I have been teaching maths for three years and tutoring it for eight, working with students from Key Stage 2 all the way through to A-level. That range matters more than it sounds: it means when a Year 11 student is stuck on rearranging equations, I know exactly which Year 7 idea usually went missing, because I have taught that too.

I read maths at the University of Birmingham and graduated with a first-class BSc. Before that, I took Maths, Further Maths, Physics and Chemistry at A-level, and a grade 9 in GCSE Maths. I am listing all that not to show off, but because it is fair for you to know that the person teaching your child has genuinely been through the exams they are sitting. You can also find me on LinkedIn.

What I actually believe about teaching is simpler than any of those qualifications. Almost nobody is bad at maths. What happens is that a single idea gets missed — often years earlier — and everything built on top of it wobbles. The student concludes they are stupid, stops asking, and the gap widens quietly. My job is to find that original missing idea, teach it properly, and then rebuild upwards until the thing that seemed impossible is just ordinary.

Because I teach in school, I hold an enhanced DBS check — the full safeguarding clearance every classroom teacher has. If you would like to see it before we start, just ask; no parent has ever offended me by checking.

In practice that means I ask a lot of questions before I do any explaining, I never move on because we are running out of time, and I would much rather you tell me you are lost than nod politely. The students who improve fastest are the ones who get comfortable saying "I don't get it" out loud.