2024 GCSE RESULTS DAY

Back in January 2024, Jenny contacted me regarding her daughter, Mia. She had just received her December mock results and achieved only a grade 3 in her Language and Literature exams. Both Mia and Jenny were extremely worried about her lack of progress in YR11 and, naturally, was anxious about her upcoming GCSE exams in June.

Mia joined English Edge Tutoring during the February half term, and together, we plugged the gaps in her learning and developed her knowledge and confidence. By the time her GCSEs commenced in June, Mia was prepared for her exams and felt confident in her abilities in English.

This was her on results day - where she achieved a grade 6 in both Language and Literature, jumping 3 grades in each in just four short months!!

With these results, not only was Mia able to enrol in sixth form, she was also able to study her top choice subjects.

Well done, Mia!

2024 GCSE RESULTS DAY

Zach’s mum contacted me back in June 2023 regarding his progress throughout YR10. Zach had always done well in English and was achieving good grades. However, his end of YR10 mocks reflected there were some gaps in his knowledge, particularly when it came to comparison of texts, as well as developing his analysis to be insightful and perceptive.

Zach started with English Edge Tutoring over the summer holidays to get a jump start on the YR11 curriculum, and throughout the year, I made sure my focus for Zach was stretching and challenging him, getting him to analyse in a high-level and perceptive way.

This was Zach on results day, where he achieved fantastic results in English - GRADE 8s in both Language and Literature!!!

All that hard work and challenging sessions paid off.

Well done, Zach!!

2024 GCSE RESULTS DAY

In YR10, Isobel's mum contacted me regarding her recent mock results, whereby Isobel hadn't done as well as she expected and did not seem to be making significant progress. Based on these mocks, her teacher predicated her a grade 4 in Literature and a grade 5 in Language for her GCSE's.

As soon as Isobel started, my initial aim was to plug the gaps in her learning and begin to develop the confidence she had lost throughout most of YR10. Towards the end of the year, we began stretching and challenging, as well as getting a jump start on the content she would be learning in YR11.

We continued throughout YR11, and Isobel started joint sessions with another student who was also looking to be challenged. This really helped her as she able to bounce off ideas with the other student, but it pushed them both to succeed further.

On results day, Isobel completely smashed those YR10 predictions out of the park! She was predicted no higher than 5 in Language and came out with a grade 6. In Literature, her teacher only predicted her a grade 4, and she ended up achieving a grade 7!

Well done, Isobel! What a transformation!!

2024 GCSE RESULTS DAY

In her April mocks, Rosie achieved grade 4s in both Language and Literature, with her exams a mere 6 weeks away. It was clear from our first session that Rosie hadn't been given much clarification on how to structure essays, and particularly struggled with poetry analysis.

With exams round the corner, Rosie had double sessions on a weekly basis. In between the sessions, I would set Rosie tasks to complete and consistently gave her feedback, which she would then take away and further develop.

Although time was against us, with English Edge Tutoring, both Rosie and I worked extremely hard on securing the grades I knew she was capable of.

From achieving grade 4s in both Language and Literature in her April mocks, Rosie could not believe the grades she achieved when it came to results day - A grade 7 in Language and a grade 8 in Literature!!

Through Rosie's success story, it shows how receiving the correct scaffolding, structure, and support, alongside giving 110% in and out of the tutoring sessions, you can achieve tremendous results!!

A huge round of applause to Rosie - Well done!!

2025 GCSE RESULTS DAY

Oliver’s mum contacted me back in January this year. Oliver was in college, studying BTEC Level 2 in Motorsport. However, he was still struggling to pass his English Language GCSE. Even though he received additional English lessons in college, Oliver resat his Language GCSE for the second time and still didn't pass. As you can imagine, this was both worrying and frustrating for Oliver. 

I requested Michelle to get in touch with his college and ask them to send copies of his past exam papers so I could see where Oliver was going wrong. We started the sessions straight away to enable him as much time as possible before his 3rd attempt at the exams in June. 

