Online English tutor & more

Joshua

English & Creative Writing tutor (All levels) • 11 yrs experience

Online 11 yrs Joined May 2026

About

** Recent exam results:

A-LEVELS
- My A-Level tutee was predicted a B, and got an A*

GCSEs
- One tutee (who was retaking her English Language) went from a Grade 6 to a Grade 9
- One tutee went from a 6 in their English Literature mocks, to a 9 in their GCSE; and from a 7 in their English Language mocks, to an 8 in their GCSE.
- One tutee went from a 6-7 in their English mocks, to an 8 for English Language and a 9 for English Literature in their GCSEs

As one parent wrote to me (and gave me permission to post publicly):

“Josh!! Just want to say a HUGE thank you again oh my goodness Declan is over the moon! You brought him up from a 6 to a 9 - there are no words!”

Of course, these grades are mostly due to the hard work of the tutees, and tuition can never guarantee any grade. But I thought I’d post these grades here to give you an indication of the effect that good tuition can have. **

I am a friendly and highly qualified tutor with a degree in English Literature & Creative Writing, and a Masters in Writing, both from the University of Warwick. I have eleven years’ experience tutoring, and have been highly recommended due to my skill at breaking down complex texts in an accessible, enjoyable, and easily digestible manner.

I am also a published novelist (‘The 8th Emotion’, a sci-fi thriller) and have received a substantial grant from Arts Council England in recognition of my literary work.

Tutoring Experience

I have tutored numerous students, from six-year-olds to people studying for their MA, and every grade in between.

This has included helping children in primary school improve their reading and writing skills; preparing pupils for their 7+, 11+, 13+, SATS, GCSEs, and A-levels; and assisting undergrad-, Masters-, and PhD-level students with their university courses (this latter point covers both English university students, and those studying subjects such as Biology, but who nonetheless want help with their essay-writing skills).

I’ve also taught two students intensively in the days running up to their exams, and one went from a predicted E to a C; the other went from a predicted C to an A.

Tutoring Approach

My philosophy is always to adapt my approach to the needs of each individual. I give my students the confidence, understanding and exam technique they need to succeed.

I’ve delivered plenty of online lessons, and know how to make them work well. I’ve also found that, in the majority of cases, online tutoring is as or more effective than face to face. This is because

a) I can use the bespoke set of resource documents that I’ve built up on my computer, over years, as part of the lessons,

b) I can see what the tutee is writing in real time, and so the process of offering feedback becomes quicker (in person, either I would watch them as they wrote on their computer, which might feel a bit pressured, or I would have to wait for them to finish handwriting their work before they passed it across the table for me to have a look at), and

c) it’s easier for me to give neat, clear feedback (which becomes a useful revision resource) on the computer rather than by hand, which tends to, by its nature, be a little messier.

Essentially, the above mean that you are very likely to get better value for money when you hire me to be your online tutor, as opposed to if I were doing face-to-face tuition.

BONUS – HIGH-LEVEL CREATIVE WRITING TUITION: Along with proofreading and feedback on specific pieces of writing (which services are available for my standard lesson fee) I also offer special lessons on how to write fiction. These cost £150 per hour, and can cover pretty much any aspect of fiction writing, from a practical step-by-step process on how to plan a novel; to tips on characterisation and setting; to how to develop an initial idea into a story; etc. I charge this high fee because the insights I offer have been gleaned from years of practical experience in writing, and as such, I believe they can drastically accelerate a student’s development; and because the one-to-one nature of the lesson means that the tutee, through their questions, can have this guidance completely tailored to their specific interests and needs.

£70/hr · 4 subjects · 71 levels

Subjects & pricing

English

£70/hr

  • KS2, Pre-school, 11+, KS3, BTEC Level 3, IB, Pre-U, National 5, Higher, Advanced Higher, University, Postgraduate, Adult, KS1
  • GCSEAQA · CCEA · Cambridge · Edexcel · OCR · WJEC
  • IGCSECambridge · Edexcel · oxford-aqa
  • AS-level, A-levelAQA · CCEA · Cambridge · Edexcel · OCR · oxford-aqa · WJEC
  • Functional SkillsAQA · C&G · Edexcel · NCFE · OCR
  • Pre-school, KS1, KS2, 11+, KS3, BTEC Level 3, IB, Pre-U, National 5, Higher, Advanced Higher, University, Postgraduate, Adult
  • GCSEAQA · CCEA · Cambridge · Edexcel · OCR · WJEC
  • IGCSECambridge · Edexcel · oxford-aqa
  • AS-level, A-levelAQA · CCEA · Cambridge · Edexcel · OCR · oxford-aqa · WJEC

Languages

  • English Native

Qualifications

Higher education

  • MA Creative Writing Certificate checked University of Warwick · Merit · 2012
  • BA (Hons) English Literature & Creative Writing Certificate checked University of Warwick · 2:1 (Upper second) · 2011

Reviews from Tutorperch

No Tutorperch reviews yet. Students can leave a verified review here after a lesson.

Reviews from First Tutors

5.0 across 35 reviews

Imported from Joshua's First Tutors profile before the site went dark. Shown separately from Tutorperch reviews — today they don't feed this tutor's Tutorperch rating or ranking.

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The review text is the original reviewer's own words, quoted as-is. We verified the tutor's ownership of the profile, not the truth of what each individual reviewer wrote.

  • Karen

    Sept 2025 ·imported from First Tutors

    Joshua was excellent! My daughter enjoyed every lesson with him, learned plenty and has become a more confident writer. She is now all set to do well for her GCSE English and Literature.

