How Pauline Suarez left teaching to set up a franchise offering tutoring in east London
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From a very young age, it was clear Pauline Suarez would be a teacher.
“Even at three years old, my mum remembers me lining up my teddies and teaching them how to read and write,” she said.
“However, they were very poor achievers.
“It was something in me – I knew what I wanted to do. I’ve always had a passion for nurturing people and I really wanted to help the world.”
Having grown up in “a very small village in Canada”, Pauline studied education at the University Of Saskatchewan before seeking a position overseas.
She interviewed for a role in Mexico, but only found out she’d got it by letter 12 weeks after she’d already started teaching in London.
“I came to be a supply teacher in primary schools,” she said.
“I actually didn’t take it all that seriously.
“I really wanted the Mexican job and I think London was probably the worst interview of my life.
“But I got the job, I loved it and I thrived.
“My first job was at De Beavoir school in Hackney – the toughest, roughest school I had ever seen.
“The kids were on the tables, totally out of control.
“I called my mum in the first week and told her it was awful and that I was moving home.
“But that was in 2000, it’s 2024 now and I’m living and working in Canary Wharf.
“London is like a woman and you either love her or hate her.
“I’m madly in love with her. This is an amazing city – it just has everything.”
born of experience
Working initially in Southwark before moving to Tower Hamlets and a stint in South Africa, Pauline’s career has see her accrue a great deal of experience in inner-city education.
Before embarking on a new venture, she worked extensively at Malmesbury Primary School in Mile End and most recently at Harbinger Primary School on the Isle Of Dogs.
“I was a phenomenal teacher,” said Pauline.
“But teaching 30 children each day and working long hours left me more and more disillusioned with the education system.
“It was about having everything written down rather than adapting to the child’s needs.”
Having initially started tutoring while still teaching, she decided to leave the classroom in 2022 and try something different.
“I wanted a change,” said Pauline.
“It was a time in my life when I couldn’t get assurance of regular work as a teacher – they would just call when they needed someone, a bit like a zero hours contract.
“I felt like a swan – calm on the surface but frantically paddling under the water.
“So I decided to take on a franchise with tutoring company Conexus.
“Only around 16% of businesses in London are owned by women, so that’s one reason I wanted to do this.
“I started the franchise for the Canary Wharf area in January and I’m so grateful for the support I’ve had – everyone has wanted to help.”
Conexus Tuition Canary Wharf: Isle Of Dogs sessions
Based at the Barkantine Community Hall, just off Westferry Road on the Island, Conexus Tuition Canary Wharf offers tutoring to small groups of students in English, maths and science.
One-to-one and online sessions are also available.
“We cater for children from the age of four and up, right to the end of GCSEs and we have A-Level tutors available too,” said Pauline.
“The story of Conexus itself is really amazing.
“It was started by a woman called Sharon Cawley – a teacher who had a breakdown, a broken marriage and was living with two kids in a council flat on benefits.
“She realised she could tutor to make a living and discovered that teaching them in small groups worked really well.
“That’s backed up by the research from the Education Endowment Foundation, which found that this kind of environment allows children to learn more over the course of a year than one-to-one.
“Sharon was teaching English and found out that many of her students were also going to see a maths tutor.
“She decided to hire one herself and that’s where Conexus was born.
“The company provides small group learning from top quality tutors.
“Each knows their subject really well – we only hire specialists because you need that in-depth knowledge.”
Pauline’s franchise offers online sessions from £20 or in-person classes from £23 on Tuesdays and Thursdays after school.
the benefits of tuiotion
She said: “I don’t believe there’s a child on the planet who wouldn’t benefit from having a tutor.
“Tutoring embeds learning and allows your child to get to grips with their education.
“The school system is overloaded.
“There’s too little money and, in a traditional classroom, the average student might only be spending three minutes with a teacher during a lesson. Tutoring is an investment.
“If a child is top of their class, they often need a push to achieve their potential.
“Equally, if they’re struggling, then they need support. It’s being able to adapt to the child’s needs.
“One small thing can affect them and a tutor has the time to find out what that is and deal with it.
“Children can be terrified of saying the wrong thing or making a mistake.
“I had a child two weeks ago who had been over-tested in school.
“She came in, started learning and she seemed fine, and then she had a panic attack.
“I got her to breathe so that she could calm her nervous system down and then she cried and cried.
“I asked her why she was so upset and she said she’d failed a test in school. I explained to her that as her tutor it was me that had failed if she didn’t know something.
“Now she has the biggest smile and wants to come to our sessions because she knows there’s no judgment.
“In school there’s an exorbitant amount of pressure on these children, and they’re not handling it well.
“We can take away that pressure and we can help them learn. That’s our promise.
“I’ve had phone calls from parents fearful that their child would fail exams and I’m always confident we can get them through.
“One of the mums cries when she sees us – her daughter was failing but ended up getting fours and fives at GCSE and is now training to be dental nurse.
“It feels amazing when you can really change the course of someone’s life – it’s my true purpose.”
key details: Conexus Tuition Canary Wharf
Conexus Tuition Canary Wharf delivers group tutoring sessions at the Barkantine Community Centre each week.
One-to-one and online sessions are also available in children’s homes by arrangement.
Conexus is a member of the Tutors’ Association and is committed to safeguarding with all staff DBS checked every term.
Pauline is also about to launch specialist 11+ Core Classes aimed at helping children in Years 4 and 5 pass entrance examinations for selective secondary schools.
Find out more about tutoring on the Isle Of Dogs here
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