GCSE & A-Level French, taught by a former Head of French

I spent my career inside the exam system as a classroom teacher and Head of French, so I know what the boards reward, where marks quietly slip away, and how to turn a nervous candidate into a calm one.

Lessons are tutoring in the proper sense: not a parade of worksheets, but targeted work on the things standing between a student and the next grade. We diagnose, we prioritise, and we practise the exact skills the exam tests.

Built around the real exams

I tutor for GCSE and A-Level French across the major boards, including AQA, Edexcel (Pearson), Eduqas and WJEC and OCR, as well as IGCSE. Tell me your board and I will tailor everything to its mark scheme.

GCSE focus

• Speaking exam: role-play, photo card and general conversation, with the spontaneity examiners look for.
• Writing: structure, tenses and the phrases that lift a response into the top band.
• Translation both ways, plus listening and reading technique.
• Grammar taught so it sticks: tenses, agreement, pronouns and the patterns that recur.

A-Level focus

• Essay writing on the set film and literary text, with argument and analysis, not just summary.
• Theme and culture work for the speaking exam, including the individual research project (IRP).
• Advanced grammar, the subjunctive, register and idiom for genuine fluency.
• Translation and exam technique under timed conditions.

Where it helps, we map progress against the CEFR levels. As a rough guide, GCSE Higher tier sits around A2 to B1, and A-Level around B1 to B2. Knowing where a student truly is makes the path to the target grade much clearer.

Parents often ask what will move the needle fastest. Usually it is the speaking exam and exam technique, because that is where confidence and marks are won or lost.

Ask about exam tuition