Today I had the opportunity to observe Chloe teaching a Year 9 English session focused on William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet. The session was both engaging and intellectually stimulating, providing students with a supportive environment in which to explore the complexities of the text.
Chloe established a warm and interactive learning atmosphere from the outset. She encouraged the student to take an active role in their learning by posing thoughtful questions and prompting them to share their own interpretations of the play. Rather than providing immediate answers, Chloe created space for the student to reflect on the language, characters, and central themes. This approach empowered the student to develop and express their own ideas with increasing confidence.
As the student articulated their thoughts, Chloe listened attentively. She acknowledged the student’s contributions, validating their interpretations while also gently challenging them to think more deeply. Chloe guided the discussion by introducing additional perspectives and interpretations of the text. She connected the student’s ideas to broader themes such as love, fate, and conflict, and she encouraged the student to consider how Shakespeare’s language choices and dramatic techniques contributed to meaning.
Chloe’s feedback was insightful and constructive, helping the student to refine their analytical thinking and engage more critically with the play. Throughout the session, Chloe maintained a positive and encouraging tone
In addition to facilitating discussion, Chloe also provided targeted support with the student’s analytical writing on Romeo and Juliet. She guided the student in crafting clear and focused topic sentences that directly addressed the essay question, and she emphasised the importance of using relevant quotations from the play to support their arguments. Chloe offered practical strategies for analysing Shakespeare’s language, such as unpacking imagery and exploring the effects of literary devices like metaphor and oxymoron. She also helped the student link their analysis back to the play’s central themes—such as love, fate, and conflict—ensuring their writing remained cohesive and purposeful. Her feedback on sentence clarity, vocabulary, and paragraph structure was specific and constructive, helping the student to develop confidence and precision in their writing.
Overall, it was a great session to observe

Alexander Nikitopoulos

Today, David had his first session with a new Year 11 Maths student Alathea, who came in with clear intentions and a strong sense of direction. From the outset, she demonstrated a high level of engagement and self-awareness—providing context about her recent performance. She explained that while she is usually a strong student, she had recently received a disappointing mark and wanted to ensure she understood the content moving forward. The student arrived well-prepared, bringing in targeted questions specifically focused on parametric equations. Her questions reflected both her familiarity with the topic and her desire to master the nuances that had tripped her up in assessment. David responded to her queries with clarity and precision, breaking down each concept methodically and reinforcing key techniques. Throughout the session, Alathea maintained an active role in her learning, frequently interrupting to ask for clarification—especially when a method or explanation didn’t align with her prior understanding. This allowed David to tailor his explanations further and ensure she left with a more complete grasp of the material. Overall, the session was a great example of how effective tutoring can be when a student arrives prepared and invested, and when the tutor is responsive and clear. The dynamic between David and Alathea suggests a strong foundation for productive future sessions.

Grace Apted

I had the opportunity to observe Shyla’s Year 7 maths session today. I really appreciated with the way she was able to explain new math concepts to the student, who was particularly energetic and prone to distraction. When introducing algebraic concepts she used clear language and broke down the process into easy steps he could follow. She also took the time to rephrase or provide another example if he ever appeared hesitant, which helped to ensure he fully understood and remained confident in answering questions. I was also impressed by Shyla’s ability to balance friendly chat with staying on task. As I said, he was quite energetic but she welcomed light conversation which helped put the student at ease and remain engaged, but she knew how to redirect him back to the task at hand when the conversation was going on for too long. This is not the easiest to manage, especially with younger students who love to chat! Additionally, she acknowledged the student’s effort even when their answers weren’t entirely correct, which made sure the student never felt scared to say an answer. I saw this manifest throughout the whole session as the student was never shy in asking Shyla a frenzy of questions! Further, she had clearly planned the session well based off of the content they had covered last class, but she also was able to adapt in the moment when the student wanted to go over another concept he was confused with. Overall, her demeanour coupled with her professionalism allowed the student to feel both supported and challenged. I really appreciated her approach and ability to maintain rapport while getting through a lot of content. She was able to create a very positive and productive tutoring session!

Annaliese Lakis

I began tutoring at first education during February this year. I had done some tutoring here and there before, but nothing consistent. Since starting regular tutoring, I’ve not only watched all my students improve and grow in the short time that I’ve known them, but I’ve also noticed that I have developed and refined new skills myself. By working with students from a range of year groups, finding new ways to explain and simplify concepts is a skill that I use every session, and one that is extremely important. One technique that I find useful is to constantly break down concepts into simpler ideas. Students easily build more confidence when they realise they can understand the much simpler concepts that are involved in complex ideas. Also, asking the student to explain concepts back to you is an easy way to pinpoint areas that cause confusion that may need extra work.

