Jaiden Anthony

I teach maths from first principles. Most pupils arrive able to follow a method but unable to say why it works, which is why they freeze when an exam question looks unfamiliar. So I start lower than they expect, with the basic building blocks, and build upwards one idea at a time until the topic makes sense as a whole. Everything happens on the whiteboard. I don’t hand over a finished solution. I draw the idea out from scratch, ask the pupil what comes next, and let them do the working. If I’m writing most of the board, I’m teaching too fast. For algebra, that might mean starting with what a variable actually represents. Once the understanding is solid, I move to the exam. Here the question becomes: what is this question really testing? Every exam question has a purpose. It checks one idea, or the link between two, and the wording usually points towards it. I teach pupils to read a question for that purpose, spot the building block underneath, and choose their method for a reason rather than from habit. We then practise under timed conditions so they learn to start, keep going and avoid abandoning questions halfway. By the end of a session, the pupil should be able to explain the topic back to me in their own words. That is the standard I work to. A grade follows from understanding, and understanding comes from building it themselves, step by step, with me alongside.

Grade 9 in maths and further maths GCSE. A* predicted in maths a level and A in Further maths AS (highest grade)