Maths Tutoring
"Trying to plug the gaps and instill the love of maths into beautiful young humans. Must love dogs!"
Sam has tutored students for almost 40 years, ever since she was at university, studying Statistics in England. Whilst Sam was bringing up her children she chose to stay out of the classroom and tutor at home instead, both in England and New Zealand. When the mandates came along, Sam was forced out of her school and began teaching online, both for an online school and privately. She has seen people in person and online since the mandates were lifted. Sam keeps up to date with the latest changes in NCEA by helping various schools in the Waikato when they need an extra Maths teacher.
Sam has a special interest in students with learning difficulties, ADHD and autism. Her private classroom comes with the addition of 5 cats and 2 dogs who love to join in by sitting on the desk or resting their heads on laps!
Maths is like a jigsaw puzzle. If you don’t have a piece of information, you cannot complete the problem. Having spent many hours on the phone to her father, in tears, when she was a teenager, Sam understands that if you don’t know something yet, then you are going to struggle. Sam’s aim is to teach logic and real-life skills.
Sam is a qualified and registered teacher. Her qualifications include a Ba(Hons) and PGCE.
Testimonials
"Student R and Student L came to Sam (recommended by word of mouth) during their NCEA years 11 and 12 for help with maths. L has ADHD and has some learning delays. Their maths improved considerably and assisted both to pass their NCEA maths. Both kids enjoyed the 1 on 1 attention in a laid-back atmosphere complete with friendly furry friends. Sam has always been open, warm, and friendly, and completely student focused. Excellent at communication."
Sue, Cambridge (parent)
"Sam is an amazing tutor and our kids have loved attending her lessons! We sought Sam’s help for our oldest son who was doing well in class but we felt he would benefit from some one on one time and the ability to ask questions without feeling self conscious. He has progressed in leaps and bounds and was sad to move to year 12 and not be able to attend lessons. Mister 14 has thrived under Sam’s tutelage and his results reflect the time and effort Sam puts into every student. The ability to attend lessons online has been a godsend for my busy schedule, although they love the in person visits and the cat snuggles!"
Joanne J, Cambridge (parent)
"Miss 15, Year 11, started her NCEA Level 1 journey this year. Miss 15 was recently diagnosed with dyscalculia and ADD and we initially enrolled Sam’s support to help her get through the NCEA Numeracy co-req test so she could realise her Level 1 credits. Sam has been an absolute god send, not only in supporting Miss 15 with building blocks to fill missing knowledge gaps, but also in supporting me to understand what is needed in order to support her from home as well. Sam has a brilliant way of engaging with Miss 15 and manages to get her working on topics that she struggles to stay engaged in. We have our fingers crossed for her NZQA co-req results due out in August.
Thank you Sam for all you continue to do to help Miss 15 succeed in maths, and in life as well x"
Kellie, Cambridge (mum)
"Kapowai or dragonfly is a symbol of transformation. The dragonfly is such a beautiful logo for the work you do with kids."
KP, Cambridge (parent)
"My daughter, Miss M, needed to grow her mathematical knowledge base and self confidence with Maths. She started with Sam in Y10 and has been working with her for a year now. Sam has been amazing with her patience, support, and expert knowledge. Sam's kind and approachable manner has helped Miss M's confidence grow. Miss M has shown real gains and successes at school thanks to Sam's input and encouragement."
Melissa, Cambridge (parent)
For most people the basics in maths, such as addition and subtraction, is easy and the hard maths, like fractions and multiplication, isn’t. For me it’s the other way round. I love the really hard maths, but I find the basic stuff BORING!
I started tutoring with Sam in Year 6, in 2022. In our first lesson together, Sam quickly realised that the basic maths wasn’t hard for me, I just needed her version of sparkle to nail it, along with my brain needing the challenge of harder maths. Then in 2023, Sam set the task for most of her students to do a study on New Zealand currency. I found this really exciting. As I went on studying money, Sam's daughter, Miss A, was getting ready to fly to Africa. This sparked an idea, and after talking to Sam about it, I decided that I would include the African Rand in my money study. I also included the Botswanan Pula. Sam was so amazed with the finished product, that I achieved top spot for the best project. This year (2024), I finally discovered that my complicated brain has ADHD and traits of Autism. No wonder Sam understands me and how my brain works, we’re two peas in a pod! Now that all the basics are covered, Sam is able to extend me in our one-on-one sessions. I’ve nailed Pythagoras and now I’m onto Trigonometry and I can’t wait. Sam has truly been amazing at giving me back my confidence in maths. Sam is the best tutor you can get.
Miss S, Hamilton (student)
