GCSE Testimonials
Dawn really helped with my confidence in my ability by teaching me in ways that suited me more than in school. She helped with seeing the maths problems in a visual way which made it much better for me. She explained how to break down complex questions into smaller ones I knew I could do to get the outcome I wanted. She was patient and understanding when I just wasn’t getting it or having a bad day, she’s very funny and made extra maths lessons feel less like a chore. Dawn retaught me maths skills that I didn’t grasp in class, she also taught me new fundamental skills that I needed in my GCSEs. After my tuition lessons with Dawn I saw my grades get better and steadier and I was able to pass my maths GCSE!
Kitty (2023)
Dawn helped our daughter with GCSE Maths tuition, this helped her to gain so much more confidence moving forward towards her exams.
Dawn is clear and thorough in her approach.
I wouldn’t have any hesitation in recommending Dawn. Thank you.
Deborah (2023)
“We are incredibly grateful for the exceptional tutoring provided by Dawn. After struggling with his Maths since missing school during lockdown we decided our Son needed some extra tutoring to help with his GCSE. Dawn was an excellent tutor and my Son went from a grade 2 in his Maths mock to passing his GCSE just a few months later thanks to her tutoring skills. She tailored lessons to our Son’s specific needs ensuring he was aware of the content required for the exams. She helped him work on his weaknesses, which were plentiful! Dawn was very patient, explaining the topics in a clear and relatable manner which boosted our Son’s confidence in the subject. She set additional work to do at home which helped to cement his knowledge in between lessons making sure he grasped the topic before moving on.
We wholeheartedly recommend Dawn to anyone seeking a Maths tutor”
T. Williams (2023)
"Dawn tutored my son for GCSE Maths. Before working with Dawn he was predicted a grade 3. After tutoring he achieved a grade 4. Dawn provided lots of resources to help him learn. We are so grateful for all her hard work, without her I am sure he would not have passed. I am happy to recommend Dawn's tutoring services."
Anonymous (2023)
In the late winter of 2022 my daughter sat her mock Mathematics GCSE exam, she passed. However, her grading was grade 4 and as her position in sixth form required her to pass Math’s as a pre-requisite for entry we began to get nervous. My daughter had always lacked confidence in Maths and this just increased the pressure.
In order to help avoid the slide and also to give my daughter a new lease of confidence I stated the search for a Maths tutor who could make a real difference in a short space of time (approx. 2 months). Fortunately, I happened across Dawn’s name and from that point on things got better and better. We visited Dawn and sat with her for an introduction session where we went through a thorough analysis of the areas my daughter was confident on and those she was not. This gave us a “hit list” of topic areas to focus on. Dawn lead this session and based on her experience in these matters the list was pulled together quickly.
Following on from this initial session my daughter then attended about 10 more sessions when Dawn worked through all topic areas of concern with her. Immediately I started to see a change, finally my daughter was working with someone who had time to focus on her and could explain things in a way that she understood and could apply. Over the 10 or so sessions, my daughter went from strength to strength. Her final GSCE result was grade 6 and she was only 3 marks off a grade 7 (which we may well appeal).
I find it quite remarkable that in a very short space of time such a difference was made. Dawn is extremely structured in her approach, she listens to the student, is able to flex the way she works to individual needs and in my opinion gives the student confidence that they can do it and supports them to understand this.
My daughter was very strong in all GCSE subjects apart from Maths, however her worries and concerns over Maths were impacting on her overall confidence. I am convinced that the sessions with Dawn enabled my daughter to not only improve in Maths but also give her the confidence to focus on all her other subjects and ultimately achieve a fantastic set of results.
I have absolutely no hesitation in recommending Dawn as a Maths tutor. Her all round knowledge is exceptional, her patience and communication skills are excellent and I think her results speak for themselves.
If you have a child in need of Maths tuition, book with Dawn!!!
Rob Tiley (Aug 2022)
Dawn was very helpful and engaged my son efficiently in online lessons before his GCSEs. He enjoyed being able to fill gaps in his knowledge and felt at ease asking Dawn a variety of maths related topics. Dawn was always reliable, punctual and happy to teach. Her experience as a teacher was obvious for us to witness, she was patient and explained things well. Thank you Dawn!
