My approach to coaching is to get alongside you and help you to be as confident and as prepared as possible for your Maths challenges and ambitions.

Any good coach (or tutor) will say this.  But having spent my career engaging with young minds and teaching Maths in different schools in different countries, I believe I am in a unique position to help.  

There is no "one size fits all" approach.   What I offer is bespoke for each and every student I coach. 

As a teacher, there are very few things that I promise, but I can promise that I will do my best for you.  And I hope that you will want to do your best for you, too.

At school, I did not find Maths particularly easy.  I worked hard to decode the language, to learn the rules and to practise for the tests.  I improved little by little as I learned how to learn.

It was only when I became a teacher that I came to understand how Maths could (and maybe should) be taught.

Qualifications

• BSc (hons) Economics, University of Southampton

• Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE), University of Loughborough

• Certificate in Mathematical Education, University of Cambridge

Achievements

I have been very fortunate in my teaching career.  

I was involved in the launch and rollout of the UK National Numeracy Project.  Following this, I was asked to deliver demonstration lessons to colleagues at other schools in the county where I worked.  This led to organising a large conference, following which I helped to write published schemes of work and devised games and methods that were covered in the UK education media.

However, as a teacher, nothing ever felt better than those moments in my lessons when a child would quietly say "Oh, yeah, I get it now."

If you were to ask any Maths class that I ever taught "What's Maths?" I hope they would all give you the same answer..."Patterns."

Experience

I have taught in the UK and the UAE in the public and private sectors.

I was Head of Prep School at Cranleigh Abu Dhabi (UAE) for four years and Wellington School (UK) for ten years.  In both these roles I was also a Maths teacher. 

I have been a primary class teacher and a secondary maths teacher.  I have been a Head of Maths, a Head of Year and a Deputy Head of School.

I have taught Maths GCSE to adult learners whose school experiences had not been what they wanted.

I worked with Loughborough University as a Visiting Tutor where I worked with the tutors supporting teacher training students in schools.

I have written for the TES, Junior Education, Child Education, Attain (the magazine of IAPS) and Prep School Magazine.

Beyond Maths

As well as not being great at Maths at school, I wasn't great at sport.  But I enjoyed it.  And enjoyment takes you places.

After I left school I was very fortunate to end up finding my sport - triathlon.  Through great coaching from others and a lot of hard work from me, I was selected to represent  Great Britain.  Now I have switched to longer distances and I completed my first full Ironman distance race in 2014.

Being able to work with outstanding coaches had a huge impact on my own performance as a teacher and as an athlete.

I continue to learn more about how high performance can be achieved and reflect on how I can apply these lessons to my work as a Maths Coach.

My Motivation

I am fortunate to be in a position where I have the time, the expertise, the energy and the opportunity to deliver the kind of Maths coaching which can make significant and cumulative differences to students.  In part, this comes from my career in education.  It also comes from my experiences of being coached, as well as being a coach.  

What motivates me is making that significant and cumulative difference for each of the students I coach.

 Contact me: adam@gibsonlearning.com