Liz Talbot

I have been a qualified English teacher for 15 years, working as Head of Department for a little under half of that time and, prior to teacher training, working as a specialist Learning Support Assistant for SEND students at a Special Needs School. All in all, I have worked in educational settings for 18 years.

All of my experiences in the classroom have taught me how to cater for individuals and support them to reach their full potential.

I am incredibly passionate about developing individual students' abilities in English. Recognising talents and nurturing these, as well as assisting with new skills and knowledge is exciting - knowing I have made a difference, no matter how small and helped to improve confidence in reading, writing or exam preparations is the reason why I teach. I will always make sessions engaging, useful and provide strategies you can use in your day-to-day learning.

Our initial session will consist of short reading and writing tasks to gauge areas where students need support. These will be assessed and based upon this, I will create a personalised plan to support and develop specific areas in each session. Each student is individual and their needs will take precedence as opposed to delivering generic sessions. At exam level, we will spend time on practice questions and I will always provide model examples; these will either be exemplifications provided by exam boards, examples I have created prior to the session or 'live' models where I talk students through the exam response as this is written.

I have experience of teaching AQA, WJEC and Pearson/Edexcel English Language and English Literature GCSE and AQA English Literature A-Level. I have planned curriculums focused around the AQA specifications mostly, however I am able to teach to any specification.

At exam level, we will spend time on practice questions and I will always provide model examples; these will either be exemplifications provided by exam boards, examples I have created prior to the session or 'live' models where I talk students through the exam response as this is written.

With respect to non-exam level students, I have taught the full range of abilities across all KS3 year groups, as well as planned two separate curriculums for this key stage, as well as reading and writing interventions and taught students at various stages of reading development, therefore have the ability to tutor year 5 and 6 students.

Having taught the full range of abilities over the years and several of those as Head of English, I am able to draw upon classroom strategies, such as chunking for students that need a slightly slower pace in 'bitesize' sections, as well as challenging students that need it, even if you don't realise you do. The structure of each lesson will always be well-thought-out and student-centric.

As well as the above, I offer parents a free phone consultation prior to the initial session to discuss areas of difficulty and the preferred outcomes, for example, this could be to simply improve literacy and reading ability to better access lessons; to prepare for exams; or to catch up in specific areas of the curriculum.

Whatever stage of learning you or your child is at, I can deliver engaging, supportive and progress-focused sessions. With a strong background in education, I can ensure that the strategies taught in sessions will assist with progress in their day-to-day English education.