Sarah Watkins - private tutor
Classics graduate and mother of three, Sarah Watkins is a popular tutor who has helped her students move up to higher sets at school, face homework with new confidence, and overcome long-standing difficulties.
Matthew Leitch - private tutor
Psychology graduate and father of the three, Matthew Leitch has been using maths at home and at work since doing three maths A levels at school (a long time ago).
Ridgeway Tutors
Maths and Literacy: tailored to each individual
Please note: Ridgeway Tutors is no longer accepting new customers but we will continue to support our wonderful existing customers for the time being. This is because we are moving towards retirement. This website will remain in place so that our practice tools and written advice are still available.
Our approach is to help each student individually. Tutoring is not just extra teaching. It should identify and use very specific opportunities to improve. Oh, and it should also be enjoyable and sometimes even fun.
Students come for tutoring for different reasons. Some have long-standing difficulties with maths, or literacy, or both. Some, particularly at GCSE level, have a crisis thanks to a worrying mock exam result. Others come to raise themselves from good to great, for a school extrance exam or just to gain extra ability and self-confidence.
Whatever the reason for tutoring, our approach is to get down to practical details, look and listen, try experiments, and find the very specific mistakes and blind spots that are holding a learner back. The mysteries of maths and literacy become specific techniques and habits that anyone can master, with encouragement and efficient practice.
Tutors and subjects
Sarah Watkins - primary school maths and literacy, GCSE literacy, entrance exam preparation
Sarah is the main tutor and the founder of Ridgeway Tutors. She is now an expert in the many ways a student can struggle with mental maths and spelling, with English GCSE, and with the many forms of question in school entrance exams.
Matthew Leitch - GCSE maths and A level maths
Matthew is Sarah's husband and tackles more advanced maths. He is the author of a maths book and created Maths Accelerator and Sound Speller, two practice websites that Sarah uses for some of her tutoring.
Contact details
Please call Sarah on 01372 805 267, or email her at sarah@ridgeway-tutors.co.uk, but remember that we are no longer accepting new customers.
Most tutoring is done at our home, 29 Ridgeway, Epsom. You can spot it by the life-sized goose light in the window!
Related stuff
Maths Accelerator
This is a no-nonsense practice page for mental maths. Don't be fooled by the plain appearance; students find its performance statistics more motivating than cartoon graphics.
Algebra Accelerator
This a practice page for GCSE level algebra. It works like Maths Accelerator but with different tasks. Overall, more sophisticated.
Sound Speller
This online spelling test programme uses recordings of Sarah saying the words.
Advice on learning spellings
Learning to spell a word is an interesting skill with lots of elements.
Maths for mums and dads
We like this book by Rob Eastaway and Mike Askew. It explains how schools teach maths now.
Insight into motivation and study skills
The article is called How to use your school time and is by Matthew Leitch.
Study skills for maths
This article is called How to study maths efficiently at school and is also by Matthew Leitch.
Matthew's book on maths
Not one for children, but still an accessible read: A Pocket Guide to Risk Mathematics.
Intriguing geometry app
Euclidea is a great website and app for practising geometric constructions using compasses and straight edges. Great gameplay, well structured for learning, and much faster than using paper.
Graphs from equations
It is very useful to be able to plot equations quickly, especially when you are stuck and struggling to understand a tricky question at GCSE or A level. Two well-known websites that do this are GeoGebra and Desmos.