James - Maths tutor - London

One of our best tutors. Quality profile, experience in their field, verified qualifications and a great response time. James will be happy to arrange your first Maths lesson.

James

One of our best tutors. Quality profile, experience in their field, verified qualifications and a great response time. James will be happy to arrange your first Maths lesson.

  • Hourly rate £80
  • Response Time 17h
  • Number of students 6
James - Maths tutor - London
  • 5 (4 reviews)

£80/hr

Contact
  • Maths
  • Physics
  • Chemistry
  • Other sciences
  • Science

Fun online science tuition. I have a Ph.D and 10 years' experience.

Lesson location

Ambassador

One of our best tutors. Quality profile, experience in their field, verified qualifications and a great response time. James will be happy to arrange your first Maths lesson.

About James

- What kind of experience do you have?

For the past 10 years I have accumulated over 5000 hours of tutoring experience. Most of my work involves bringing struggling students up to speed to pass exams at 11 or 13+. I also specialise in preparing students for scholarships to Eton, St Paul's and Winchester. I occasionally stay with clients for residential work too, usually over the summer.

Here is a short list of recent successful students:

Sussex House 12+ 2017
Wetherby Prep 10+ 2017
Down house 12+ 2017

The American school Amsterdam 2016

Eton King's scholarship 2015
Eton King's scholarship 2015

Winchester 13+ 2015

Eton King's scholarship 2014
Eton common entrance 2014

St Paul's scholarship 2014

13+ entrance to Dulwich College x2 2014
13+ entrance to Harrow 2014

A-level physics, entrance to Bristol University 2014
A-level maths, entrance to UCL 2014

- Do you have an up-to-date DBS (Disclosure & Barring Service, formerly CRB) Certificate?

Yes. I can also provide references upon request.

- Do you belong to any professional organisations?

No.

- Tell me about some of your current students.

A home schooling student, J, has developed rapidly after we designed a personalised programme of at-home science experiments and demonstrations to put the syllabus in context. J had a difficult time at school and seriously demotivated towards his GCSEs, our hands-on science work gradually rekindled his interest in science and then maths. By the start of the second term J was willing to reapply himself to his school work and think about his future plans. I was delighted to hear that J competed his GCSE’s with the necessary grades and he is now in full-time education on his dream BTEC course.

A GCSE student of mine, M, is having weekly Skype lessons so we can explore more advanced topics in maths and science. We frequently find ourselves working on A-Level content or otherwise interesting material which is not on the syllabus. I had originally Tutored M for his common entrance scholarship exams but we had so much fun we decided to keep our weekly lesson and devote it to more challenging work. We did excellent work from the A level maths and physics syllabus and M was also keen to try some python coding and electronics.

I am working on a creative construction course with a 12 year old boy, A. We work on science-based engineering challenges at home. We're building a radio controlled plane at the moment! A was very keen to explore a construction project with no instruction manual so we have designed and built everything from scratch from plastic and wood. A has done particularly well at leading the design of our work, sketching out plans and researching materials and tools online. The moment I show A how to do something he is keen to jump in and have a go.

A 12 year old student of mine, G, found that he fell behind in maths so we are doing weekly lessons in-person to improve his understanding and exam technique. His progress is very encouraging, especially the improvement in the presentation of his work. G found that by spending more time carefully presenting his work he understood the concepts better and felt less rushed. G took his common entrance exams in 2016 and secured a place at Dulwich college.

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About the lesson

  • GCSE
  • Primary
  • AS Level
  • +5
  • levels :

    GCSE

    Primary

    AS Level

    A Level

    Secondary

    BTEC

    Adult

    Undergraduate

  • English

All languages in which the lesson is available :

English

I have a Ph.D in the philosophy of physics and 10 years' experience as a private tutor, my students have secured places at top private schools including scholarships to Eton and St Paul's. I love teaching science through hands-on experiments. And have been teaching online since March 2020.

- Which subject(s) do you teach?

I teach mathematics and the sciences from 11+ to A-Level and programming.

My teaching is heavily based around practical science activities and coding to inspire students and encourage hands-on learning.

- Tell me about your qualifications.

Ph.D from Bristol University in the Philosophy of Physics
M.Sci from Bristol University in Physics and Philosophy

- Where do you teach?

Online only.

- When are you available?

I am free on weekdays all day for online lessons.

- Which ages and levels do you teach?

8 and above.

- Which qualifications do you prepare your students for?

Common entrance 10+, 11+, 13+
13+ scholarship
GCSE
AS - A2 level
IB
University entrance and interview preparation

- Describe your arrangements for online tutoring.

I use Zoom and Skype for online tutoring. I also use a second camera so students can see what I writing or follow along if we're doing practical work in science.

- Do you have a personal message for students?

