My name is Clara Topiol and at Manning’s Tutors, I tutor Maths to GCSE level and French and Spanish to A-level. Having been tutored myself for some of my GCSEs and A-levels due to lack of confidence, I came to recognise the importance of tuition and support during exam time. 

Having tutored throughout my university degree and beyond, I love meeting new students (albeit mostly virtually), interacting with them and watching them progress rapidly during our sessions. I find that the most rewarding part of tutoring for me is when a student finally clicks with a topic that they were struggling with; just watching them smile and feel the sense of accomplishment that I felt years before when I had struggled with various topics too is so gratifying and makes the hours and extra work 100% worth it. 

For my students, I think what has been most impactful is having someone outside of school to support them and is often closer in age to them so that they feel more understood and relatable. Throughout my time at Manning’s, one story stands out for me: I was recently put onto a scheme to help a year 8 student with autism who had refused to attend school for several months. 

I was tasked with teaching him several classes in maths to gauge his level and gauge his interest in the subject. He baffled me every week by having taught himself some of these topics on his own, linking the topics we were covering to the coding he’d self-taught himself and letting me in on how his brain perceived and processed mathematical problems. 

I would definitely recommend tutoring!