Online across the UK, in person in OX13, Oxfordshire.

If your child is at secondary school or home educated, and needs support, a challenge or a fresh start in English, you are in the right place.

I’m Helen. I taught English in secondary schools for over 25 years, as a classroom teacher, Head of Department, Form Tutor and Pastoral Lead. I know where students get stuck: building a clear argument, writing about a poem without just listing techniques, finding something to say about a text they have stopped seeing. I also know what examiners are looking for.

But the reason I do this is simpler than exam results. When a student genuinely understands a text and has a view worth defending, the grades tend to follow.

How we can work together

1. One-to-one tuition for students or adults

Lessons tailored to your, or your child’s, interests, needs, exam board and targets, with written feedback. Online or face-to-face in OX13.

Evening Lessons: £55 an hour, or £35 per student for paired lessons

Daytime Lessons: £45

2. Home Education: Creative Reading & Writing

A six-week small-group course for ages 11 to 14. Tuesday and/or Thursday mornings face-to-face in OX13 (max 5 students) starting 3 or 5 November.

•     Cost: £150 per course

3. Get GCSE Ready

GCSE English in small online groups. A six-week Language course runs from 2 of November (max 5). From November to December, the focus will be on Fiction texts and creative writing.

This course follows the AQA specification. If your child is taking a different exam board, including IGCSE, I offer one-to-one tuition tailored to their course

•   £150 per six-week course

Getting started

We talk for fifteen minutes, free and with no obligation. One-to-one lessons have the same slot each week, paid weekly or by the half term, with no joining fee and no minimum number of lessons. For six-week courses, you pay £25 for the first session and only commit to the rest if your child wants to carry on.

A safe, supportive space

As a parent of two teenage boys, I know what it is like to watch your child struggle under exam pressure and to want more support than school can always give. I have a great deal of experience with students who feel anxious about English or learn differently. I hold an enhanced DBS certificate, and my lessons are calm and encouraging: the kind I would want for my own children.