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I grew up in London and attended Harris Westminster Sixth Form (A Levels: History, Politics, English Literature, Religious Studies and AS Mathematics). I was lucky enough to win a place at Oxford to read History at Hertford College, where I developed a love for political thought and the history of ideas. I then took a master鈥檚 degree in Intellectual History at St Andrews where I was awarded a first class distinction.

After spending some time travelling in Eastern Europe, I returned to London where I decided to start my career in education. I鈥檝e specialised in alternative provision schooling, and have taught entire A-Level and GCSE courses in one-on-one lessons to individual students, all of whom have achieved an A or higher.

I鈥檝e been teaching and tutoring online and in person for 5 years, and I feel incredibly lucky to have met eager and brilliant young people, and to give them the opportunity to benefit from personalised contact time with a subject specialist.

I believe that it鈥檚 important that lessons are as interactive as possible. Whether I鈥檓 explaining abstract claims in Philosophy or teaching a student how to examine primary sources, I constantly question and engage my students so that they鈥檙e following along. Though my teaching style is adaptable to the needs of my students, I find that the following strategies have worked best in teaching the following subjects:

For GCSE students I make it absolutely clear how to write an answer that achieves top marks in an exam. I work very closely with them to guide their writing, making it clear where their prose needs improvement, and how to do so. Alongside this, I support students by making an implicit skill many teenagers have 鈥� that of argument 鈥� explicit. I teach students how to reason; how to reach a conclusion whose premises are all stated plainly and to construct arguments which flow logically. I encourage curiosity by centering lessons around seemingly basic questions which then call for them to think through their own assumptions. In a history lesson, a student may find themselves articulating thoughts about why there are governments at all; In religious studies with me, students are likely to be explaining why some religions venerate people still living.

For my A-Level students, where students often find their teachers鈥� expectations to be ambiguous, I teach them how to mark their own work and to fully understand what their exam board is looking for. In History, I encourage students to engage with the arguments put forward by academic historians. A lesson on the Stuarts may involve investigating whether the view that the civil war disguised class conflict matches up to the best available evidence. In R.S and Philosophy, I explain the philosophical controversies clearly and distinctly, and don鈥檛 shy away from coming down clearly on one position to encourage clarity and debate. I encourage students to engage with the primary materials as much as possible. A lesson on moral philosophy may have my student examining and drafting objections to a paragraph from Hume for an hour.

When it comes to preparing students for entrance examinations, be they at selective schools like Eton and Westminster, or Oxbridge, I lead by getting students used to dealing with ambiguous and complex sources. For History entrance exams, I teach pupils how to investigate historical documents and to make compelling arguments from the narrow material they have to work with. Above all, I lead by example, showing students the steps needed to investigate problems on their own. I always treat these students as individuals, encouraging them to pursue their own interests. My time spent in research and teaching has given me access to a wide range of subject- specific reading lists which I use to set further guided reading to help students give a full picture of themselves in their personal statements.

Above all, my teaching style reflects the excellent education I鈥檝e received. It鈥檚 truly a privilege to be able to share my knowledge and enthusiasm with individual students, and to create an environment where dialogue, challenge and scholarship can flourish.

When I鈥檓 not working, I keep up with my friends from Oxford and we can be found having lively debates on just about anything under the sun. I love reading, travelling, struggling to improve at chess, and outdoors I鈥檓 a massive road-cycling enthusiast.