Poole Tutor

Richard Davidson (Poole Tutor) was born in Oakdale and grew up locally. He studied at Poole Grammar School, passed ten GCSEs, and then continued onto three A levels in Geology, Chemistry and Zoology.

Taking up a place to read Geology and Astronomy at the University of Leicester, he gained a BSc (Honours) degree, mapping the rocks of the Purbecks as one of his projects.

He then went on to a year’s Postgraduate Certificate in Education; qualifying as a teacher at Roehampton Institute of Higher Education, Surrey.

Richard took up a post as a class teacher at a state middle school, Malmesbury, in Morden, Surrey. He taught classes from year four to seven and was the science coordinator. He escorted year seven pupils to a number of field trips in South Wales. Moving on to five years in a small family-run private school in Tooting, London, he was able to enjoy more say in the organization of the school, and teach smaller but mixed – aged classes.

During these years, he also worked as a private tutor, teaching mainly Maths, English and Science to secondary school age. Much tuition was focused on the eleven – plus entrance exams for local schools.

Moving back to Poole he established a Saturday School in Charminster and quickly built up a full week of home tutoring.

Completing a course in foreign language teaching, enabled Richard to broaden still further his teaching experience at BBSI Language School, where he prepared foreign students for their engineering university courses,

Richard’s father, Derek, has run a flying school from Bournemouth Airport for nearly forty years. With over thirty hours at the controls of light aircraft, he then moved on to teaching Aviation English to Omani Military Air cadets and Airline Transport trainee pilots from the UAE.

Moving on to an ongoing post at MLS International College, he continued for the last three years with helping Air Traffic Controllers from Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania and currently Turkey, to improve their comprehension and broaden their use of English, particularly in non – routine situations.

During this time, he also worked with the Brethren Christians, who bring in freelance teachers for their schools. Working both in Poole and Southampton, Richard taught 11 to 16 year olds science and citizenship.

Over the last eleven years, Richard has now built the tuition side up considerably, and most recently (as of September 2015), has opened the tuition centre on Alder Road making this his sole occupation.