A little more about me (and more about a little hedgehog)…

Hello!

My name is Tania Roberts and I have been teaching English across Key Stages 3, 4 and 5 for fourteen years.

My professional teaching career was spent at a highly academic school near London. As well as being part of a tightly knit and dedicated English Department, I led the changes to the GCSE qualification as KS4 Co-Ordinator and have taken an active part in preparing KS5 students for their Oxbridge interviews.

My decision to leave full-time teaching came about due to relocation to Crosby, near Liverpool, where I decided I wanted to focus on more individual student needs through private tutoring.

Old Man Quills

The hedgehog behind the logo is an African Pygmy Hedgehog called Quills.

We are foster parents for the Exotic Hedgehog Rescue and Quills came to us as an old man.

He was the most extraordinary little thing - full of energy and mischief despite losing most of his teeth and an eye.

Quills featured as the back cover star of a charity hedgehog calendar for the Hedgehog Rescue - the picture is of him posing on a Collected Works of William Shakespeare, open at the Witches’ spell in Macbeth - If you look closely, you can see the quote: “Thrice and once the hedge-pig whined”.

I decided he should represent Urchin Tutoring because he was the most determined creature, battling on in spite of the odds and never losing his lust for life.

Why ‘Urchin’?

‘Urchin’ is an old name for ‘hedgehog’.

Since Quills is my cover star, and caring for these huffy ouch-mice is so important to me, I couldn’t resist naming my tutoring business after these weird and wonderful spiky creatures!