Professional Examiner. 10+ years in education
Sandrine is a native French speaker whose role as an examiner for Pearson (reading paper) and AQA (writing paper) grants her unique insights into GCSE French requirements. She is an active contributor to the wider educational community, an official content creator for the top educational publishers, and a professional teacher-trainer on the latest GCSE requirements. After a decade of classroom teaching at an esteemed independent school in the UK, Sandrine distinguished herself as Head of Department before moving her career toward that of full-time professional tutor. At the heart of Sandrine’s teaching lies an ardent focus on grammar, recognizing its pivotal role in foreign language success. Sandrine keeps her teaching instruction exciting and relevant by introducing fascinating cultural facts in her lessons, and always providing an abundant selection of supplementary resources.
As a PGCE-qualified MFL teacher, Sandrine has worked across a diverse range of state and independent schools in the UK since 2012. Her journey includes a decade of dedicated service to a prestigious UK independent school, where she eventually navigated the role of Head of Department. Throughout her career, Sandrine has skillfully taught French and Spanish to students aged 4 to 16, with an impressive track record that has demonstrated tangible grade improvement across the board.
Sandrine has been an examiner for Pearson and AQA since 2014 and 2018 respectively. This gives her valuable insights into the unique requirements of each mark scheme within the UK’s MFL assessment processes, enabling her to explain precisely why and how students can push themselves into the highest mark bands. Finally, Sandrine holds the esteemed title of “Certified Google Educator”, awarded in light of her ability to leverage the Google for Education Suite of applications to further enhance her tutoring.
"Having Sandrine tutor my boys has taken the stress out of trying to get them through both Common Entrance and GCSE French exams. She is a patient and kind tutor who manages to get the best out of her students. Both of my boys have extremely different characters and have had very different learning requirements over the years, but Sandrine has tailored her teaching approach accordingly. No hesitation in recommending her."
"I have loved learning French with Sandrine over the past few years and always look forward to her lessons. Online lessons are definitely the way to go. She offers an abundance of different learning suggestions and materials to support my French learning and I never get bored. My confidence has massively improved (which was a bit of an issue for me). My French has improved so much and I feel very lucky to have Sandrine as my tutor."
"Sandrine was especially helpful in preparing my son for their speaking exams as being a native French person she could help enormously with their vocabulary, and language and improve his accent. She always prepares well in advance of lessons and liaises with me as to the specific topics he would like or need to improve upon, helping build on further what he has learnt at school."
"Sandrine Cooke has taught my son from an early age when at prep in Harrows School and then tutored him privately in the holidays up to GCSE level. She is a fabulous French tutor, who is very knowledgeable about the requirements from different exam boards and has an amazing amount of useful resources to help him develop his French to a higher level."
"Sandrine has tutored two of my three girls through their French GCSEs and is set to tutor my youngest next year. Prior to her involvement they were working towards foundation level and predicted around a D grade. With her help, they have managed to achieve an A and a B. Sandrine is very patient with the girls and offers them endless support, as well as providing them with different teaching methods, so each session is engaging."