Building good rapport with both the students and the parents are also crucial to the success of the student, which is a large part of why I enjoy working at first education so much. The close relationship between the tutor and the student that comes from regular one-on-one sessions allows for a safe environment where the student can make mistakes, ask questions and develop new skills and concepts without pressure or worry. This assists the student to build confidence in their abilities, which translates to their work at school, where they can continue to thrive and improve.

Lastly, the support that first education provides all tutors is a major factor that contributes to the success of the students. Providing resources such as whiteboards, paper, printers and comfortable rooms allow for tutors to be able to work to the best of their abilities, and utilise many methods to demonstrate and teach concepts and skills. This in turns allows the student to receive the greatest support they can, and therefore encourages growth and development in every student that attends.

Maddie Swain

Why Cramming Last Minute for Exams or Assignments is a Bad Idea:

Cramming the night before an exam or assignment may seem like a quick fix, but it’s a risky and often ineffective strategy. While it might occasionally yield short-term results, the long-term consequences far outweigh the benefits.

One major drawback is poor retention. Research shows that when you cram, you’re relying on short-term memory rather than deep understanding. This makes it harder to recall information during the exam or apply knowledge in new contexts. In contrast, spacing out your study sessions—known as distributed practice—helps commit information to long-term memory, improving both recall and comprehension.

Cramming also leads to high stress levels. Staying up late to study or finish assignments often results in sleep deprivation, which negatively impacts concentration, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills—precisely the tools you need to succeed during assessments. A well-rested brain performs far better than one running on caffeine and anxiety.

Additionally, last-minute work is usually lower quality. When rushing, you’re more likely to make mistakes, overlook details, and submit work that lacks depth. Assignments written in haste often show weaker structure, poor argumentation, and inadequate referencing, leading to lower grades.

Finally, habitual cramming encourages poor time management. Relying on last-minute pressure prevents you from developing essential planning and organizational skills, which are vital not only in academics but in professional life as well.

In short, cramming sacrifices genuine learning, mental well-being, and academic performance. A better approach is to plan ahead, break study or work into manageable chunks, and allow time for review and reflection. Not only will this lead to higher grades, but it will also reduce stress and build habits that set you up for long-term success.

Julian Podgornik

Today I was able to observe my fellow tutor Katreen as she provided a mathematics tutoring session for her student. Through utilising various techniques such as the whiteboard, paper and pen and her laptop, Katreen was able to keep her student engaged, helping her when needed but also ensuring she could complete the work individually.

Through integrating different resources such as the student’s textbook and worksheets, Katreen was able to ensure the information provided was accurate and well sourced, thus providing a __ to its fullest potential. For the first 15 minutes of the session, the tutor and student went through homework questions and various mistakes made, allowing her to ensure there was no confusion or lacking confidence in the student’s ability on previous lessons. This was helpful to ensure the student and tutor were both on the same page, proving that her student felt comfortable asking questions, thus demonstrating strong and healthy communication skills. Further, the tutor then began working on the new topic (pyramids and cones), utilising the whiteboard to draw diagrams and calculations clearly. This helped with the student who may be more of a visual learner, demonstrating the tutor’s strong ability in catering her session personally to this student.

After a quick break halfway through the session to help increase focus and productivity, a new tutoring approach was introduced for the second half of the session. This more hands on approach involved the tutor focusing on the student answering and working out the questions individually. This allowed for the tutor to get a clearer insight on the level the student was sitting at with this new content, and where some clarification may be needed. Finally, the tutor spent the last 15 minutes providing homework and ensuring her student felt confident with the new topic covered. Overall, through switching between these different techniques, Katreen provided a productive tutoring session where her student was engaged and ready to apply these skills to her lessons.

Annabelle Molloy

I was fortunate to be able to do an observation of Thea with two of her students – the older one just finishing up, being tutored in English. And the second one was much younger, in Mathematics. Both lessons provided great insight into the nature of learning as a whole, and was invaluable to my journey as a tutor.

She firstly discussed creative writing techniques with her older student – persuasive, discursive, etc. It was interesting to hear what she had to say, especially coming from a person that is more mathematically-minded, and studies a lot of mathematics for their degree. She discussed the ‘general approaches’ to types of creative writing – about how you learn to follow a general formula for a type of writing, and as your techniques, texts and themes become more complex, you learn to subvert this ‘formula’ to suit your needs. It could be the finals season brain fry getting to me, but my mind immediately drew parallels to the approaches mathematicians go to when solving differential equations – solving each ‘type’ presents the general form for a particular solution, and often times you need to be flexible and creative with your mathematics (following all the intuitive laws, of course). This I think made me realise that education is a creative process – fluid, dynamic, and always changing, much like the way our brains take in and process information.