  • Man

    Jul 2025 ·imported from First Tutors

    Joshua was excellent with my son and helped him for few lessons before his end of years. He engaged my son well and boosted his confidence in English writing skills. My son felt that overall his essay writing skills improved in all essay subjects such as history/RS in addition to English.

  • Richa

    Dec 2022 ·imported from First Tutors

    Joshua has been of immense help preparing my son for his 11 plus exams. We worked mainly on creative writing, poetry apreciation and comprehension tasks which my son was struggling with but with Josh’s help, his work has significantly improved and is reflected in his work at home and school. Thanks Josh! *Highly recommended!*

  • Momtaz

    Aug 2022 ·imported from First Tutors

    Jushua Is a excellent teacher, he made sure my understood his English language and literature and he made sure my son had plenty of practice with past papers and gave him feedback.Thank you my son got the grade that he wanted.

  • M

    May 2022 ·imported from First Tutors

    Josh has been great in building confidence in my son - that he can do well. All lessons were conducted online. Josh has been very professional throughout the lessons.

  • Hariat

    Feb 2021 ·imported from First Tutors

    l found Joshua to be very professional, and knowledgeable in his area of work, he regularly gave us feedback, and my boys enjoyed and leant from his weekly lessons.

  • Bindu

    Feb 2021 ·imported from First Tutors

    Joshua is an excellent tutor. He has provided excellent support for my son.

  • Tasnim

    Oct 2020 ·imported from First Tutors

    Joshua is an excellent tutor, my son enjoys his lessons and methods of teaching.

  • Enoch

    Sept 2020 ·imported from First Tutors

    Joshua is Excellent. As we are in Hong Kong, he **E-mail Address Removed**doc and Zoom to teach Jane to write. He puts down his feedback on her **E-mail Address Removed**doc for Jane’s review. I can see Jane’s good progress after each of her lessons with Joshua. I thank Joshua for teaching Jane patiently. No regret of choosing Joshua & FirstTutors.

  • Bm

    Aug 2020 ·imported from First Tutors

    Joshua is amazing, he has been helping my son gain confidence in English even when he has been away from school all this time. I recommend First tutors and, especially, Joshua every time.

  • Caroline

    Aug 2020 ·imported from First Tutors

    Josh provided me with excellent support whilst I worked on my A Level English Literature coursework. In spite of the fact that he had read neither of the texts I was comparing, he was still able to thoroughly improve upon my analysis and structure, due to his advanced essay-writing skills. His responses and feedback were also speedy and overall he made the lengthy process of writing coursework so much easier and enjoyable. I highly recommend!

  • Fung

    Mar 2020 ·imported from First Tutors
  • Rokas

    Nov 2019 ·imported from First Tutors

    I have already attended 15 lessons with Joshua. After these lessons, I feel more confident when speaking with other people. Joshua is polite, well mannered, very well organized and professional. I highly recommend getting in touch with him right now to take your English language to the next level.

  • Sharika

    Aug 2019 ·imported from First Tutors

    Joshua is an absolutely wonderful tutor. His insightful feedback and advice helped me become a stronger and more confident writer. I have massively improved my writing style under his guidance. His lessons have introduced me to lots of different authors and thinkers, greatly increasing the depth of my knowledge. Joshua is incredibly supportive, approachable and kind. I greatly enjoyed our lessons!

  • Mark

    Jun 2019 ·imported from First Tutors

    Having found Josh very late during the current GCSE period, we found Josh to offer an excellent service focused on delivering a personal approach to my sons needs. After the initial meeting with my son Josh explained that plan of action and where he believed my son could benefit from in the short period of time given. We found a Josh to be professional at all times, accommodating to changes, punctual and the communication was excellent. Feedback from my son was exactly what I was looking for.

  • Zafran

    Apr 2019 ·imported from First Tutors

    Joshua has been helping my daughter with her A-Level English Literature. His stucture and planning and approach to writing essays is very good, and has helped my daughter a lot. Joshua is a very knowledgeable teacher, and is also a very approachable and inspiring teacher.

  • Sophie

    Aug 2018 ·imported from First Tutors

    Joshua is extremely helpful with my university essay writing. I have found that I am improving already after 5 lessons with him, and will definitely be continuing my lessons with him during my time at uni.

  • Khadijah

    Jul 2018 ·imported from First Tutors
  • Xiaolu

    imported from First Tutors

    My son is in a year 11 now and has almost finished his GCSE exams. Yesterday is the last time for my son having English language session and English literature session with Mr. since the tutor began to help him last September. My son has more and more confidence to study English and the English level keeps going up. Mr. is good tutor who have enough patience and good planning even if in normal day my son can contact him to ask some English help in email. I have no doubt believe my son will achieve good grades in GCSE English exam. Thank you Mr. .

  • Ollagnier

    imported from First Tutors

    Student’s feedback: Josh has been overall a very competent tutor supporting me climb the challenge of the IGCSE exams. What I really liked was the first lesson, as he asked questions trying to find my weaknesses to then pick exercises helping improve those weaknesses. He also doesn’t just give me the answer when I’m stuck, he gives me a hint so that I find the answer myself and then improve. I thank Joshua for supporting me in my IGCSE exams’s revision! Parent’s feedback: a big thank to Josh who helped our son to improved his English writing skills and gave me structured approchas to analyse English Litterature poetry. Above all, our son gained confidence which enabled him to approach the exam’s day without stress. Josh very quickly established good contact with our son and was very attentive to his needs. We highly recommend Josh for English tutoring!