practice, discussion and positive, specific feedback before gradually encouraging greater independence. Students are given opportunities to recognise what they are already doing well as well as understanding their next steps. Over time, the aim is for students to become more willing to take risks, trust their own ideas and approach English with greater confidence and independence.

I teach essay writing by making the process clear, manageable and achievable. Rather than simply asking students to write an essay and then correcting it afterwards, I explicitly teach how to think, plan and write effectively, breaking the key skills required for successful essay writing down into smaller, manageable steps.

A strong understanding of the mark scheme is central to this. I help students understand what examiners are actually looking for and translate assessment criteria into clear, practical skills they can apply to their own writing. We break these skills down individually – such as developing an argument, selecting evidence, analysing language, exploring alternative interpretations, using context purposefully and constructing an effective response – before bringing them together in a complete essay.

I use an ‘I do, we do, you do’ approach: first modelling these skills and the writing process myself, then constructing and improving responses together before supporting students to apply what they have learned independently. Exemplar responses and mark schemes are used alongside this so students can see what successful writing looks like, understand why it is successful and recognise how particular choices fulfil the assessment criteria.

Talk-to-write is also an important part of my approach. Students have opportunities to explore, rehearse and refine their thinking through discussion before committing their ideas to paper. We might develop an interpretation together, test different ways of expressing an idea or verbally construct and improve a sentence. This is particularly valuable for students who understand a text or have interesting ideas but struggle to translate those thoughts into confident academic writing.

Where students need additional support, I use writing frames, prompts and scaffolds, but these are gradually withdrawn as their confidence and competence develop. The goal is always independence rather than creating reliance on a particular structure.

Metacognition runs throughout the process. I encourage students to think about how and why they have made particular choices, evaluate their writing against the success criteria and identify their own next steps. Over time, they begin to recognise what effective writing looks like, understand their individual strengths and areas for development and make purposeful improvements without always relying on teacher feedback.

Ultimately, my aim is not simply to help students produce one better essay, but to give them a secure understanding of the skills behind successful writing and the confidence to apply them independently across different texts, questions and examinations.

That is absolutely fine. A student does not need to arrive at tuition already enjoying or feeling confident in English. In fact, rebuilding a student's relationship with the subject can be one of the most important aspects of our work together.

I first try to understand why a student has become disengaged. They may have experienced repeated difficulty, lost confidence, developed gaps in their knowledge or simply not connected with the way English has previously been taught.

From there, I focus on achievable successes and approaches that work for that individual. Where appropriate, I can incorporate their interests into texts, topics and activities while still developing the skills they need. 

My firm belief is that if you can help a student feel confident in what they are doing, then enjoyment will follow. So, I always aim for confidence first.

No. Although writing is an important part of English tuition, effective writing begins long before a student puts pen to paper. I focus first on developing the thinking, knowledge and confidence needed to produce successful written responses.

Sessions may include reading, discussion, planning, vocabulary development, analysis of exemplar responses, modelling, verbal rehearsal and talk-to-write activities, alongside shorter, focused writing tasks.

There will be times when I expect students to complete extended pieces of writing, particularly as they develop their skills and prepare for assessments or examinations. However, I will only ask a student to do this when I am confident that they have been given the knowledge, strategies and preparation needed to approach the task successfully. The aim is for extended writing to provide an appropriate level of challenge, rather than simply asking students to write before they are ready.

Although ongoing tuition is carefully planned, it is also flexible and responsive. If a student arrives with something they are finding particularly difficult at school, an upcoming assessment or an area in which they have suddenly lost confidence, we can address this where appropriate.

I can help them unpack what they are being asked to do, identify the underlying skill causing difficulty and work through it in a more individualised way.

This means tuition can maintain a clear long-term programme of development while still responding to the student's immediate needs when they arise.

The ultimate aim of tuition is for students to need less support, not more. I therefore explicitly teach students the strategies they need to approach English independently rather than simply helping them produce better work while I am sitting beside them.

I often use an ‘I do, we do, you do’ approach: first modelling a skill or thought process, then working through it together before asking the student to apply it independently. Scaffolds such as writing frames, prompts and sentence structures can be introduced where helpful but are gradually withdrawn as confidence and understanding develop.

Metacognition is also important. I encourage students to think about how they approached a task, recognise which strategies helped them and identify what they could do differently next time. This helps them develop a toolkit of approaches they can transfer to schoolwork and examinations.

Ultimately, I want students to leave tuition not just knowing more English, but knowing how to think, learn and work more confidently for themselves.

You can contact me directly via rosannabrownenglishtuition@outlook.com or 07466068533 to discuss your requirements and arrange a session. I look forward to hearing from you.