With her second student, they delved into fractions. There was a lot of casual anecdotal conversation – relevant or tangential to the topic matter, of course, but back and forth nonetheless. It helped to provide strong engagement for her student, and maybe keep things fun. Her approach was very visual, representing particular fractions as split sectors of pie charts, allowing her student to colour in the correct fraction. I feel this approach was extremely effective for her student, and a big takeaway for me. I can remember when this stuff was a lot less intuitive for me – especially seeing as I’m almost suffocated by esoteric new mathematical ideas constantly for my engineering degree. I feel that I can really incorporate these kinds of visual strategies for my tutoring when it comes to younger students, especially when it comes to keeping things lighthearted. It is a definite reflection of Thea’s strong ability to tutor, and reinforces the idea that education is an inherently creative process (regardless of whether or not you’re bad at English like me!).

Thanks Thea!

Zac Markovina

When I tutor Legal Studies, my main goal is to make things easier and less stressful for students. I remember how overwhelming it could feel at times — all the legislation, cases, and tricky questions. I try to break everything down clearly, explain things in a way that makes sense, and help students figure out exactly what exam markers are looking for.

Because I’ve studied the subject myself, I can give practical tips on how to tackle essays, structure answers properly, and manage the workload during a busy Year 12 schedule. I also like connecting what we learn to real-world examples, so it feels more relevant and not just like reading a textbook.

Legal Studies is such an important subject because it teaches students how the world around them actually operates — and it gives them skills they’ll use way beyond school. Helping students build confidence in their writing, critical thinking, and exam technique is something I take seriously, but I always try to keep sessions relaxed and supportive.

At the end of the day, I just want students to feel more confident about the subject and give themselves the best shot at doing well in their final exams.

Nabil Harrar

Exam season is a stressful time for many students, but tutors can assist in playing a pivotal role in reducing this stress by equipping their students with the tools to succeed. Here are some methods that tutors provide can provide targeted support to help students stay focused, confident, and well-prepared.
1. Assessing a student’s strengths, weaknesses, and learning style are all helpful to identify what study strategies are best suited to each individual student. Tutors can help students by organizing material into manageable sections and setting clear goals of when this material should be completed. This can help students to avoid last-minute cramming and feel more in control during exam season.
2. Tutors also have an important role in clarifying difficult concepts by providing one-on-one attention to address any areas of confusion. Breaking down complex topics into simpler, more understandable pieces, ensures that students grasp the material thoroughly before moving on. This clarity and further understanding also plays a role in significantly reducing anxiety.
3. Tutors should also provide their students with exam techniques for tackling multiple-choice questions, time management, and prioritizing tasks during exams. Practicing these strategies during lessons helps to build familiarity and reduces uncertainty during exams.
4. Simulating exam conditions with practice tests during tutoring sessions allows students to become comfortable under pressure. Tutors use these sessions to pinpoint areas needing improvement and refine exam strategies. Tutors should also encourage students to complete practice papers in their own time under exam conditions so they can build self confidence. This helps the student in believing that they do have the ability to complete the exam which can assist in reducing pressure.
5. Building a student’s confidence is a vital strategy for tutors to display during lessons. By reinforcing progress and celebrating small victories, such as highlighting a student’s improvement in mock exams, tutors boost a student’s self-esteem. Knowing they have the support and guidance of a tutor can make students feel empowered to face challenges and also less stressed on exam day.

Sophia McLean

In the fast-paced world of today, forming and adhering to a consistent routine can feel impossible – particular for students juggling school work, extracurriculars and social lives. How then, can incorporating tutoring into a students’ life benefit their knowledge of structure and time management? Beyond just academic improvement, tutoring offers a myriad of surprising benefits for building a reliable routine that sets students up for long-term success. Tutoring sessions are consistent, scheduled and predictable – qualities that many students lack in their daily routines. Whether its once or twice a week, having regular tutoring appointments encourages students to plan around a stable, non-negotiable commitment. Over time, this repetition helps forge a mental framework for better time management. Similarly, tutors go beyond helping just with subjects – they also help students learn the best learning techniques for their specific needs. A good tutor teaches students how to break assignments into manageable pieces, prioritise tasks, and stick to study plans. These habits naturally merge with other facets of life, making it easier for students to balance schoolwork, chores and even downtime. Similarly, tutoring enables an accountability factor that ensures students’ are kept on track. Tutors act as friendly accountability partners who regularly check in on the students’ goals and progress. The mere recognition that someone will follow up with their schoolwork can motivate students to stick to their study schedules and daily routines more consistently. Finally, a consistent tutoring routine often reduces last-minute cramming and deadline panic. When students tackle material little by little, they’re less likely to feel overwhelmed. The results include better sleep, more free time and a more balanced daily life. Tutoring isn’t just about better grades – it’s a hidden routine-builder that enables students to gain control over their schedules and their lives.

Georgina Maxwell