Ollie M

Hello!

Since graduating from Cambridge 12 years ago, I have tutored professionally, helping and getting to know hundreds of wonderful students and families. I love my role as a tutor — unlike teachers at school, I can work in a tailored, personal way, cutting out the distracting stuff and going straight for what matters. In my experience, it is also often a breath of fresh air for young people to be talked to in an honest, relaxed way, without being patronised.

I have always had an impeccable academic record (for example: 2 major scholarships to Charterhouse, 11 A*s at GCSE, 4 high A*s at A-Level) and I have a confident understanding of the various syllabuses (AQA, OCR, IGCSE, CIE, IB). I have a robust record of improving students' work, turning many Ds into A*s as well as helping people successfully navigate through scholarship exams and the Oxbridge admissions process.

Something else important which sets me apart from the crowd is the fact that I have always known how to handle exams and get good results. This is a knack which not everyone has; I, hopefully, can pass it on!

Outside of tutoring, I make music and art (completing a Masters in Popular Music at Goldsmiths in 2019). I also love games, sports and the outdoors, and I have undertaken counselling training.

Please do get in touch; I would be delighted to help.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

I have over 10,000 hours' experience tutoring students at prep school, GCSE, A-Level, Cambridge Pre-U, IB, and University level, in English, French, Spanish, Latin and EFL, as well as many casual and professional adult learners. I have also taught Latin as an after-school activity for primary age children (7-11). I have extensive experience preparing for entrance exams and interviews. All in all, a very wide range of students/ages/teaching remits! I especially welcome students preparing for scholarships, A levels and university-level study.

Even when I was at school myself, I was taking note of how teachers did things, and understanding what worked and what didn’t. By the time I started tutoring I was already very confident, and now I am of course more confident still.

At school it is all too easy to fall behind and never quite get picked back up again. As a result, many students are very confused about language. I am an expert at stripping things back, and building from the fundamentals upwards, in the clearest way possible. In terms of literature and analysis, through my years at school, Cambridge and teaching I have developed a nice way of understanding what it’s all about, and how to put it into practice. I have lost count of the times a student has said that they learned more in a single lesson with me than they have in their entire time learning the subject at school, or that they never really understood what the point of analysis/studying literature was until I helped them with it.

It is, of course, essential to review past papers and study the specific requirements for a given exam; however, this is not everything, and I believe that there are some more general principles which help across the board. For example, writing technique (essay structure and argument, for example) is an essential tool not limited to a particular section of a particular paper. Another important element of language study is translation, a skill which is often overlooked but which I believe is one of the best ways to improve every aspect of competence.

My cancellation policy is as follows: if a student cancels a lesson within 24 hours, 50% of the lesson is due to be paid; if within 8 hours, the full fee is due.

A FEW REVIEWS:

Gemma — Oliver's worth every penny; his knowledge of not just the language but the A level system is excellent and he is re-instilling in my seventeen-year-old an enthusiasm for French - and for passing his A level with flying colours: exactly what I'd hoped for. And this is after only two sessions!

Shazia — Ollie is an excellent Spanish tutor who teaches from the ground up- starting with grammar and even sentence structure which is great if your child is at a school that doesn’t prioritise this. My sons aged 16 and 14 find him clear, relaxed, easy to learn from and relatable. Ollie comes highly recommended. He is an excellent linguist whose teaching demonstrates his depth of knowledge.

Kai — Oliver gives Latin and French lessons to my son preparing him for the Eton College KS exam. My son thoroughly enjoys all his lessons. My son's success in his KS exam reflects Oliver's professionalism and dedication. I totally recommend him to all prospective students.

Catriona — Ollie is a very patient, knowledgeable and helpful teacher. He was also flexible with accommodating the hours we needed to book and very friendly. Highly recommended!

Michaela — Very motivating. My son's attitude went from 'Latin is sooo difficult, don't like it' to ' Wow, it's actually easy & fun'.

Rachel — Oliver has tutored my daughter for her GCSE Latin and French. He has always been very reliable, personable and professional and she now feels much better prepared ahead of her exams. I would thoroughly recommend him.

Tony — My daughter was really struggling in GCSE French, particularly with her French oral. She has just got an A which had seemed impossible a year before. This significant improvement would not have happened without Oliver's tuition.

Celia — I have employed Oliver over the past year to provide English tuition to four employees all with differing needs - one English, one Italian, one Turkish and one Polish. All pupils have made great progress and been inspired by Oliver's teaching style. Oliver is a pleasant individual who has always been punctual and reliable. I have no hesitation in recommending him to others.

Jacqueline — Oliver is just great. He is very professional, organised and enthusiastic about the subject. My Year 13 son is benefiting enormously from Oliver's English tutorials and for the first time has professed an appreciation of poetry! Oliver is more expensive than other tutors but in our experience is most definitely worth it.

Catriona — Oliver is a wonderful tutor. Both my boys immediately took to him, he made the lessons fun and quickly found the weak points in their learning and plugged the holes. I would highly recommend Oliver.

Ladan — Oliver is an extremely knowledgeable tutor. Great engaging lessons for Pre-U French. Highly recommended.

Anna — I just wanted to let you know that Oli was fantastic, truly inspiring for Callum and we have arranged another session.