Tara

I have just left classroom teaching after a successful 23 years. My initial eight years of teaching - where I really honed my skills - were at Grey Court School a co-educational comprehensive in South West London where I taught English and Media Studies, then I was promoted to Head of Media Studies and Second in the English Faculty at Isleworth and Syon School, an all-boys state school in Hounslow. I gravitated to the Independent sector after that and spent a glorious eight years at The Harrodian, a mixed day school, in Barnes as Second in the English Department. Deciding to relocate to Brighton with my partner, my most recent position, which I have just left after seven years, was as Second in the English Department and Master Teacher at Roedean School for Girls, a day and boarding school that has a lovely mix of international and British students.

I am experienced and confident in both the classroom and in one-to-one tutorials. I have taught extensively across all year groups and in that time have familiarised myself with a wide range of different curriculum requirements and syllabi. As Second in English in two high-achieving English departments, I have written high quality schemes of work for KS3, GCSE and A Level which included adapting schemes of work to accommodate online and hybrid teaching and assessment over lockdown. My responsibilities also included writing and marking the 11+ and 13+ examination entrance and internal examination papers across all Key Stages. Within my career I am proud to say that my students have achieved excellent results, exceptionally high value added and have often exceeded their target grades, whether they are naturally gifted at English or not. Resultantly, I enjoy working with both Level 9/A* candidates and those students lower down the academic ability range and take pride in being able to quickly assess my students’ academic needs and engage with their individual learning styles. As a professional with high standards, my lesson observations have been consistently rated as 'outstanding' and I enjoy planning and delivering lessons that have the best possible learning outcomes for my students and which give them the opportunity to reflect on their development and progress.