Oliver was, without a doubt, one of my hardest working students this year! All of his sessions were via Zoom to accommodate his college timetable, which his mum was apprehensive about, as she was worried he wouldn't concentrate as much, but boy, did he prove her wrong! Every single session, Oliver was focused, gave 110%, and was consistently asking me how he could do better, how could he push his answers even further - which was SO refreshing to hear as a tutor. 

For the third time, Oliver sat these papers and, after each exam, said he felt more confident than he'd ever done and answered every single question. This would be the last time he'd ever have to sit an English Language paper because on results day, both Oliver and Mum were thrilled that he'd PASSED! 

In September Oliver is going to do an Advanced BTEC Level 3 in Motorsport and is hoping to go to University to do Mechanical Engineering, and there's no stopping him now that he's got his English Language GCSE under his belt. 

Oliver, you absolutely smashed it!

2025 GCSE RESULTS DAY

Chloe holds an extremely special place within English Edge Tutoring, and really was the inspiration for starting the business...

When I was still teaching, a colleague approached me and said her granddaughter, who was at the end of YR8 was really struggling with English, and asked whether I could offer her some support in the evenings after school. After meeting Chloe a few times, it was very apparent that this was a girl who had absolutely no confidence in the subject and struggled immensely on a daily basis. I would have regular conversations with mum and after a few sessions, I flagged that Chloe showed signs of SEN. Chloe's school failed to acknowledge this for so long, despite both myself and mum being in constant contact with them and fighting for her to get any type of support. 

Finally, at the end of YR10 the school listened and put some support in place for Chloe, including extra time for her exams, a prompt and reader. However, by this point, Chloe's confidence had hit rock bottom. With the previous lack of support in school, Chloe found the transition from KS3 to KS4 extremely overwhelming and was really struggling. She associated English lessons in school as a place of sheer anxiety, and this was starting to filter into her tutoring sessions. At the start of YR11, both Mum and I decided to try Chloe in group sessions as opposed to 1:1, in the hope that having other students to help build her ideas upon as opposed to the pressure being solely on her would help. And my god it did! She went from a student who barely said a word in the sessions and struggled to do any type of independent work, to one of the most confident in the group - consistently participating, one of the first to finish the work and writing good solid analysis paragraphs in 10mins, as opposed to the two sentences she would write in the 1:1 sessions.

In YR10, her school was preparing Chloe and her mum to fail her English exams. Last week, when she opened her results, Chloe achieved a grade 5 in Literature, and was 4 points away from a grade 6!

Chloe is an example of how not receiving the correct support can completely diminish a child's confidence, but we both proved everyone wrong. These tutoring sessions are not always about achieving grade 8s and 9s - It's about giving students the chance to achieve their full potential and giving them the hope and confidence they may have lost within themselves. Chloe was the reason I started the business, as she, like many students, got completely lost in the school system, needed that extra TLC and someone to help.

A huge thank you to Chloe, the driving force behind English Edge Tutoring - I'm so excited for what's next in store for you.

2025 GCSE RESULTS DAY

Maisie's mum contacted me at the end of March, a mere 2 months away from the GCSE's. Maisie had received her recent set of mocks and achieved grade 3s in both language and literature. Understandably, both Maisie and her mum were concerned at these results and wanted as many sessions as possible to be able to identify where Maisie was going wrong. 

Maisie joined my YR11 group sessions and straight away, it was obvious to me that Maisie was certainly not a grade 3 - She was able to explore complex ideas and was not afraid to push her analysis in perceptive and thoughtful ways. However, what was letting Maisie down was the structure of her analysis and her essays in general - They were all over the place. Maisie had a tendency to jump between ideas, which made her arguments unclear and difficult to follow and had a habit of overcomplicating what she wanted to say. 

This was something we really worked on, and in the group sessions, I made sure that when it came to planning responses, Maisie had had step-by-step tables to follow and lots of model paragraphs, which were colour co-ordinated, so she could physically see the structure of an analysis paragraph. 

Out of all my students this year, Maisie was the one who stood out to me as the most diligent of them all - This was a student who cared so much about the work she was producing and really wanted to succeed. Most sessions, she would stay behind to ask more questions, have clarification on techniques and strategies, and would be in touch in between sessions to ask for more advice and further ways in which she could improve. 

