Hannah
University of Cambridge
Human, Social and Political Sciences
Graduate
DBS
25About Me
I am an experienced, proactive, rigorous and energetic tutor, Oxbridge graduate and creative professional with extensive experience working as a teacher, support officer, and artist. I have a very strong academic record, having a achieved a Class I BA in Human, Social and Political Sciences at King’s College, Cambridge University, an MFA in Theatre Directing at Birkbeck College and all A and A at A Level and GCSE from Tiffin Girl’s School. I continue my love of academia into my life and it fuels all my creative work and work with young people. I love to teach, mentor and guide young people in academic and other areas of life, and have often been described as a good role model. I started teaching on my gap year in Minorca, as a sailing instructor, and have continued my passion tutoring part time ever since, including everything from 11+, English Language, Early Years, Oxbridge Entrance and History A Level through various organisations. My effective communication skills and positive energy have seen me excel in public facing roles. As a youth support worker, child support officer and workshop facilitator, I am also used to working with groups of people and managing difficult behaviour with a professional, yet kind and warm attitude.
Outside of teaching and youth work, I also work in the domestic abuse sector, having previously worked at Women’s Aid and currently employed at Refuge on the 24hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline, hoping to contribute to the ending of violence towards women and girls. I am a keen vegetable grower and avid reader of novels. I have lots of experience working in theatre and film and I watch and consume both many times a week. I worked for Potboiler Productions for a number of years and was assistant to the Director and Producer on The Little Stranger, working for the Oscar-nominated director, Lenny Abrahamson. For my directing work, I was awarded an OffWestEnd Award for my show ‘All the Little Lights’ in London, for best show of the Camden Fringe, and I won Best Director for my show ‘Knives and Forks’ at the Bitesize Festival in Hammersmith this year.
I love to write, play my accordion, cook and grow things too, and think cultivating hobbies and interests is essential for good learning habits!
My teaching style
My approach is creative, engaging, pupil centred and well structured. I always use a variety of mediums so it doesn’t get dry or samey. I push students to do the best they can whilst being encouraging and confidence boosting. I like to get to know students well and find out what they enjoy and find memorable, and channel my lessons according to this so they develop a passion for learning. My approach vastly differs depending on the student or age group, but the running thread is fun, practical, rigour and tailored ways into the subject.
The structure of my lessons is usually as follows”
– Starter activity: to get brain in gear, introduce the topic and do something practical, bitesize and playful
– A review of what we have done – I think repetition and recapping is so important
– Teaching delivery – imparting of information! I always have lots of visuals
– The meat of the session – either homework or practice papers or a big task that needs completing
– Assessment (can be just verbal – tailor home work based on this!)
My past experience
Hannah has a vast range of teaching experience and experience working with young people as a mentor and support worker.
– Teacher of ‘Acting for Screen’ 6 week course at Lyric Hammersmith 2024
– Private teacher of History – Cambridge International AS Level 2020-2021 *** a student accepted to History-English at Oxford post AS Level teaching
– Supervisor for BA acting students at ALRA in their performance projects 2022
-3 years experience as private tutor for applications, admissions, interviews – Oxbridge, Humanities, Social Sciences, Drama School, History, English, Liberal Arts and PPE
– Private tutor with Bonas Macfarlane for long-form essay writing and coursework at University and A Level in humanities subjects, specialising in History, Politics, Sociology & English Literature, looking at critical reading, narrative structure, advanced analysis
-Private tutor for Oxbridge admissions for OH Tutors 2019 (mock interviews, personal statement support)
– History Teacher for Tennis Avenue Academy in 2016 teaching from year 4 Primary up till A Level, classes up to 18 students
– Online History teacher for Cambridge Home School (CHSOnline) from 2016-2017 teaching History at secondary school level, online
– Private tutor for students in primary and secondary school in 11+, English as a second language, History and English Literature, 2016-2018 with First Tutors
– Youth facilitator and creative education workshop leader in various roles at HOME, Manchester, Ovalhouse London, Roundhouse London, Barbican London
