LDT: Tutor

The LDT set up

LDT was set up to cater for children who need academic structure, social nurturing and one-to-one attention whilst out of the classroom. LDT originates from personal experiences as a child suffering from ill-health and mild learning difficulties and from experience, dedication and practice in the teaching/tutoring profession.

GROWING UP: Between the age of 7 and 11, I missed chunks of mainstream schooling. I was fortunate enough to have a home tutor and mentor called Jean who would devote personal time to home-schooling me until I was fit enough to return to the classroom. Jean provided me with support and strategies for improving my self-confidence, something I lacked as a result of absenteeism.

Having Jean tutor me meant I didn’t fall behind my peers and I was confident when I returned to the classroom. Jean made a lasting impression on me, helped to shape my current teaching philosophy and define many of my methods and goals as a private home-school tutor.

OVER 25 YEARS EXPERIENCE: My experience is diverse and wide ranging. I am incredibly proud of ALL the inquiring young minds I have tutored, many of whom have gone on to achieve greater things in further/higher education and out in the wider world.

I began teaching English and Drama in a mainstream comprehensive school. This provided me with the NQT experience I needed to grow as an educator. Promoted to the Head of Expressive Arts Department, I soon felt my calling was to help children on a one-to-one basis.

I have tutored children from a range of contexts including actors in the Entertainment Industry. A notable selection of film work being:

- Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone

- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

- Muppet’s Movie 2

- Finding Neverland

My tutoring work took me on a World Tour with one well-known family (Pop Royalty!) in the music industry with whom I worked for over seven years.

My tutoring often requires a focus on children who are working towards specific levels of assessment in key subject areas and for entry to specific schools. Notable examples:

- Trinity School, Croydon

- Whitgift

- Dulwich College

- Alleyn’s School

- James Allen’s Girls’ School

- Francis Holland School

- Emanuel School

- King’s College School, Wimbledon 

- City of London School 

- ICS School

- Putney High School GDST 

- Wimbledon High School GDST

- Streatham and Clapham High School GDST

- Ibstock Place School 

- Epsom College, Surrey 

- St John’s School, Surrey 

- Wilson’s Boys’ Grammar School

- Wallington Girls’ Grammar School

- Sussex House School

- Dulwich Preparatory School

- Eaton House, Clapham

- Parkgate School

- Newton Prep

- St Thomas’s Preparatory School, Clapham

- Hornsby House School

- Broomwood Hall Upper School

- Northcote Lodge

- Sylvia Young Theatre School

- The Moat School

- Connaught House Day School

- Fairley House School for Specific Learning Difficulties




I have worked for schools, companies and families internationally. Often children come to London from abroad and I help them improve upon their spoken and written English, as well as facilitating work set by their native school.

Experience has been gained working with children who have specific learning differences. Including: dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia, ADHD, EBD and autistic spectrum disorder.

Relationships have been built with influential and renowned educational professionals. I attend several educational training courses to help expand and adapt my teaching styles. I read up on pedagogy because I believe in constantly opening up my mind to new, challenging and forever shifting educational perspectives.

I have worked with children from a range of different religious, ethnic, socio-economic and cultural backgrounds. This range of experience is what has galvanised me into action and in setting up LDT. The children are what have made my job so fascinating and rewarding.



MY OWN HOBBIES AND INTERESTS ARE RELEVANT TO LDT

Health and fitness are important to me. I see the value this can play in the lives of children. I enjoy team sports, attend a gym and have a passion for hiking, nature and outdoor pursuits. Yoga and meditation prove to be beneficial to the balance of my body and mind. The benefits gained from exercise and fitness compliment academic and intellectual growth and I often incorporate aspects of physical wellbeing into my teaching.

Visits to the theatre, cinema, art exhibitions museums, historical landmarks also stimulate my mind and form a part of who I am outside LDT. I often share these interests with my students ( with parents authorisation, sometimes as field trips ) because they help to inform and develop an awareness of the world around us. I believe teaching goes beyond just the academic, it is about developing the whole child.

My voluntary work is instrumental in teaching children about the importance of humility and of serving our wider community. I spend 1 month a year working with orphans in an impoverished township near Cape Town, South Africa. I have watched many of these children grow and develop into healthy and successful young adults who have now taken on apprenticeships and careers in their local communities.