It's this dedication and diligence that made Maisie one of the strongest success stories this year . She came to me at the end of March on grade 3s and had only 6 sessions - She opened those GCSE results and came out with grade 6s in BOTH language and literature, and was a mere 3 points away from a 7 in literature. 

Maisie serves as an inspiration to all students that it's never too late to succeed - What a girl!

2025 GCSE RESULTS DAY

Idrees' mum contacted me towards the end of YR10. Both she and Idrees were concerned with his lack of progress to the start of his KS4 journey: He was already on his 3rd teacher by May, and prior to this new teacher, he had no real structure to his lessons and achieved grade 5s in his recent mocks, which was way below his predicted grades at the start of YR10.

Very quickly, I could see Idrees was a high ability student. However, a hindering factor to him not achieving the grades he was capable of was his analysis skills. Idrees struggled to really build on his analysis and explore more complex ideas. This was the skill we continuously developed throughout his year of tutoring. 

In his final mocks during YR11, Idrees had jumped a grade in both Language and Literature but was still struggling to enhance his ideas. He also found the whole concept of revision challenging. Like many students, he wasn't really sure where to begin when it came to revising for his exams and wasn't efficient with organising and prioritising certain modules. Therefore, as part of his revision, I created grade 8/9 module answers for multiple exam questions, so that Idrees could physically see what high-level analysis paragraphs looked like, as well as creating revision documents/materials that were specifically tailored to his needs and the areas/texts he struggled with in his mocks

 With persistent hard work, Idrees was over the moon with his grades on results day - Achieving grade 7s in both Literature and language!

A fantastic achievement!

2025 GCSE RESULTS DAY

Franki's mum, Sarah, contacted me at the start of January following his recent mock results. He had achieved grade 4s in both Language and Literature, however both Franki and Sarah knew he could do better. During YR10, Franki really liked his English teacher and was excelling, but when it came to YR11, his teacher had left and it really reflected in his grades and his love/confidence for the subject. 

I added Franki into my YR11 group, with other students who were looking to be stretched and challenged, which was a perfect fit - Franki was a competitive student and having that group environment really enabled him to push himself. 

Straight away, it was apparent that for whatever reason, Franki had not been given the platform in lessons to push himself. The way he was taught to analyse and structure essays was extremely simple, making it hard for him to achieve anything over a grade 4. In some ways, this was more of a challenge for me, as I had to teach Franki a completely new way of analysing, and introduce him to high-level techniques, which at times, was really overwhelming for Franki, 

But that certainly didn't stop him - From scraping grade 4s in January, Franki opened his GCSE results to find out he had achieved grade 6s in both his Language and Literature exams! 

Franki is a clear example of how not being pushed in lessons can have a real detrimental affect not just on student's grades, but also their love and confidence for the subject - I am so proud he was able to find this again. 

Well done, Franki!

GCSE results day, Summer 2025 - Emily opened her envelope and passed every single subject, except one - the dreaded English Language exam!

Emily was certainly not alone in this scenario. Within the UK, English Literature has a significantly higher pass rate (74.0%) than English Language (59.7%), so it is never shocking for me as a tutor to get an enquiry about an English Language resit - especially due to the fact most colleagues and sixth form require a pass in Language.

At the end of August, Emily’s mum informed me that she had failed her Language exam and was planning to retake during the November re-sit period, so we were incredibly tight for time! The first thing I did was contact Emily’s school and request a copy of her GCSE Language Papers, so I could see the areas and questions that let her down. I then devised a specific schedule that ensured we were able to cover every question on both papers in that short time frame. One thing that flagged for me, like a lot of students I see, was that Emily massively struggled with time management for these papers - resulting in her not even attempting some of the questions. So adhering to a strict time management scheme when answering questions was something I implemented from the very first session together.

Due to the fact that Emily was no longer having English lessons within her daily school life, I was conscious that only practising English Language once a week alongside the tight 7 week deadline we had, was not going to cut it. Therefore, not only did she complete the work within her sessions, but she had additional tasks and practice exam questions to complete during the time between the next session. This dedication allowed Emily to consistently practice the skills we learned, as well as enabled me to get a clear picture as to what we needed to prioritise for the next session.