Sam P (Aug 2022)
We found Dawn right at the start of Coronavirus (back in March 2020) when my daughter was in Year 10 GCSE. She is a very capable student but lacked confidence and struggled with the whole ‘Maths’ subject. Through weekly on-line lessons she rapidly improved and began to believe in herself. Through the lockdowns and school closures Dawn instilled a self-belief that she could succeed. As a result she was awarded a Grade 5 and is really happy. Dawn’s teaching during this time has been critical and my daughter does not believe she would have passed her GCSE without Dawn’s assistance. We are so pleased, that our youngest daughter (now starting Year 10 GCSE) is also being tutored by Dawn.
Dave (Aug 2021)
To have had Dawn as my tutor she has supported me through all the problems and difficulties in GCSE maths. She has shown me a whole new perspective and so many new methods, to help me achieve the grade I desired. She brilliantly worked at the pace best suited to me and always helped me to overcome any difficulties I was having. She created a method of learning which helped me to build the confidence I need, to eventually use the grade I got for further in life. I will forever be thankful for her support.
Willow R, Grade 5 (2021)
Our daughter felt that she needed extra support for her to feel more confident when sitting her GCSE Higher Maths this year. She began tutoring with Dawn in November and found it very useful and helpful. It enabled her to revisit topics that she had found difficult but also to go over the basics and become more confident in her approach and ability. Thanks to Dawn, she completed her assessments successfully and achieved the required grade for her to study her chosen subjects at A Level.
R Greenslade (2021)
Dawn is a conscientious, kind tutor, who took a lot of care to tailor her teaching methods to meet our dyslexic daughter's needs. Honest, clear and straightforward, it is great to relax and trust her to teach thoroughly. We highly recommend her.
Marie-Noelle and Simon Flowerdew (2021)
Dawn started working with my Son in October 2019 when he was a year 11 GCSE student. My Son lacked confidence in maths, felt that he didn't understand the basic concepts and he wanted some help. My Son enjoyed working with Dawn, going through the topics in turn and doing homework each week. Very quickly, his confidence was boosted and soon started to make sense of topics. This was reflected in the school assessments he took in February and his teacher told him that he was impressed with his improvement, that was after just 5 months of one to one tuition with Dawn.
Later in March, his tuition with Dawn unfortunately ended abruptly by Coronavirus and then the GCSE exams were cancelled. However, when my Son heard that the grades were being based on teacher assessment, he was very confident that he would be awarded a good pass as he had already proven his maths ability in his school's February assessments. My Son was awarded a grade 5 maths GCSE and we are absolutely delighted, thank you Dawn.
I would thoroughly recommend Dawn as a maths tutor.
JC (2020)
We found Dawn to be extremely professional when tutoring our daughter for her maths GCSE. She was very thorough, is clearly an experienced tutor and tailored the excellent tuition to suit our daughter’s wish to be challenged to allow her to compete for the highest grades. Dawn undoubtedly contributed to our daughter’s success and we would like to thank her wholeheartedly; we have no hesitation in recommending her to others.
Jeff Seddon (2020)
Anya has worked with Dawn for the past two years towards her Maths GCSE and during this time not only has her confidence in her ability increased but also her attitude and approach have become extremely positive towards this subject. Before starting with Dawn, her teacher was considering putting her in for ‘Foundation’ Maths but she sat the ‘Higher’ paper in June 2019 and achieved a grade 6.1:1 tutoring is such a powerful teaching method to revisit and improve maths concepts to ensure exam readiness.
Dawn was able to structure each session carefully and focus upon specific areas Anya needed to improve. Homework was set each session and useful links to Maths concepts were shared by Dawn.
I would recommend Dawn as a Maths tutor to any parent or student in the future as she has now supported both of my children in overcoming their difficulties with Maths, turning it into an enjoyable subject and one that they have succeeded in. Kieran studied A level Maths and it is now an integral part of his University studies. Anya has secured a place at college and is able to concentrate upon her studies without the added pressure of having to retake Maths GCSE next year.
Thank you Dawn, your support has been invaluable."
SM (2019)
"We decided to use Dawn to help our son with Maths when he started Hardenhuish to help fill the gaps from Primary School, to increase his confidence and find other strategies to improve his knowledge. We felt that a weekly one-to-one session with a professional Maths teacher was the best way forward. We haven’t looked back and would highly recommend Dawn. Our son has now moved to set 1 as a result of Dawn’s tutoring and is on target to achieve a good level at GCSE.
