About us

The Reading Doctor is a tuition and school intervention service, founded by Deborah Salsbury in 2012. Deborah, a qualified primary school teacher, initially began her career as a teacher in Bromley, Greater London. Over time, her role evolved into specialised group intervention teaching, focusing on providing access to learning for all students. Listen to Deborah talking about The Reading Doctor journey on the media links below.

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Her dedication to ensuring reading success for all learners led her to become an Intervention Lead and then to train with The Institute of Education in London as a Reading Recovery Teacher. With this additional expertise, Deborah recognised the importance of reading as the key to becoming a successful learner. In 2012, she decided to fully commit to teaching reading, and thus, The Reading Doctor was born.

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Deborah's passion for helping struggling learners and her commitment to making a difference in their lives led her to reach out to schools with high numbers of disaffected learners. She also became the lead reading teacher at a school for children with behavioral and learning difficulties, all while building her private tuition practice.

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The success of Deborah's teaching methods and her dedication to her students' well-being is evidenced by the recognition of The Reading Doctor's intervention by OFSTED, which reported significant improvements in pupils' reading ages over a nine-month period, on average, by nearly two years. Additionally, private tuition is acknowledged by the government's National Tuition Programme as an extremely effective intervention, capable of boosting progress by three to five months for students. Deborah's work aligns with these recognised benefits of private tutoring.

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Moreover, Deborah's personal experiences, such as having a daughter with dyslexia, strengthened her belief that all children can succeed with the right teaching methods and a positive self-image as learners. She not only imparts reading skills but also nurtures self-belief in her students.

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Deborah's passion, drive, and successful projects have brought about many industry awards including Woman Franchisor of the Year, National Tutoring Awards and Kent Women in Business.

All Reading Doctors undergo advanced safeguarding training and follow robust child protection procedures to ensure every learner is safe, supported and respected.