Spend as much time as possible designing, making and taking things apart. You will learn so much more this way than staring at a textbook. Hands-on experience puts so much of science an maths in context, makes it easier to remember and makes it more fun.

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Rates

Hourly rate

  • £80

Pack prices

  • 5h: £400
  • 10h: £800

online

  • £80/h

James's Video

Find out more about James

Find out more about James

  • When did you develop an interest in your chosen field and in private tutoring?

    I've loved physics and science in general my whole life. I was one of those kids that loved taking things apart; toys, broken appliances etc. At university I got my first experience teaching, I taught seminars in logic to undergraduate philosophy students.



    During my Ph.D a friend asked if I could help out with one of her after-school tutees and gradually I started tutoring children after school, helping them with maths and science work. I loved it right away and after I finished my Ph.D tutoring quickly became my full-time job.
  • Tell us more about the subject you teach, the topics you like to discuss with students (and possibly those you like a little less).

    I teach the three sciences, maths and also more practical-focussed lessons in engineering and programming. I've also organised group lessons on robotics which were amazingly fun.



    My favourite area of any subject is the practical side which I've been delighted to see works well online! My students have done amazingly well organising their own experiments under my guidance and very often get more out of the experience because they have to do absolutely everything themselves.



    A recent example of this was a student of mine having to devise a way to measure gravity using only household items. She ended up using an iPhone to film a ball falling with a stopwatch in the background. This let us precisely measure how far the ball fell and how long it took.



    My least favourite part of teaching if when my students have to site a large number of stressful exams and possibly fall behind due to a crisis of confidence. It's a situation I see often and I'm used to helping students through these tough times but I do wish we could find a less stressful way to get them up to speed.
  • Did you have any role models; a teacher that inspired you?

    I was lucky to have a lot of really great teachers throughout my life. My first thoughts go to the English teacher who could reduce the class to hysterics while marking our essays. My A-level physics teachers who cemented my love of the subject by their deep and yet measured lessons which would leave me exhausted but exhilarated. At university I encountered some of the brightest people on the planet who pioneered remarkable work in their fields, quantum teleportation for example.
  • What do you think are the qualities required to be a good tutor?

    Patience, an innate love of your subject and Imagination. You'll need these things to keep your tutorials fresh and fun. Tutors spend a huge amount of time getting students to approach problems differently, encouraging them to take one more stab at a problem or get excited about a new challenge. When my students attempt science practicals at home they immediately encounter many awkward problems, it's unreasonable to expect anyone to buy all the typical lab kit a school would have so we both have to get creative and think carefully of our needs. I love the learning opportunities this affords us because students cannot avoid thinking hard about what the experiment is trying to test.
  • Provide a valuable anecdote related to your subject or your days at school.

    My favourite recent project is one I completed with a 16 year old student. We wanted an electronics project related to boats and so we started a month-long project to make a radio-controlled boat. We dismantled a cheap radio-controlled car and removed the circuit boards that controlled the motors. My student got the chance to learn how to use a soldering iron as well as put his electronics knowledge to good use. I was delighted to see how carefully he worked to make sure nothing was damaged. Afterward we moved the motors and circuit board to a wooden hull the student made from balsa wood, this took a good degree of care and really developed his designing and woodworking skills. Finally we removed the wheels and attached paddles to make the boat go. The transition from radio-controlled car to boat took a lot of time and my student did a heroic job of diagnosing problems throughout the process but it was a fantastic and complex project which he had a huge amount of fun building.
  • What were the difficulties or challenges you faced or still facing in your subject?

    We have faced a tough time since March 2020 but many parents are now embracing the opportunities that online education can bring, from the flexibility over teaching hours, to the ability to really focus on those areas that need further work. Adjusting to the logistical challenges that learning at home brings requires a lot of attention but is quite manageable. Really the most pressing challenges are the usual ones we faced before; keeping students excited about their education, finding fun ways to engage them and making sure that education is a positive and rewarding part of their lives.
  • Do you have a particular passion? Is it teaching in general or an element of the subject or something completely different?

    I love building things. My love of practical projects on the intersection of engineering, education and sometimes art often inform how I teach. I maintain a website of fun, creative projects that includes building robots for under £2 and capturing the motion of object using long-exposure photography. These challenges are amazingly fun for me and are something I happily pursue outside of tutoring and alongside my career as a consultant physicist.
  • What makes you a Superprof (besides answering this interview questions :-P) ?

    My emphasis, even online, is all about the practical side of education, I've been absolutely delighted by the effort my students put in to making their work a success. Many have messaged me late in the evening, still working on the project we began earlier in the day, with technical questions or simply an excited report that the experiment or project is now working as expected! It is this enthusiasm and joy of discovery which can take place independently of a tutor that most drives me.
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