Meet Principal Director, Rachel Chipchase

Rachel Chipchase is Principal Director of Conexus Tuition Southbourne, Christchurch and Bournemouth East and a maths tutor, primarily for 11+ and secondary. She has a BSc 1st in Maths and Statistics, PGCE in Secondary Maths Teaching, Designated Safeguarding Lead Level 3, Paediatric First Aid trained, Child and young person mental health level 2, was a classroom teacher for 8 years and assistant head of department for 4 years. 

How long have you worked with Conexus Tuition?

I started Conexus Tuition Southbourne (which has since grown to also include Christchurch and Bournemouth East) in 2022. I left the classroom after 8 years of teaching.

Could you tell us a bit about yourself? What are your interests and hobbies?

I was very musical in my childhood and still enjoy playing a bit of piano and I sing in a local contemporary choir. I have two young children so I often spend weekends near the beach or in the forest. I like to do pilates/barre style exercise when I can and I’m currently attempting to get into running, time will tell if I commit! I have a great network of family and friends nearby so I often like to spend time with them at the weekend. My husband and I are passionate about travelling and managed to see some amazing places when we were younger – we’re hoping to be able to share this with our children when they’re a bit older.

All Conexus tutors are qualified teachers. What inspired you to become a teacher?

My Mum and one of my brothers were teachers so I already had experience of it through my family. I love my subject and I enjoy working with young people. After my degree, I really didn’t fancy an office type of job, I wanted something that was more people focused and meant I could share my passion for my subject with others.

How would you describe yourself as a tutor/teacher?

As a tutor, I think I’m quite down-to-earth and like to be quite flexible in my tuition classes. I feel it’s important to be able to respond intuitively and to be flexible to what the students need, so I generally have a loose plan but stay away from any rigid schedules or schemes. I think it’s important to be positive in order to build confidence and I find students respond to this really well. I love getting stuck in on a tricky problem with a student and guiding them towards finding good strategies to see it through.

What’s your favourite thing about your subject?

I love how inter-connected Maths is – so many skills and sub-topics come together for bigger problems and it’s so rewarding to bring together all of those bits and pieces. I actually find it so satisfying when you get a bit stuck, have to try different ideas, get it wrong, try again – and eventually you figure it out and you get to the answer.

What do you enjoy about working with kids?

Every child is different – no lesson or tuition session is ever the same and young people come up with the best ideas or observations. Watching their brains work and trying so hard and then seeing the satisfaction on their face when they get it right is priceless.

If you couldn’t be a tutor/teacher, what would you like to do as a job?

I’d love to own/run a bakery as I have a big sweet tooth but I don’t think it would be a good idea! At University, my favourite module was epidemiology (maths with medicine/health) and ecology (maths with nature/animals) and I would have loved to study this area further and work in this field of Maths somehow.