He is also studying GCSE Statistics. In fact his confidence has grown so much that he is highly likely to opt to study Maths at A Level! Dawn is incredibly knowledgeable and has taught our son strategies that are not taught in school. Whilst Dawn has a planned work scheme to cover the curriculum she has always been flexible in her approach and willing to cover topics as they are being taught in school to ensure our son had the strategies in place to succeed.
We have already discussed with Dawn using her one-to-one tutoring services for our youngest son and would absolutely recommend Dawn to others. "
Claire, December 2019
"I came to Dawn not confident in Maths. She is very patient and explains topics in a way that are easy to understand. She will often suggest utilising strategies that I have not been taught in school. She is willing to explain concepts in a number of different ways until I completely understand the subject. As a result of her help I feel more confident in Maths and school predict that I should get a high level at GCSE. I also intend to study A level Maths. I would definitely recommend Dawn. "
BC, December 2019
"Our daughter was struggling with maths at school, we decided that a tutor would be a good option and hopefully help her. Making this decision was a good one and to have Dawn as a tutor was priceless. Dawn built our daughter's confidence and used a great step by step process to develop her. The one to one time helped so much rather than be in a class with lots of children. Our daughter and ourselves found Dawn to be an excellent communicator, friendly and professional.
She was also very good at encouraging our daughter especially when things got tough. With our daughter's determination and Dawn's help with great tutoring she achieved a fantastic grade 6 (B) in maths which was far more than our daughter thought she could do, as she was attaining around a grade 4 before coming to Dawn. Thank you so much Dawn for your help."
Maria (2019)
"He liked your two-way style and that you worked with him to ensure he understood the topics better. There was no talking at him just working through things together. The outcome was that he was more confident in his ability and subject matter understanding before the GCSE."
JP/SP Chippenham - Grade 7 (2019)
"My son was about to redo the GCSE Maths course and was on his third attempt. This time though I brought in Dawn to help, just an hour a week over most of the year. Dawns approach is to make sure the basics are understood, thus making a sound foundation to more complex problems. This has paid off as he has now achieved his pass. This has both boosted his confidence and freed him up to concentrate on other courses which interest him. Thank you Dawn"
Andy Armitage (2018)
“Dawn has tutored our daughter in Maths over the past 4 years taking her from GCSE through to A-levels. Our daughter was struggling with Maths in year 9, and when we started to become increasing concerned, we turned to Dawn for help. Dawn started by firming up the basics with our daughter to increase her confidence considerably which we also found helped with her other subjects too. The significant difference Dawn has made to our daughter helped her achieve high grades at GCSE and A-level”.
Thanks, Rob and Sharon (2018)
“My daughter has always been good at maths but in the run up to the GCSEs she was really lacking confidence in her own ability and this was affecting her marks. Dawn helped her understand the gaps in her knowledge and restored her confidence so that she achieved the Level 7 that she had been aiming for. Dawn was flexible, fitting my daughter in and arranging lessons in the school holidays. I am really grateful for all the help she gave Ellie in the months before the GSCEs.”
AC (2018)
“Thank you for all your help and support for getting me through and helping me finally passing my maths GCSE.”
AA (2018)
“Question #1: Why did you seek out a maths tutor and what did you hope would be the outcome? Madeline has always been a top set Maths student but her confidence was always very fragile. She struggled with the teaching style of her GCSE maths teacher at school and despite raising concerns with school Madeline became more distressed at the thought of her GCSEs. I wanted Madeline to be able to reach her potential in Maths and be able to sit her exams confidently without going into meltdown at the prospect of a Maths
.Question #2: What have we done together, specifically, that has been most helpful in helping you reach that outcome? Madeline leaves Dawn's lessons with work to follow up at home consolidating her learning. Her pod casts on You Tube were a real help for revision. The biggest positive from my perspective is Madeline being able to sit her exams without with a clear head as she now doesn't get completely stressed at the prospect of a Maths exam.
Question #3: If you were to recommend me to your best friend, what would you say? Madeline had a tutor before Dawn, there was little structure to the lessons and I could tell Madeline wasn't happy. Dawn came recommended by a friend. After her first session with Dawn Madeline was Immediately far happier and I could see her confidence growing, I am so pleased we found Dawn as a maths tutor and wish we had started it sooner and avoided all the stress if End of year 10 mock exams.”
Jo Smith (2017)
"Question #1: Why did you seek out a maths tutor and what did you hope would be the outcome? Sophie was struggling with new Maths syllabus. Looking for help to ensured she passed so she could move on into 6th form.
