Our Tutors

Meet the team

Andrea Parkinson

Andrea Parkinson

Primary age and Lower Key Stage 3 tutor

Specialist Teacher of children with literacy difficulties, SEN specialist

Teaching has always been and will always be, my dream career. After I completed my B.Ed. degree at Oxford University and gained a First-Class degree, I taught in various Primary schools before working in a specialist role advising teachers in Swindon schools on how to support children with Special Educational Needs. After gaining a Master’s Degree focussing on SEN but also on provision for Able and Gifted Children, I was then urged by a school to run its unit for children with learning difficulties and to manage the provision across the mainstream classes as well as working as Assistant Head. 

Missing focussed teaching of children across the range, I (along with my husband, David) decided to use my skills to provide specialist private tuition through our own business, Aspire Tuition. As our reputation grew and I gained so much satisfaction in seeing children reach their potential in learning, I left the state system to work fully as a tutor. To further my knowledge, I gained post graduate qualifications to enable me to teach and assess students with dyslexia and other literacy difficulties, setting me apart from many tutors.

I have a calm, clear and caring personality and a remarkable level of patience that allows children and young people to relax and work through their difficulties or to thrive with challenges presented to them. The difference to a child’s spirits is miraculous in raising attainments so boosting confidence alongside teaching students by filling the gaps in their knowledge using visual and practical methods, is my speciality. I am very proud of how many young people I have supported over the years, allowing them to believe in their own capability and manage aspects of learning they had previously hidden away from. I know I have transformed lives.

David Parkinson

David Parkinson

Teacher of KS3 and KS4 Maths and Sciences

I have a varied background and bring my life skills and experience from the many different aspects to my tuition. I am a qualified but non-practising Barrister having obtained a 2:1 degree in Law from St Hugh’s College Oxford in 1995 and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Professional Legal Skills from The City University London – Inns of Court School of Law in 1999 and called to the Bar of the Middle Temple in 1999. Prior to qualifying as a Barrister, I served as an Engineer Officer in the Royal Navy and as a Police Officer in the Metropolitan Police.

I came to teaching later-on in life having returned to Swindon to care for my elderly mother after my father’s sudden passing. I met Andrea and, from initially helping out at her school, I quickly found myself hooked on working with children and as an unqualified teacher with my own class studying to qualify as a teacher whilst performing the role. I qualified as a teacher in March 2005 and established a particular speciality and interest in developing students’ abilities in mathematics and science.

During my time in school, both Andrea and I identified that the pressure and demands of the role often meant that children whom we knew would significantly benefit from more individual attention from their teacher just could not be provided with that extra help within the confines of a packed school day and curriculum. To cater for such children, we started our tuition business.

Ever since that time, we have been premier and successful providers of professional tuition in Swindon and have helped numerous students to grow as learners and to achieve their full academic potential.

Latest testimonials:

Jasleen KS4

Just wanted to say a big thank you for the past 6 years. Not just for boosting me academically but also for the motivation you gave me when I was overstressing. You made me realise that no matter what is on the paper on results day, I should feel very proud of how hard I worked and tried. Thank you so much, Jasleen.

Ethan SpLD

We were so pleased to find Andrea, through a friend’s recommendation. We were despairing about what to do with our son. The school said that there was nothing wrong with him but we knew that he was finding the work really difficult. Each day he would come out of school and have melt downs at home. He always took out his frustrations from school on us and his younger sister. Although we booked Ethan in for help with his reading and spelling, we received so much more. Andrea very soon recognised that he likely had dyslexia, which was a huge relief to us as we had suspected this for years. She talked to us about different methods to help him with his school spellings etc so that we no longer had the weekly battle and then upset, related to the class test. Andrea enabled us all to recognise the strengths of Ethan, rather than just focussing on his difficulties. She also carried out some assessments that showed that his memory was very poor. We were able to show her report to the school and they did begin to support him with the recommendations Andrea gave. 

We highly recommend Aspire Tuition due to the professional service but particularly because Andrea always went the extra mile for our son.

Oliver KS2

After a few weeks of you being shut at the start of lockdown, Ollie started to ask if he would ever come to Aspire again. He was so pleased to see you over Zoom. Although he hates writing at school, he is more than happy to work for you and it is great to hear him laughing and coming out with ideas when working online with you. Thank you for being one of the few people to get the best out of him.

More testimonials