English Unlocked Tuition

Happy academic year 2025-26!

My GCSE students were very successful in their summer exams and as a result I now have a number of regular spaces for new students, KS3 English and GCSE English Language and English Literature (Years 7 to 11 inclusive).

At present I have availability on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. I can accommodate students on Fridays if really wanted, but generally I find they are tired and need a break once they finish for the week.

Currently, Mondays are fully booked.

Available slots:
Tuesdays - 16:00-17:00
Wednesdays - 15:30-16:30
Wednesdays - 17:00-18:00
Wednesdays - 18:30-19:30
Thursdays - 15:30-16:30
Thursdays - 18:30-19:30

Sessions are 1:1 and can either be face-to-face in your home or via Zoom. If you are interested in small group sessions, please contact me and we can discuss details further.

Kate Gompertz

Congratulations to my students who have excelled this year! Your hard work has paid off and you have enabled yourselves to move onto your next steps. Well done.

For any Year 11s taking their Edexcel English Language Paper 1 tomorrow, you’ve got this!
Remember to keep to your timings; I’m listing my recommendations below and those of you who have extra time, your timings for each question are in brackets.

Reading the extract: 15 minutes
Q1: 5 minutes (6 mins)
Q2: 5 minutes (6 mins)
Q3: 20 minutes (25 mins)
Q4: 30 minutes (36 mins)
(Total for section A = 60 mins/1 hour)

Then move on to Section B and remember: only write a response to ONE of the prompts.

Q5: 45 minutes
— 5 minutes planning (6 mins)
— 35 minutes writing (44 mins)
— 5 minutes reading through/ correcting (6mins)

For any Year 11s taking their Eduqas English Language Component 1 tomorrow, you’ve got this!
Remember to keep to your timings; I’m listing my recommendations below and those of you who have extra time, your timings for each question are in brackets.

Reading the extract: 15 minutes
Q1: 5 minutes (6 mins)
Q2: 10 minutes (13 mins)
Q3: 15 minutes (18/19 mins)
Q4: 15 minutes (18/19 mins)
(Total for section A = 60 mins/1 hour)
THEN move onto the writing section which is Section B and you only write in response to ONE of the options.

Q5: 45 minutes
— 5 minutes planning (6 mins)
— 35 minutes writing (44 mins)
— 5 minutes reading through/ correcting (6mins)

For any Year 11s taking their AQA English Language Paper 1 tomorrow, you’ve got this!
Remember to keep to your timings; I’m listing my recommendations below and those of you who have extra time, your timings for each question are in brackets.

Reading the extract: 15 minutes
Q1: 5 minutes (6 mins)
Q2: 10 minutes (13 mins)
Q3: 10 minutes (13 mins)
Q4: 20 minutes (25 mins)
(Total for section A = 60 mins/1 hour)
Q5: 45 minutes
— 5 minutes planning (6 mins)
— 35 minutes writing (44 mins)
— 5 minutes reading through/ correcting (6mins)

Remember, if you’re one of my students, I strongly suggest you answer Section A questions in this order:
Q1
Q2
Q4
Q3

I’ve explained the reasons to you but in two nutshells, if you run out of time I’d rather you did so on an 8 mark question(q3) than a 20 mark one (q4). Also, q3 is a ‘whole extract’ question and by the time you’ve answered 1,2,4 you will explored the extract in sections and in detail so you will be better prepared for q3.

Then move on to Section B and remember: only write a response to ONE of the prompts.

If your child is neurodivergent and has found it hard to cope with exams, this is our message to them.

To all Year 11 students sitting their Eduqas English Literature Component 1 tomorrow, I wish you all the best.
Remember these pointers:
1. ONLY answer the two questions on ONE Shakespeare play! For my tutees this is either 'Macbeth' or 'Romeo and Juliet'.
1a - Remember to spend 20 minutes (25 if you have extra time) on the first question and only answer based on the extract.
1b - Then spend 40 minutes (50 if you have extra time) on the second question when you MUST talk about the whole play.

2. If you're not one of my tutees, please let this be the play you have studied in school; I assure you that even if you don't particularly 'like' the question, you WILL be able to answer it to a far higher standard than a different question on a play you studied in Year 7, 8 or 9 (and definitely any you looked at in Primary!).

3. Remember to talk about the methods Shakespeare used and what effects they create for the audience.

4. For the poetry section:
4a - spend 20 minutes (22 for extra time students) on question 7 1 and write only about the poem that is printed in the exam paper.
4b - spend 40 minutes (50 for extra time students) on question 7 2 and make sure you also write about ONE OTHER poem from the anthology.
4c - remember to talk about the structure and how that adds to the overall message/effect/meaning of the poem and that structure includes:
-- how many stanzas
-- are they equal length?
-- is there a set rhythm?
-- is there a rhyme scheme?
-- is there enjambment, caesuras, end stops?
-- is there a volta?
but don't just mention any of these if you cannot explain how they add to the effect for the reader.

You've got this ☺

To all Year 11 students sitting their AQA English Literature Paper 1 tomorrow, I wish you all the best.
Remember these pointers:
1. ONLY answer ONE Shakespeare question! For my tutees this is either 'Macbeth' or 'Romeo and Juliet'.

2. If you're not one of my tutees, please let this be the play you have studied in school for KS4; I assure you that even if you don't particularly 'like' the question, you WILL be able to answer it to a far higher standard than a different question on a play you studied in Year 7, 8 or 9 (and definitely any you looked at in Primary!).

3. Make sure you don't ONLY answer from the extract. You MUST talk about other parts of the Shakespeare play, and also the 19th Century novel (again, for my tutees this will either be 'A Christmas Carol' or 'Jekyll and Hyde') to show knowledge on the focus of the question across the whole text. You will NOT be awarded marks above level 2 (out of 6) if you only refer to the extract.

4. Remember to talk about the methods the authors used and what effects they create for the audience.

5. You have 45 minutes (56 mins if you have extra time) to write each answer so please use 5 of those minutes to plan your answer.

You've got this ☺

I will be accepting new students from January. I have had a bit of a health scare this term but everything is now sorted and from January I will be fit and healthy and able to take on up to five new students.

If you wish to speak to me, please feel free to email me with your details, those of your child:
age, school year, areas to focus on, school attended or home educated (this information helps me know what exam board to tailor any work towards, including for key stage 3). I will respond as promptly as possible. However, please be aware that I am teaching full time until the end of this academic term.

My new email address is:
[email protected]

Good luck to all Year 11 students about to take their second English language paper on Monday 12th. Keep calm, read the texts and stay tight on your timings. You’ve got this.

Good luck to all you GCSE students with Paper 1 of your Language exam this morning.

Remember to check the focus of ALL the questions and to answer looking at techniques for all questions in section A apart from Q1!

With now just a handful of weeks to go before the GCSE season starts, I’d like to take this opportunity to help direct your English revision. Watch out for more posts running up to the exams but today’s helpful hint is:

Remember that your AQA Language paper 2 will have a 21st Century autobiographical extract and a 19th Century essay for section A. Your big 40 mark question 5 (Section B) is going to be to write an article.

You can prepare for this paper by reading a selection of ‘articles’ - magazine, broadsheet opinion pieces and online articles and begin to grasp a feel for how they are written.

Read extracts from a variety of late 20th and 21st Century autobiographies (late 20th will have a similar tone and linguistic style to early 21st) and anything written in the 19th Century (including rereading your literature text!) to accustom you to the sentence construction, vocabulary and style of the era.

These will all inform your understanding and help give you confidence.

I’ll focus on the Eduqas/WJEC board in my next post.