History - Tutoring for ten years across most curriculum subjects age 5-18, SEN experience

Nicole has been a personal friend of mine for 15 years now, and as one of my cousin's children was struggling in school, they mentioned they were considering tutoring for extra help. I mentioned Nicole offered tutoring and, as a close friend, that she would be great for them. I have not been there when Nicole did her tutoring sessions but have only been told great things by my cousin, that Nicole is polite and respectful of their home and extremely patient when their child wasn't able to grasp a specific topic straight away. They have told me that they would highly recommend Nicole to anyone in a similar situation.

I used to work with Nicole and knew she was a part-time tutor. Having observed her manage a team of 20 individuals, all with different needs, disabilities, and capabilities, and seeing how she catered effortlessly to each person to help them achieve their goals, resulted in me asking if she would be open to helping my son.

My son has SEN needs, and while I was capable of helping with his homework and studying for exams, he was not confident around me, which made it difficult to help him advance. He was struggling with Biology, English, and Maths.

Nicole built a great relationship with my son, which allowed him to really focus and listen to the help she was giving. When a method in maths was being taught at school that he couldn't understand, she would look at alternative ways to approach it so that he would still get the right answer.

She was patient with him and explained things in context so that the full picture was given, which then meant he was able to apply reasoning for something being that way. If he got anything wrong, she would ask questions as to why he thought it was that answer to understand the angle from which his brain was processing the information. Instead of telling him it was wrong, she would then explain the theory again and then ask questions in small sections to build up his understanding, thus leading him to the right answer. He became confident to ask questions if he didn't understand something.

She then taught me how to approach homework and studying with him so that I could then take over. This has led to me now understanding how to help him with his individual needs.

He is doing very well at school now and knows how to approach his studying. I would definitely recommend her.