– Child support officer for Bromley and Croydon Womens Aid 2019-2020 in women’s refuges , supporting all the children under 12 living in the 7 refuges we managed, supporting development, providing wellbeing activities and promoting education in various trauma-informed ways, including running after school clubs, assisting with homework
– Workshop leader for Head Held High, an organisation delivering workshops for young people in educational settings on e.g. goal setting, motivation, career advice and assertive behaviour
– Mentor for Arts Emergency 2019-2020, mentoring a 16 year old with interest in the arts (Hannah is a professional theatre director)
– Sailing instructor at Minorca Sailing Holidays in 2012
REFERENCES:
“thank you for all of your help in the past year, I would not have been able to take these exams if it were not for you.” – tutee/student who Hannah taught the full History A Level – who achieved an A (highest grade) and was accepted to study History-English at Oxford, 2021
“Hannah presented the History lessons to students in a thoroughly engaging, informative and inspiring manner which could only be possible through diligent research and preparation, as well as thorough understanding of the subject matter…Hannah always conducted herself with grace, dignity and professionalism, and earned the respect of all around her. She is unruffled under pressure and can be relied upon to meet challenged with a determined smile, and to face problems calmly and to find timely solutions for them…She contributed greatly, through example, to the culture of positivity and excellence that we try to instil. Hannah is a young lady of substance, integrity and conviction” — Hareen Wasantha, Director of Tennis Avenue Academy, [email protected] (uploaded to documents)
“I am writing to you regarding Hannah Calascione who worked with my company Head Held High earlier this year. Head Held High runs highly interactive and motivational programmes for teenagers between the ages of 11 to 18 in secondary schools. We focus on young people who are lacking in motivation, confidence or displaying challenging behaviour.
Hannah trained with us in 2019 and was one of the lead coaches on a 6 week project mentoring a group of young people from Beacon High school in Islington. The work is intensive and challenging and asks of a coach to be compassionate, honest, open and deeply caring for the growth and development of the young people we are working with. Hannah is all these attributes and more.
She connects extremely well with young people, showing a patience and understanding that is rare to find. Hannah had a rapport with the students which made it easy and comfortable for them to approach her to discuss or share anything they wanted. She connected very well on a one to one basis with the participants developing trusting and open relationships with all of them. Hannah went above and beyond to support the students and was confident to think out of the box and find new ways of connecting and inspiring the group.
Hannah was open and honest, sharing personal achievements and experiences of surmounting obstacles which really inspired the group. It is obvious that she takes her work seriously and has a genuine care and concern for the development and wellbeing of young people. Hannah is a positive, creative, joyful and confident young woman who would be a gift to any organization working with young people.
I have no doubts about Hannah being a fantastic online tutor and am sure she will bring some much needed fresh and focused energy to all your students.” Tash Alexander
www.headheldhigh.org.uk (uploaded to documents)
“Hannah was an excellent English tutor to my daughter, who gained huge confidence in her creative writing, comprehension and essay skills” – Private client – parent of pupil
“Hannah is a great role model for my child and I saw great improvement during her time with us” – Private client – parent of pupil
“I feel much more confident with my essays after lessons with Hannah thank you” – Private client – pupil
My Proudest Achievements
Achieving a double first class degree from Cambridge, directing 5 short films for the Roundhouse, winning a directing award, supporting a student to get an offer from Oxford.
I teach
- Oxbridge Interview
- English
- English Language
- English Literature
- Creative Writing
- Speech Writing
- History
- Politics
- Sociology
- Geography
- Philosophy
- Ancient History
- Critical Thinking
- Film Studies
- Drama
- LAMDA
- Religion
- Religious Studies
- Theatre
- Acting
- Filmmaking
- Thinking Skills
- Art
- Psychology
- Economics
My Results and Achievements
- Achieved 12 A*s at GCSE
- Achieved 4 A*s at A Level
- Full marks in Maths A Level
- double first class degree from Cambridge
- Deferred offer from Cambridge
- First in BA dissertation at Cambridge
- student received offer History/English Oxford