Hannah Barry - English Language & Literature GCSE teacher and tutor

This is SO true. The thing that makes the biggest impact on GCSE outcomes...? Reading. For pleasure. Ideally with an adult involved for as long as they'll tolerate you! ✨

I'll hand over to this lovely Year 9 student for my next recommendation ☺️

This week I've been marking PGCE Masters level essays for local trainees who are hoping to pass their teacher training in July. I've worked with trainee teachers for 19 years and for the local consortium for much of that time too.

I'm also marking Year 11 mock exams, Year 10 'An Inspector Calls' essays, Year 9 'Animal Farm' journals... plenty to keep me busy.

Oh. And occasionally I also get to enjoy my favourite hobby which is gardening. This was my final dahlia crop this year. Can't wait for the Spring! 🌸🌻

I'm not very good at asking for reviews from parents because I forget! However, actually I prefer these unsolicited 'reviews' from the young people I teach ✨🙌🏼 A heartfelt message in a card is always welcomed by teaching staff.

A new academic year means it's time for a little update on who I am and what I am here to help with.

I am a part-time GCSE English Language and Literature teacher, and have been teaching for 20 years. On the days I am not in school I offer one to one or small group tutoring for those looking to sit or re-sit their English Language or Literature GCSEs.

In the last academic year I worked with anxious students who were not attending school, students within their own school setting in 'free periods' and students in college re-sitting their English Language GCSE. They've all moved on, proud to have achieved the grades they needed for their next steps.

I'll be meeting my new classes at school from tomorrow and this year will also be back working with trainee English teachers too - coaching them in their PGCE courses. But I still have slots for some daytime tutoring too.

Do get in touch if you think I could help your young person with a November re-sit or June exams.

An exciting day today: all the tutees I have worked with passed (and even surpassed!) the grades they were hoping for and my Year 11 class have also achieved great things. It feels like a very positive day all round ✨🙌🏼

I just found this on Young Minds and thought it was pertinent to share it. I'm thinking tonight of my lovely Year 11 class and tutees I worked with this year. I hope so much that they open an envelope to see what they are expecting, or even dreaming of! But, if they don't, there are always other options that can be explored.

I hope they sleep well tonight 🤞🏼🙌🏼

It's happy birthday to me today and I thoroughly enjoyed coming down to hear our daughters' hushed and urgent discussion about where the possessive apostrophe should go here.

Can't tell their mum is an English teacher at all 😬😂

A quick shot to show that lots of Year 10s and 11s aren't comfortable to have their camera on during tutoring. But we talk lots, they work on shared documents so I can live mark and we play quizzes together too. I share my screen with resources and email them links for reference too.

Yesterday I challenged the student to beat me in how many Macbeth quotes we could both recall in one minute. He did very well but I pipped him to the post this time. I have an unfair advantage because I've been teaching Macbeth for 18 years now 😳. We had lots of laughs which he said helped to take away the nerves that are building. Two weeks until the first Literature exam! And of course, he now has a lovely long list of quotes to revise too.

Not mine but it really made me chuckle. It's coming up to that time of year; wasps and full moons are known to derail a teacher's day in equal measure.

The best teaching trick I learnt was that wasps (or bumbles!) are attracted to light... so you turn the classroom lights off and open all the windows, and the wasp quietly goes. Hysterical children then calm down and it's possible to carry on as you were! 🐝

This was me after two students online yesterday and then marking for the classes I teach at school.

I feel strongly that good humour and positivity foster the right environment for my lessons - for those in the classroom and the students online. The visits to my page are on the up which is common at this time of year. The exam countdown is on after all 🙌🏼

This was my latest book club read.

I really enjoyed it (although I wouldn't recommend it to students as it deals with very adult topics).

I've been introduced to Audible in the last two months and it's a revelation because I'm now actually finishing the books with a few weeks to go! Although I've established that the voice used really matters.

I can't believe it's taken me this many years to discover audio books 📚