About Louise

Quickfire

Summed up in a few words - (I asked other people for help!) Bright, enthusiastic, determined, thorough and kind.

Hobbies - Trying to beat my Parkrun PB, playing the piano, exploring antiques markets, gardening and listening to lots of podcasts.

Teaching style - Enthusiastic, curious and patient.

Why tutoring?

I’ve always loved people, and loved teaching. People have told me since I was a child that I should be a teacher. It’s something I naturally love to do.

Since having my daughter, I’ve realised just how instinctive it is. I found myself playing her the piano, reading her my Arabic lessons, explaining why we add something acidic to a greasy dinner, and generally narrating the world around us. My husband would laugh: “Louise… she’s 8 months old!”

I just love seeing that spark in someone’s eye the moment that they ‘get’ something. Which in itself is miraculous. A door of understanding opened.

But for me, it’s about more than understanding one tricky maths question or grammar rule. It’s the moment a child realises: I did that. That they can do hard things. And the nearing, exciting realisation of the infinite number of other hard things that they just might be able to do. Magic!

Me as a Tutor

I feel lucky to have a very varied educational and professional background, which brings a broad mix of experience and perspective to my tutoring. A brief overview is below.

My background shapes how I relate to people, communicate, and build confidence – but it also hugely influences how I teach English and Maths – helping me bring ideas to life and show that learning isn’t just something that happens in school, but something woven through the universe around us.

Diverse Academic Background

I started my education at a regular, local primary school, and went on to two local state secondary schools to prepare for my GCSEs.

I often felt frustrated at all three schools that my progress wasn't well-enough supported. We were lucky to be able to pay for a private tutor when I sometimes didn't have a Maths or Physics teacher for my GCSEs. That was 16 years ago, and I know many families still find themselves in difficult situations today.

I was really pleased to gain 12 x GCSE's at A* and A. I then took entrance exams and was delighted to be awarded a full academic scholarship at Rugby School to study for my A-Levels.

Wow - this was a world apart from how I had grown up and what I was used to! A huge learning curve with new opportunities, and pressures. I left wiser in many ways, with 4 (and a half!) A-Levels at grade A*-B.

I feel really lucky to have experienced both ends of the spectrum and to have been able to re-evaluate my priorities and values about education. What worked for me, and what was important to me.

Diverse Teaching Experience

I have over 14 years of experience across tutoring, teaching, coaching and mentoring, supporting children, teenagers and adults.

Alongside running The Ed Shed, I have worked with a wide range of learners, including:

• Private tutoring in Maths and English for children aged 7–16
• 11+ preparation and GCSE support
• Supporting an adult re-taking GCSE Maths
• Academic and pastoral mentoring for university students at University College London
• Mentoring a teenager in a disadvantaged London school
• Voluntary teaching of English and Maths to children and adult learners in Tanzania, East Africa

A Career Outside Teaching

I have also had a diverse career outside of teaching.

In brief:

First, in the post-production of BBC America broadcast programmes and then for Warner Brothers producing localised new film trailers for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Many years project managing and working as a Producer for educational digital interactives, documentaries, soundscapes and audio description for museums around the world, including the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C, the Science Museum London, Oman Botanic Gardens and Nevada State Parks Ice Age Fossils Museum.

Broad Interests and Knowledge

I’ve always had very broad interests and a huge curiosity about the world. At university (University College London – UCL), I would sometimes sneak into medical or law lectures because they sounded interesting – despite actually studying Linguistics!

That curiosity still shapes how I teach. I love helping children see the bigger picture and understand why what they’re learning matters – not just for exams, but for life beyond school and the things they may want to do in the future.

Sometimes, in busy school settings, subjects can feel disconnected from the real world. When I worked on museum exhibitions, we would often ask ourselves: “Why should I care?” It’s a question I think about often when teaching too.

I’m very used to putting myself in the shoes of a tired or reluctant teenager wondering, “Why do I need to learn this?”Whether it’s explaining how a comma can change the meaning of a legal sentence, or how I unexpectedly used Pythagoras’ theorem while working in a museum, I love showing children that learning is useful, relevant – and often more interesting than they first thought.