Mrs Towey Tutoring

I have worked in education most of my career, firstly as a Primary teacher from 1986 and later as TEFL teacher from 2009. Since 2017 I also started to tutor 11+ to yr4 and yr5 children as there was quite a demand at the time. The students I taught stayed with me as their regular tutor up to the time they sat the test. I am pleased to state that all my students to date have secured a place at a Grammar School in Torbay.

I specialise in English and Maths, with a passion for helping children to engage and progress in the skills required for the Entrance exams. I have an abundance of past test papers of all levels and follow accredited providers: Bond, CEM and CGP.

This year, test papers have covered just Maths and English with some Verbal Reasoning, omitting Non-Verbal Reasoning. Therefore, there is much more emphasis on comprehension skills to gain marks which can be quite challenging for this age. I balance the lessons, so students have time to analyse a short text and practice ‘inference and deduction’ skills in order to find the correct answers to the questions.

To make the lessons more engaging and fun, I create competitive challenges when answering the questions. We both attempt the task at the same time and then compare our strategies and answers. A little leeway is obviously given but never noticed!
This really empowers the student and gives them a sense of achievement. Moreover, when we ‘time’ the challenge,there are often lots of giggles!!

11+ Maths use quite advanced concepts for their age and year and this is why tutoring is important as many of the skills are not covered in the maths curriculum at school until yr6, at which time they will have sat the test. Each question is often a 2 or 3 step worded challenge which needs careful thought and working out.

As well as tutoring the 11+, I also ‘Teach English as a Foreign Language’ which involves instructing non-English speakers in how to read, write and speak English.

I am very much an interactive and supportive tutor, using visual aids and up-to-date technology to ensure the students’ needs are met and that their learning experience is both fun and informative.