

Dr Polly profile and its contact details have been verified by our team.
Dr Polly
- Rate $149
- Response 16h
-
Students6
Number of students Dr Polly has accompanied since arriving at Superprof
Number of students Dr Polly has accompanied since arriving at Superprof

$149/h
- Creative writing
- Literature
- Dissertation
Cambridge Bye Fellow offering extra tuition for English Lit and Lang (A-Level, GCSE), Songwriting, Cambridge Foundation and interview preparation. Over 20 years' experience 1-2-1 in person and online.
- Creative writing
- Literature
- Dissertation
Lesson location
Super Prof
Dr Polly is one of our best Creative writing tutors. High-quality profile and excellent qualifications, organised and responsive to lesson requests, appreciated by their students!
About Dr Polly
I teach Cambridge University English students in Practical Criticism and supervise dissertations on modern literature and song. I am a Bye Fellow in English of Murray Edwards College, Cambridge. In 1997 I got a First in English from Cambridge. I completed my Masters at KCL in 2016 and my PhD at UEA in 2020. My academic research interests all relate to song. I am also a recording artist and songwriter. Since 2009 I've been tutoring school students, and university students since 2013. I prepare students for A-Levels, Cambridge interview, and undergraduate and postgraduate assessment. I have now tutored 100+ students, improving performance and overall confidence.
I am a friendly mum with two children; I enjoy walking with my dog Charlie and drinking exotic teas. I teach from my home, where we are surrounded by poetry books and guitars, or online. Whatever my students learn will be not just to get them through exams: they will gain a love of literature to last a lifetime.
University :
- 1997 University of Cambridge - BA (First)
- 2001 University of Cambridge - MA
- 2016 KCL - MA Contemporary Literature Theory Culture (Distinction)
- 2020 UEA - PhD (published 2022)
Prizes and Scholarships :
- CHASE fully funded PhD scholarship
- New Hall College, Cambridge scholar prize
- UEA Music Award
- EFDSS Creative Bursary
About the lesson
- Adult Education
- Masters/ Graduate School
- Doctorate
- +2
levels :
Adult Education
Masters/ Graduate School
Doctorate
Première
Terminale
- English
All languages in which the lesson is available :
English
Please note I DO NOT teach TEFL (English as a Foreign Language) but English Literature.
Using primary texts, past papers and tried-and-tested exercises, I work to build up each student's individual sense of confidence by isolating any problem areas and addressing them, and also showing them their strengths (sometimes forgotten in traditional education settings). We work to build essay-writing techniques and thought organisation, and in the process ensure good grammar and spelling usage where appropriate. With reference to specific texts and curriculum requirements of the exam board, we work on exam technique and practise answering questions to time. I've got some tricks up my sleeve that I pass on to help each student shine in their exams.
I also teach Songwriting for the Institute of Continuing Education, University of Cambridge, on the Songwriting Masters programme at the Institute of Contemporary Music Peroformance in London where I am Associate Professor of Song and Literature, and for the Arvon Foundation.
Review
All of our reviews are collected by us and are 100% reliable. They correspond to a real experience lived by the teacher's students.
Perfect! I cannot thank or praise Dr Polly enough! She is a dedicated and patient teacher, always with insightful, perceptive feedback and also consistently delighted when there are improvements. Polly is extremely brilliant and creative, and she cares about what learning style works best for me and is very, very understanding. I am very grateful, and very much recommend her for any kind of essay writing, we focus on English Literature but Dr Polly has also been able to give me some key feedback on my Art History essays. Dr Polly creates a comfortable learning environment, figuring out my issues with me and offering her expertise. She goes above and beyond to help me achieve my goals! I have gotten better with my structural problems in my university essays, articulating myself in a clear but profound way, and I have also crucially gotten more confident in my writing and academic ability.
- Nathalia is a wonderful student, conscientious and very able. I'm excited to continue sessions with her!See the response Dr Polly :
Perfect! Dr Polly has been super helpful in giving me techniques to accelerate my essay answers. Top tips. Great tutor.
- This student is committed and hard working, and is a pleasure to teach.See the response Dr Polly :
View more reviews
Recommendations
Recommendations come from relatives, friends and acquaintances of the tutor.
Polly helped me get an A* in A Level English literature. She has a thorough and methodical approach to teaching and thanks to her help, the exam was easy for me. She's aware of the details students need to attend to in order to achieve a high grade and she's just the right kind of tutor for you if you're aiming for A*.
Polly is a fantastic teacher. She's able to explain complex ideas very simply; she's also been teaching Cambridge undergraduates as part of the Tripos for many years. She has a bubbly personality and teaches with great, and catching, enthusiasm.
Polly tutored my son for English A levels, after he'd been through tough times and had lost confidence and his passion for the subject. I can't recommend her highly enough. She has a brilliant way with young people (she's a bona fide rockstar, after all) and her own passion is infectious. Academically, of course she's at the top of the class (doctorate, fellow at a Cambridge college) but beyond that she's a real teacher; she found ways to reignite my son's interest and build his confidence because she helped him feel individually understood and appreciated. Can't recommend highly enough.
I have known Polly for 11 years since my daughter was 5 years old. Polly is a very experienced and excellent tutor. She is patient, encouraging, and very intelligent. She has a good sense of humour and knows how to inspire her students to achieve the best outcome in the most effective way. Over the years, Polly has helped my daughter to become a confident and intellectual teen and she has been achieving the highest grade continuously in English studies. She just finished her GCSE exams this summer and is expected to achieve grade 9 in both her English Language and English Literature. We are very fortunate to have Polly as my daughter's English tutor and I recommend her in the highest possible terms. She is the only tutor in English you will ever need!
Polly tutored my daughter during her GCSE English literature and English language courses. Polly's superlative tuition is informed by her passion for literature. Her enthusiasm for her subject is backed up by robust teaching methods which allow her students to develop individual responses to their texts while benefitting from Polly's expert guidance. She instils a sense of confidence in her students which translates into assured exam performances and an enduring fondness for reading. Polly's lessons are conducted with warmth, good humour and a genuine interest in her student's welfare. I cannot recommend her highly enough.
View more recommendations
Rates
Rate
- $149
Pack rates
- 5 h: $746
- 10 h: $1491
online
- $149/h
Dr Polly's Video
Other tutors in Creative writing
Syed
Toronto & online
- $110/h
- 1st lesson free
Hassan
Vancouver & online
- $100/h
Alaa
Montréal & online
- $75/h
Alex Hartman
Toronto & online
- $80/h
Imran
Ottawa & online
- $30/h
- 1st lesson free
Eli
Toronto & online
- $60/h
- 1st lesson free
Paul
Vancouver & online
- $50/h
- 1st lesson free
Zehra
Oakville & online
- $50/h
- 1st lesson free
Aira
Edmonton & online
- $50/h
Nilima
Toronto & online
- $45/h
Areej
Surrey & online
- $39/h
Samanta
Toronto & online
- $35/h
Ese
Toronto & online
- $35/h
- 1st lesson free
Tam
Toronto & online
- $25/h
- 1st lesson free
Roberta
Vancouver & online
- $45/h
- 1st lesson free
Sohrab
London & online
- $33/h
- 1st lesson free
Stephen
Burnaby & online
- $100/h
- 1st lesson free
Muhammad Usman
Vancouver & online
- $30/h
- 1st lesson free
Susanna
Ladysmith & online
- $75/h
- 1st lesson free
Saloni
Kingston & online
- $20/h
- 1st lesson free
-
More Creative writing tutors
