About Me
Hello, my name is Elaine Saldanha. I am a very approachable, patient, skilled and enthusiastic individual with a now over 25-year career as a Mathematics teacher and tutor. I have taught in a wide variety of educational environments from state schools to both grammar and independent schools. I have extensive experience supporting students of diverse capabilities to overcome academic challenges, and I help them excel at preparing for and taking examinations in the area of Mathematics.
I specialise in GCSE and A level teaching across multiple syllabuses, but I also have a wealth experience teaching students across the entire spectrum from Year 7 to adults.
I have worked a diverse students cohort: from those looking to take entrance exams, to those seeking more efficient and intensive revision, to Oxbridge candidates preparing for admissions tests, or bridging the gap in moving from schools abroad to the mainstream UK secondary school curriculum. I have even taught a policeman towards his professional exams!
Enjoyment
My approach is to make learning fun and not feel like a chore. Maths is my passion, but funnily enough, I disliked Maths when I was a student, until year 8 when I had a teacher that made lessons fun and my whole career and love of Maths blossomed from there! I am not suggesting that all of you should necessarily make Maths your career (!!) but it is a core skill and can be fulfilling and enjoyable.
Early preparation
I have many students who start with an aim of ‘just getting through’ and then adopted the Maths as a passion, taking their studies further.
My students love my concise topic notes and early exam preparation. It helps put you in the best position to succeed and relieves some of the stress that comes with these academic milestones. I believe that a key part of exam success is early introduction of past paper questions, as a way to gauge knowledge levels and demonstrate efficient and effective knowledge transference. By understanding the ‘why’ behind core topics at an early stage I find that my students quickly start to form new connections between topic areas and a deeper understanding of the subject.
Engagement and encouragement
Student engagement and confidence is key to successful learning and I have always made myself approachable to my students who have questions or concerns. I have strong interpersonal skills that allow me to quickly build and sustain rapport with students of any skill level (as well as their parents).
By combining these skills with customised tuition plans, I find that I can ensure each student’s capacity to understand and retain even difficult mathematical concepts. During the COVID-19 pandemic, my students have enjoyed the online interactive learning environment created with OpenBoard which allows me to facilitate a fun and personalised approach to learning whilst ensuring their active engagement in the lesson.
Exam results-oriented
Throughout my career I have consistently prided myself on helping my students achieve outstanding results with the majority of my pupils always achieving A and A* grades, and those that were predicted lower grades at the start of the syllabus, typically exceed and outperform expectations by at least one or two grade boundaries.
I have experience teaching Edexcel, AQA, OCR, MEI, IB and ISEB and other common entrance exams at both state and independent schools, and more recently admission exams for University including the Oxbridge MAT (Mathematic Admission Test) and TMUA (The Test of Mathematics for University Admission). I have even taught some of my students a whole syllabus outside school.
