خلفية

Having studied GCSEs and A levels at St George’s College Jonathan took Maths (A*), Further Maths (A*), Additional Further Maths (A*) and Physics (A) to A Level (with Chemistry to AS Level (A)). After having first-hand experience taking the MAT and STEP I achieved my STEP offer and studied Maths at Peterhouse, Cambridge. Receiving a scholarship in his third year he was admitted to the famous part III of the Tripos in maths as well, where he specialised in Mathematical Physics. Jonathan’s favourite courses in fourth year were String Theory and Advanced Quantum Field Theory – for which he achieved a distinction. A DPhil (PhD) at Merton College, Oxford followed in Mathematical and Computational Biochemistry where he specialised in Statistical Physics and is affiliated with the Maths department. Throughout his school career he contributed articles to the school paper on Maths, and at Peterhouse was the president of the Maths society. Jonathan is currently completing an ATL course to become an associate fellow of higher education.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE AND APPROACH

With seven years of tutoring Jonathan worked with over 100 private students and has over 1000 teaching hours under his belt. Equipped to mentor prospective Oxbridge students and offer enrichment to the very keenest Mathematics (and Physics) students he creates materials for his own supra-curricular lessons, and also tends pastorally and pragmatically to struggling students.

Primary School teaching – Jonathan has aided students with admissions tests for Abingdon school, and uses materials such as AoPS books. He also helped coordinate home schooling for a child who needed stretching beyond the syllabus.

Secondary School teaching – Jonathan has a wealth of experience teaching Pre-GCSE material in a range of subjects including Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Maths. At GCSE and IGCSE he tutors Mathematics and all the sciences, recently helping a student become a King’s scholar at Eton.

College and Sixth Form teaching – Here he has used experience of STEP and MAT, having marked for both, to help many students with their Oxbridge admissions tests, assisting one student with their PAT test and successful entry into Oxford. He is familiar with IB, A level tuition (across all boards) and some European curriculums, taking a hands-on approach to a student’s learning if they require – preparing revision schedules and offering regular check-ups when asked for.

University teaching – Jonathan has taught widely among the first and second year Mathematics courses at Oxford and for multiple colleges (Keble, Merton, Brasenose). He has been a tutor for third year intercollegiate classes in multiple courses for the past two years, becoming a revision consultant tutor and preparing online materials for students to use. Jonathan has given one-to-one tuition to struggling students who have fallen behind due to illness, mental health issues, and a blind student who initially needed that extra support. In addition to this, he has acted as a Graduate Teaching Assistant and held a Non-Stipendiary Lectureship at Merton, and is due to start a Stipendiary Lectureship in Applied Mathematics at Worcester college (April 2022-September 2023).

لماذا الدروس الخصوصية؟

When tutoring, I often think how lucky I am to be in a position to help students gain confidence and grow with their subject: this can either be in the form of improving their grades or helping them navigate their curiosity to esoteric areas of maths. I feel a great deal of satisfaction when the student makes links with other topics, or triumphs over problems they previously thought would be insurmountable. I will always try my best to help them reach their goals – whether it is a grade, or to learn some really interesting off syllabus methods and topics. I relish the responsibility I have to each and every one of my students to do my best, and when they see this, they reciprocate and put in the effort as well. I have also accrued a lot of maths knowledge and I am passionate about sharing this, and my enthusiasm for the subject to anyone who will listen!

My favourite book is The Magus by John Fowles.

TESTIMONIALS

Jonathan Utterson has been tutoring my son for his A Levels for the past year.  I can honestly say that he is one of the best tutors my son has had.

Having started out as purely a Maths tutor, Jonathan extended his support to include Physics as well.  His manner is open and affable, and he immediately created an excellent rapport with my son.  Jonathan manages to make turgid topics comprehensible and fun.  He asks salient questions, invokes curiosity at the same time as being thorough in his preparation.  He responds to what is needed, and offers a service that includes thorough exam preparation, and coaching of my son as an individual.

Jonathan is generous in his communication.  My son’s grandmother is paying for the tutoring, so he liaises with her as well as with myself.  Jonathan gives attention to all of our requests and questions with consideration and transparency, patience and high spirits.

With Jonathan’s support, my son has received an offer from Cambridge (to read Music), which is a testament to the all-round academic standards expected of him by the school.  We owe much of this (in particular with Physics, my son’s least favourite subject) to Jonathan.

Jonathan is a terrific tutor – very knowledgeable, well-organised, and friendly. He does a great job of combining teaching of the necessary curriculum material, with encouraging love of maths and discussion of higher-level concepts.

We asked Jonathan for a maths session at university level. Beforehand, he took the time to thoroughly investigate what concepts were involved and how they were specifically laid out in the material to provide the best assistance. It was much appreciated as the result was a high value-added tutoring session. Furthermore, Jonathan is a lively person, very open, and it was really fun and enjoying to talk deep maths with him.

Great with my boys! My boys say one of the best maths tutor they ever had! (This was/is teaching twins!)