I have spent almost two decades teaching writing in various forms. And I get the struggle.
The child who struggles with English and can't work out why: I've sat with a lot of them. And most of the time, it isn't about ideas. It's about how they express them, the how of writing and analysing, not the what. That's the great news, because the 'how' can be taught, and often quite quickly, once someone who understands the process mentors and supports them through it.
For most Year 9 and 10 students, their GCSEs will be the most important and understandably terrifying exams of their lives, and the pressure is real. But that's my cup of tea. I walk with students through the uncharted paths of their English GCSE journey, and, for those who want to go further on to A-level, their university application, and the place at the end.
The Academy covers the whole of GCSE English, the reading and the writing, Language and Literature. Poetry, a Shakespeare play, the nineteenth-century novel, the unseen extracts, the writing tasks, all of it. What I bring to it is a writer's eye. I teach children to read a text the way a writer sees it, because analysis is really just writing turned around: noticing the choices another writer made, and saying why they work. Learn the 'how', and the whole paper opens up.
Where it begins: four Saturdays this August
The Academy opens with a short summer programme: four Saturday mornings, on the 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th of August. Small groups, online, and I run every session myself.
We work on the parts of GCSE English where marks are won and lost: reading a text closely and saying something true about it, building an answer that holds together, writing that shows rather than tells, and keeping your head when the clock is against you. By the last Saturday your child will read and write differently, and you will see it on the page.
This is Chapter One of a longer path, and the families who start here are the ones I carry on with into September. I keep the groups small and I run every session myself, so the places are limited.
A little about me
I'm a published novelist and academic with almost two decades of teaching at institutes, colleges and universities, and I hold a doctorate. During that time, I have taught writing in various forms to school students, undergraduates, and adult learners who wanted to communicate, pass exams or write better. I've walked the whole road myself, from sitting those same exams to earning three degrees, two in English, and I now spend my time helping younger students walk it too.
When I sit with your child, they get a tailored experience with someone who has taught this long enough to know exactly where the pain point is.
A few honest answers
My child's problem is the reading and the set texts, not the writing. Can you still help?Yes, that's most of the work. GCSE English is Language and Literature, poetry, Shakespeare, a nineteenth-century novel, unseen extracts, as well as writing tasks. I teach reading and analysis the same way I teach writing, by showing how a text is built. Once a child can see the choices a writer made, they can write about them with something to say. It's the same skill, pointed in two directions.Is this only for strong students?No. It's for the child with ideas but struggles with application, for the quieter one who has lost confidence, and, for the child who needs structure, clarity and support for the next level.What happens after the summer?If it's a fit, your child joins the year-long programme in September, and we carry on properly through GCSE, and, for those who want it, on to A-level and university applications.
Places are limited and I mean that
I take on a small number of students at a time. If you'd like your child to be one of them this year, start with a conversation. It costs you nothing but the time, and it's the first step of the path.