Bio

Before hiring me, you need to know a bit about me.
​
As a child, I was home-schooled from the age of nine and sat my GCSEs and A-levels at a sixth-form college in Cambridge which accepted external students. I found exams hard and I really struggled. I enjoyed the content, but I struggled to turn that enjoyment into success or in the case of maths, I just didn’t understand it at all. As a result, I really do empathise with students who ‘just don’t get it’, or are consistently failing to get the marks their efforts deserve. I persevered however and after re-taking an A-Level, I was able to get the grades needed for university. At university, I had the unimaginative and modest goals of achieving a degree (of any grade) and escaping from the other end into job market. At university however, I was privileged to be taught by some amazing lecturers who showed me not only how to immerse yourself if a topic, but also how to improve. I learnt that I wasn’t stupid – I just needed to change my approach. I graduated in 2011 with a BA(hons) 1st Class in History and Archaeology and decided I wanted to continue researching. A year later, I achieved a Distinction in an MRes in Medieval History. By this point I was well and truly hooked. Learning could be fun and not only that – I could be good at it.

In 2012, I had the good fortune to secure funding to complete a PhD and it was during the course of this that I decided to pursue tutoring in my spare time. Having gained so much success myself, I genuinely wanted to help other students who were looking down the long barrel of the gun of assessment and feeling hopeless (a feeling I knew all too well).

Since then, I have completed my PhD and I have continued to tutor, securing teaching opportunities whenever they became available. Tutoring and teaching gave me a concrete sense of achievement during my four years of doctoral research and I really, genuinely enjoy seeing a student start to grasp a subject they’ve been struggling with and start to make progress.
​
Looking towards the future, I continue to teaching but also research as the research is what got me here in the first place after all. It taught me that I had the skills and ability, I just had to find it. As a result, I try and incorporate aspects of my research (and the academic environment) into all of my tutoring and teaching and my students tend to report back about the medieval snippets they learn in our sessions. These are the two halves of the whole that is me. ​

Outside of my professional life, I enjoy the great outdoors and have volunteered for many years with various youth organisations. I’m a keen gardener and keeper of chickens.

When indoors, I like to read (not a surprise) and cooking is a passion of mine. I particularly enjoy scheming up ways to hide vegetables in the dishes I cook for children!