About

My Teaching Career

I started my career in early childhood learning, have taught in primary and secondary state schools and obtained two masters degrees relating to learning difficulties. To me working with students with learning difficulties is far more rewarding than being a classroom teacher as it is always exciting to see the links and progress made within individuals when the light bulb is switched on and they can reflect on how far they’ve managed to come.

Dedication and Support

I am dedicated to supporting students and adults to reach their full potential. My lessons are targeted, engaging, and flexible, based upon the individual’s specific needs. I also look at ways to boost your child’s self-esteem. For students with learning difficulties, this can be extremely important as they can feel inferior to others, are often reluctant to ask for help or to accept it and can ‘slip through the cracks’. This is achieved through patience and my ability to establish rapport.

Patience and an empathic environment are vitally important because what we see on the surface may just be a manifestation of underlying emotional issues. There’s an excellent saying in psychology that, “We need to talk about our emotions instead of acting them out.” For individuals with learning difficulties, this can be a real challenge. Therefore, patience and empathy enables us to see beyond the surface level behaviour to the underlying emotional issues that may be driving it.

Unfortunately for many classroom teachers, they may not have the time or experience to address these issues. Some teachers may think that a student is just simply ‘naughty’, whereas they may be frustrated due to how their learning difficulty is impacting upon their engagement. As a result, this is where one-on-one learning can make such a difference in building the bridges to address these issues. This will enable them to become more confident and successful individuals.

I stepped out of the classroom founded Hope Tutoring (ABN 36535962623) and began providing specialised learning difficulties tutoring several years ago and have never looked back. I tutor both adults and children with dyslexia and across the autism spectrum including aspergers from my home office in Boondall, Brisbane and am continually rewarded by the success, achievements and joy that students with learning difficulties obtain through the work that we do together.  I also deliver learning disability training for parents and teachers seeking assistance in this area.

I personally provide one-on-one tutoring for the majority of my clients but have organised the support of some wonderful colleagues as there are only so many hours in the day!

My colleagues are all highly experienced, qualified and exceptional in what they do.  We maintain ongoing communication so that we can ensure that your child’s needs are best catered for and that you too are informed regarding their progress along the way.

You may find yourself lucky enough to have Jade Sercombe as your child’s tutor.

Jade Sercombe

Jade Sercombe is a Specialist primary school teacher who has taught in both Primary and Secondary settings as an Inclusive Education Teacher. With over fifteen years of experience in Special Education Programs, and one on one tutoring with neuro-diverse students Jade has expertise in meeting the individual goals and challenges of students with complex social/ emotional needs.

Jade believes in creating an engaging tactile environment with a variety of tactile experiences to stimulate cognitive functioning and working memory. Therapeutic moments are created by building positive connections with students with a low self image by recognising their strengths and celebrating them one small step at a time. Jade believes in the right for all to thrive as learners by acknowledging all differences as unique.