Question #2: What have we done together, specifically, that has been most helpful in helping you reach that outcome? Reinforced basics and covered topics not totally understood in class
Question #3: If you were to recommend me to your best friend, what would you say? Dawn was very patient and took me back to the beginning and build the foundations to move forward.”
Sophie, Abbeyfield, Grade 6 (2017)
“Question #1: Why did you seek out a maths tutor and what did you hope would be the outcome? I wanted to have a maths tutor because as a top set maths student I found I was struggling with the teaching style used by my teacher in school and my confidence was very low. I hoped by having tutoring that my confidence would be built back up and that I could do my GCSE with confidence instead of the sheer panic I felt at the end of year 10.
Question #2: What have we done together, specifically, that has been most helpful in helping you reach that outcome? With Dawn I have covered, in far more depth than was done in class, the majority of the specification. And she helped to target areas that I was weaker at. Her YouTube videos were very helpful to look at to consolidate my knowledge further and the work to follow up lessons really helped me to revise for my exams and feel confident.
Question #3: If you were to recommend me to your best friend, what would you say? If your struggling with maths or lacking in confidence, whatever your ability, Dawn will make sure that the foundations are secure and then build on that with lessons that are tailored to you. Dawn will immediately put you at ease and is very patient and will happily explain things over and over until you get it.”
Maddy Smith, St Laurence School, Hilperton (2017)
“With my GCSE’s approaching, I felt I needed additional help with maths as the curriculum was so vast and I found myself falling behind in lessons at school. I also lacked confidence in maths and needed extra help. I hoped that getting a maths tutor would restore my confidence and help me achieve a pass in maths.
Dawn was very patient and went through the topics thoroughly and made sure I had a good understanding before moving on.
She gave me exam style questions and homework every week on the topic we had been studying in the lesson which meant I could consolidate the topic we had completed. This homework was then put in a folder which I could use to revise, this I found really useful. As well as this, I would sometimes bring past papers I had completed either in school or at home and she would go through the questions I didn’t understand. I went to see Dawn 1 year before my GCSE’s which I feel gave me long enough to study the curriculum with her.
I did recommend Dawn to a friend who also found her lessons once a week extremely helpful and I would recommend her again.”
ET/JT, St Laurence School, Trowbridge, Grade 5 (2017)
“Question #1: Why did you seek out a maths tutor and what did you hope would be the outcome? We knew our son had the ability but thought the additional focus of a tutor would increase the grade outcome, certainly secure a grade A.
Question #2: What have we done together, specifically, that has been most helpful in helping you reach that outcome? Factorising, working 1:1 and the weekly cycle of study.
Question #3: If you were to recommend me to your best friend, what would you say? Dawn will improve your grade”
SJ, Sheldon School, Chippenham, Grade A equivalent (2017)
“We sought a Maths tutor because there was not much extra support given at school for pupils with special needs in Maths, and extra support was needed. We hoped that having extra tuition might give more chance of passing. Going back over the basics, having a structured revision plan and having a clear homework timetable really helped. Dawn is extremely thorough, provides a very good structure, lots of detailed homework, and the videos on her website are really helpful for studying at home.
Georgina/Sarah, Corsham (2017)
“Question #1: Why did you seek out a maths tutor and what did you hope would be the outcome? My daughter had had problems at primary school with maths. We already found a maths tutor who was a huge help but she only went so far. Already seeing the huge benefit that a tutor can make we went about looking for someone to continue the support.
Question #2: What have we done together, specifically, that has been most helpful in helping you reach that outcome? Multiplication.
Hannah had problems multiplying big numbers and Dawn was super helpful with this.
Question #3: If you were to recommend me to your best friend, what would you say? Dawn is a quiet, structured tutor with a very specific plan. If you want to methodically work through the Maths curriculum then Dawn is your tutor.”
Hannah/Stephanie Briggs, Sheldon School, Chippenham (2017)
“Dominic was moved up to Higher tier GCSE from Foundation in order to have the opportunity to get the grades to study the A levels he wished to pursue. It was the first year of the 9-1 grading and the tougher GCSE so we wanted to make sure he could have as much of a boost as possible.
All the lessons were really great but it was especially useful to learn different methods of approaching a problem.
Dawn was extremely patient but taught so Dominic could understand everything. She set quite a lot of homework but it was always done and set at an appropriate level..”
Dominic/Mary, Chippenham, Grade 5 (2017)