Seo

Key overview

  • Attended St Swithun’s School in Winchester (top 24 Boarding School in the UK for results)

  • Achieved in top 5 of my degree course in Chemistry and Pharmacology BSc. Hons at The University of Liverpool

  • Worked for Novartis as a Scientist

  • Moved to Scientific Recruitment and Oil and Gas and ran a team of 30 staff whilst billing £300k for the company annually

  • Retrained in 2010 to teach Science at Secondary School with Chemistry up to A-Level and IB

  • Worked in Top IB and A-Level Schools Internationally

  • Experience of teaching all specs at A-Level and IB SL and HL

  • Edexcel IGCSE and IAL and A-Level, AQA and Cambridge examiner - for Biology and Chemistry

  • Head of Chemistry and Science responsibility means I have seen 300+ IAs over the years

  • One of my students achieved the highest mark in the world for Chemistry Edexcel IGCSE

Personal approach:

Due to my previous career I am a confident speaker and enjoy giving presentations. That be said I am a great believer that children can smell passion, just as much as fear! Therefore I try and steer away from PowerPoint presentations and prefer to use visual aids and a bit of drama to get pupils to understand difficult concepts in a more visual and kinaesthetic ways. I am focussed in my perseverance for pupil’s attainment.

I particularly enjoy working with pupils from Year 10 upwards, especially sharing the happiness of them achieving their dream of attending their University of choice. I can think of many times over the years that students have shared with me their joy of getting into their chosen University, feeling like I have helped in this goal is the reason I still do this job. My favourite moments are often helping students understand tricky concepts or things they find hard to learn; we all find these things challenging and I feel this resilience is a life skill, one that is a pleasure to teach others.

I am known to take great pride in creating my resources. They are my own, used and perfected from the classroom experience. I have a reputation for my hatred of worksheets! Students of mine get bespoke resources and lots of practice and explanation. When the time is right, I have lots of past papers to aid their understanding and to test their application of concepts: a challenge that is particularly needed at IB and A-Level.

Key overview

  • Attended University of Strathclyde for my BSc. Hons in Laser Physics and Optoelectronics

  • Achieved a graduate place post University working for IBM

  • Completed my PGCE and worked for schools in Scotland

  • Moved to Dubai - Jumeirah College as Head of Physics and then moving onto Jumeirah English Speaking School (JESS)

  • Became an examiner for the International Baccalaureate Organisation and Pearson Edexcel.

  • Extensive Head of Physics experience both from Dubai and Houston

  • Experience of teaching KS3 to GCSE Science all subjects and Physics at IB and I/A-Level

  • Senior Examiner for Physics IB SL and HL - seen hundred’s of IAs and EEs and have a deep understanding of the complexity of A-Level and IB Physics.

  • Examiner for Edexcel IGCSE and I/A-Level, AQA and Cambridge - Physics

Personal approach:

My educational belief and philosophy stem from this quote by Nelson Mandela;

‘Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world’

My career in teaching and tutoring has led me to believe that excellence must be nurtured for all students, and I always try encouraging students to be curious and ask probing questions and motivate them to embrace challenges, and to be ambitious learners within an inspirational and creative environment.

Each child is an individual and will learn at their own pace, the love of learning must be cultivated and developed using different learning techniques. I believe that an all-encompassing and holistic approach to education provides this and allows students to build on their skills and widens their professional aspirations, thus preparing them for the future.

I encourage an accumulative learning approach by promoting deep learning rather than a shallow or strategic understanding and place great emphasis on transferable skills.

All students who collaborate with me will be provided with detailed lessons and resources, exam questions with step-by-step solutions, individualised learning plans, exam technique and revision strategies, positive reinforcement, and encouragement along with innovative learning techniques and a collaborative environment where we work together to achieve our best outcomes.

Ally

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