This extra workload alongside the stress of starting sixth form and entering into the KS5 curriculum wasn’t easy for Emily, but this hard work and dedication paid off. Emily sat her Language papers again for the second time at the start of November, and instantly felt so much more confident than before…

And rightly so - Because when Emily opened her envelope in January, not only did she pass her language exams, she went from the grade 3 she achieved in August to a grade 5 in just 7 sessions together!

Now, Emily can solely focus on enjoying sixth form and kiss that language exam goodbye.

Well done, Emily! You deserve it.

2026 GCSE RESULTS DAY

Seb and his mum, Emma came for a meeting in October 2024, 1 month into his KS4 journey. Seb had stable, consistent teachers for English in YR7 and YR8, however that unfortunately wasn’t the case in YR9. Due to this, Seb started his GCSE journey on grade 3s in both Language and Literature. These grades alongside the fact that even in YR10, his English lessons did not seem to have a stable, consistent teacher, both Emma and Seb were increasingly nervous about his grades. 

Seb went straight into the group sessions, as both mum and I agreed that collaborative learning would be beneficial to him. Within the first few sessions, Seb struggled with most tasks - He wasn’t confident with annotating extracts, he had limited knowledge when it came to techniques and methods, and he struggled to structure and write analysis paragraphs. Most weeks, he would become frustrated as he felt he just couldn’t grasp the skills and his confidence was at an all time low. 

However, after a few months, things started to click. Seb was able to identify techniques with little to no prompting, writing analysis paragraphs that showed promise and came to the sessions more confident and actually started enjoying the subject again. As the group sessions progressed and more students were added, Seb absolutely thrived. He embraced the concept of the small group sessions and flourished working with others, having group discussions, building on other students' ideas and even had healthy competitions with the other students. 

Seb was an absolute asset to the groups - Every week he brought such a positive vibe, fun and energy to the sessions that the other students latched onto. Leading up to the exams, he attended multiple extra study sessions, consistently asked for practice papers and was sending me work to mark outside the sessions. It was this dedication that enabled Seb to not just progress, but excel. In Literature alone, he jumped 3 whole grades and achieved a 6 in his exams!

Seb is now off to his first choice Sixth Form to study A-Level PE, Psychology and applied Level 3 in Criminology. This is a bitter sweet moment, as I am so proud of what Seb has achieved and wish him all the luck in the world - But at the same time - English Edge will not be the same without this lad's amazing energy - a young man that’s a real credit to his family.

Well done Seb - So proud 

2026 GCSE RESULTS DAY

A very special story incoming… 

Ellie’s mum, Sam, contacted me during the summer holidays after Ellie had finished YR10 and received her mocks. Ellie has never been confident in English and found the subject challenging. Pairing that with the high anxiety she suffered during examinations, she scored Grade 1s and 2s in her English mocks. Both her and mum were extremely worried about entering YR11 without the prospect of additional support in English.

Ellie joined a group and was the final 4th student added. She had a couple of lessons over the summer holidays to give her a head start, and jumped straight in with the group as of September. Ellie was such a fantastic addition to the group and fit in beautifully. She was warm, friendly and even though she found it challenging, she strived to collaborate with the others, and in time, this became second nature to Ellie.

Within the first couple of sessions, it was very clear to me how much Ellie struggled in English. Her knowledge of techniques were very low, she was not able to write analysis paragraphs independently and needed heavy scaffolding and modelling. I was in regular contact with her teacher, sharing work she had produced in the sessions alongside her teacher sharing any classwork and assessments. Strategies that seemed to really help Ellie I passed onto her teacher so she was able to execute these in her day-to-day lessons to ensure consistency. 

