Kate Lee

About

• Now English and Language Lead at Save My Exams, Kate is a former Head of English and Performing Arts who taught GCSE and A Level English at sixth form for over ten years. She also worked as a private tutor for two years, working with KS2-4 students to develop their maths and English skills.

• Kate was actively involved in teacher training and development throughout her career. She was a visiting lecturer and PGCE committee member at the Institute of Education, University College London, and enjoyed mentoring training teachers. She also taught on the City & Guilds teaching training qualification for Further Education.

• She has delivered workshops for teachers at national and regional education conferences on a range of topics, including SPaG and the benefits of gamification in learning.

• With a background in digital and blended learning, she has also worked in online educational publishing for many years, writing exam skills and revision resources to support students in their studies.

• Kate is passionate about developing students’ reading, oracy and vocab skills. Working as a volunteer with local schools, she’s set up little free libraries and arranged author visits, storytelling sessions and fundraising activities to increase children’s access to books.

• Kate loves sharing metacognitive approaches to revision – such as spaced retrieval or dual coding – to help students recall what they have learned and achieve their potential in exams.

Published work or mentions

Kate has written a range of educational resources on vocabulary development and school transition for Oxford University Press, as well as hundreds of exam and revision resources for online publishers. She’s also written a range of articles for teachers to support their continuing professional development, including for ‘Teaching English’ magazine, published by NATE (National Association for the Teaching of English).

Education

Kate graduated from the University of Birmingham with a BA in English (General Honours). She completed her PGCE in Post-Compulsory Education from the Institute of Education, University College London. She also has a CELTA qualification in English language teaching.

Expertise

• Kate has taught a range of GCSEs and A Levels, including English English Language, English Literature, Critical Thinking and General Studies, as well as Access courses (to Nursing, Law and Business) for adults. She has also taught literacy skills to EAL and ESOL students.

• She worked at AQA, the exam board, for six years where she developed learning resources for a range of EBacc GCSEs, including English, History, MFL and Science. She also trained as an AQA A Level English Language and GCSE English Language examiner.

• While teaching, she loved being a personal tutor and helped hundreds of students to complete their university applications, running conferences, educational trips and college magazines to give her students new opportunities. She’s incredibly proud of their success – many of her former students were the first in their family to go to university.

Top revision quote for students

“For GCSE or A Level English, revise by writing ten-minute timed paragraphs answering an exam question. This helps you to develop your exam technique and recall what you know in a short amount of time. Repeat frequently!”