Our 11 year old son with dyslexia has been working closely with Fi for two and a half years; she has made a huge difference to his confidence and self esteem, as well as excellent progress in reading, spelling and writing. Fi has taken a proactive approach liaising with primary school and aligning his learning plans. During covid Fi taught our son in a virtual environment which was equally effective. William looks forward to Fi’s lessons and really values the kindness, help and support she gives, we can not recommend her enough.
You are super.
Fiona Wilkins
Specialist Teacher
Child-centred support and tuition
Please note: I am not currently taking on new students.
When learning doesn’t happen as expected it doesn’t just affect academic success, it also has a negative impact on self-esteem and attitude to learning. If learning, or the school environment, becomes associated with a sense of failure or rejection, why would you want to keep trying?
If this happens, we’ve got to do 3 things:
- Get to the bottom of what is really going on: where are the gaps? What are the barriers? Why are they there?
- Make things fun! Build rapport and trust to overcome any learning or school-based anxiety, and pitch activities at the right level, in the right way.
- Design a bespoke, cumulative programme with measurable targets, which we can regularly review and celebrate together.
My child-centred learning programmes are trauma-informed and based on the Thrive Approach, combined with my specialism in cognition and learning difficulties. Programmes are designed around students’ needs, giving them the skills and confidence to learn. If learning is enjoyable and successful then there is incentive to keep trying and so learning can and will happen.
Assessment can unlock the reasons why learning feels difficult and provide a baseline from which to build.
The people I’ve worked with…
Fi took the time to learn about our child; her quirks and her needs. Fi formulated an action plan that will enable us to positively interact with our daughter’s school. We now feel better equipped to help our daughter finally engage with learning in a positive way.
Fiona has been an absolute blessing for our 10-year-old son, who faces the challenges of dyslexia. Since beginning his sessions with her, we’ve seen a remarkable improvement in not only his academic skills but also his attitude towards learning. He eagerly looks forward to each session, a testament to Fiona’s engaging and effective teaching methods. Her patience and understanding have helped him gain confidence, and it’s truly heartwarming to see his enthusiasm for education. We couldn’t be more grateful to Fiona for her invaluable support and the positive impact she’s had on our son’s educational journey.
Thank you so much, I really appreciate and have benefitted from your help.
We met Fiona Wilkins when our daughter was 14 years old, she asked for extra help with her English outside school. Fiona was fantastic, so thorough and has such a depth of experience and knowledge. Our daughter was struggling with processing information and Fiona was able to identify the problem and advise what to do going forward. I can highly recommend Fiona to any parent who needs help understanding their child’s needs. Fiona has a natural ability to communicate with young people.
I am very pleased with the way Fabian engages with the sessions now. Intellectually he gets that he needs the help and he does see that the sessions help him. I see his sessions with you as a very important way to boost his self confidence in his reading and writing, whereas at school he feels like his work isn’t good enough. You are very patient and encouraging with him and do a good job of keeping him focused when he’s trying to wriggle every which way to avoid doing some things! I very much appreciate the effort you put in to forge a relationship with school and to align his targets.
Fiona has a great way with children and both my boys love her lessons, she makes it very fun for them.
Fiona has a lovely approach which sets people at their ease. She was really flexible about when we could be seen, and offered pre and post test support, guidance and reassurance. She was brilliant with our family and offered really concrete things we should look into further. The approach she took helped our family to take things up with our child’s school, so that extra resources and support could be put in place. I would really recommend her to anyone who is worried about their child and can’t quite put their finger on what’s going on. She was brilliant.
About Fiona Wilkins
I’ve been teaching and advising in various education roles for 25 years now. I started my career as a teacher of History in Essex and wended my way back home to the glorious north of England specialising in SEND on my journey.
I have loved every role I’ve had to date but working 1:1 with children and young people who are struggling with education, and making a difference to their trajectory, gives me the most job satisfaction I could possibly ask for.
Qualifications
- Postgraduate Diploma in Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLD / Dyslexia and Literacy)
- Postgraduate Certificate in Education
- MA in Historical Research
- BA (Hons) History
Current certification and memberships
- Enhanced DBS
- Child Protection in Education
- Safeguarding of Children in Education level 2
- Prevent Duty
- First Aid Essentials
- Crisis Prevention Intervention
- Foetal Alcohol Syndrome
- Trauma Informed Practice
- LGBTQ Awareness
- Professional Association of Teachers of Students with Specific Learning Difficulties (PATOSS)
25 years teaching experience
- Currently Education Practitioner and previously Regional Lead for Nudge Education
- NYCC Specialist Teacher working directly with young people in the Youth Justice Service and the Virtual School, and advising on our countywide Social Emotional Mental Health (SEMH) policy.
- North Yorkshire Learning Support Service (LSS) and Enhanced Mainstream School (EMS) Cognition and Learning Specialist Teacher, advising and working directly with 87 local schools to help them better support their students with SEND.
- SENDCo and teacher of History, RE, PHSE, PE, Study Skills, Literacy and Numeracy.
Contact Fiona
If you would like to chat about any of my teaching services, please give me a call or drop me a line.