We started to see real improvements within the sessions and this progress was also mirrored in lessons, which her teacher also recognised. However, this progress was not reflected in any of her YR11 mocks and Ellie was still struggling to pass. Everytime she received these results, I could see her heart break a little more, her confidence get shattered all over again and the increasing concern from Mum that she wouldn’t pass. Therefore, as well as continuing to develop her skills, in the sessions I was rigorous with Ellie’s timings, ensuring she completed any written work under exam conditions within strict time frames. I also provided lots of past papers and past exam questions for Ellie to complete and that enabled me to consistently mark and give feedback in-between the sessions. 

Once the exam season started, Ellie seemed a lot more confident going into them. However, for Mum Sam, she still had that worry hanging over her - What if she doesn’t pass? Will it completely destroy her confidence? Will it hinder her from embarking on her college journey? How will it affect her future? Sam had discussions with myself on the prospect of Ellie potentially joining the tutoring again after the summer for re-sit sessions…

Exam results day came around and all of these worries were gone in an instant when Ellie opened her results and saw that she had passed both Language and Literature - The first time Ellie has passed English since starting her KS4 journey! Sam rushed to tell me straight away and the both of us were in tears - Never have I been more proud of a student than I was with Ellie at that moment… 

This gave me a huge perspective on the business - It’s so easy to get caught up in grades and trying to achieve the top grades possible. But actually, it’s these moments which is why I do what I do… This was a family who thought their daughter was never going to pass, and now Ellie is attending her first choice College to do Level 3 Criminology, Psychology and Law. 

Thank you Ellie for this absolute pleasure. You deserve all the success in the world.

2026 GCSE RESULTS DAY

Rae’s mum Karen contacted me just before Christmas 2025. Rae had just received her first set of YR11 mocks and achieved grade 4s in both Language and Literature. Mum and Rae knew she could achieve higher, but Rae informed me that no matter what, she was struggling to move past a grade 4 in the subject. 

Within the first session, it was very clear to me that Rae was nowhere near grade 4. She showed me she had the capability to think and explore ideas in a perceptive way. However, what let her down was a combination of two things: (1) Her technique/method knowledge - Rae knew her basic techniques and was able to analyse them correctly, but her understanding of the higher-level and more complex techniques was lacking. This was the first thing I encouraged Rae to focus on. (2) The structure of her analysis paragraphs and essays - They were all over the place! When reading them I wasn’t able to follow her train of thought. Besides the fact that Rae also had a tendency to over-complicate her ideas, it resulted in her essays being extremely unclear. It also meant that Rae was waffling, writing way more than she needed, and as a result, she struggled with timings in her exams and rarely finished questions. 

The first thing we focused on was how to simplify the structure of her essays, making sure she explored the points clearly, and kept her analysis focused and precise. I then started to encourage Rae to implement the more complex techniques to stretch and challenge her. Rae had a mixture of 1:1 zoom sessions, but also some group sessions - which she loved. Rae had such a great personality that collaborating with others was where she shined - She had healthy competitions with other students, and brought an energy to the sessions that everyone else absolutely gravitated towards. 

I contacted Rae’s teacher throughout her sessions, and very quickly she also started to see great improvement in Rae’s day to day work in class and this was reflected in her next set of mocks in March, where she jumped a whole grade in both Language and Literature. 

Rae was one of those students who was so conscientious about her work - She knew she could do better and always wanted to give 110% in the sessions. She was never afraid to ask questions, always made sure she had absolute clarity before she left and was very proactive in contacting me between the sessions to ask for extra work and to mark things she had completed in her own time. This type of dedication and hard work is what allows students to excel in tutoring - Sometimes students think that by tutoring one hour a week and not dedicating any extra time outside is going to result in progress. Sadly, this isn’t the reality and it’s only with dedicating and determination like Rae showed is where you see the results.

Her final group session before the last English exam, Rae left saying she was sad this was the last time she’d be attending English Edge and wasn’t ready for it to be over. Students who embrace the sessions and in the midst of the hard work, find their enjoyment and passion for the subject again is what makes it all worth it for me as a tutor. 

Because of this mindset, Rae went from a student who was struggling to get past a 4 in her exams at Christmas, and came out with a grade 7, jumping three whole grades in Literature alone and two grades in Language. 

What a fantastic asset you were Rae - Thank you for providing such fun to English Edge