BELFAST, MOIRA

Hello and welcome to The Reading Doctor, Moira. My love of teaching really began during the third year of my BA Honours degree. I was offered a scholarship to study in Kobe International University, Japan. During my time there, I taught English language and grammar to three to eight year olds at a private TEFL school. I often had to improvise my own teaching materials to ensure that they were interactive and engaging for young learners. This was a very fulfilling activity and I loved to encourage children and help them gain confidence in and learn to understand and enjoy the English language. 

I am an accomplished primary school teacher with over 15 years of experience, teaching across years 1 to 7. This wealth of experience has enabled me to see the complete progression of learning for children from the age of four to eleven. I have a passion for helping children of all abilities achieve their full potential. As a teacher, I have patience, stamina, imagination and creativity. Most importantly, I have a good sense of humour. 

I have always been an avid reader. I was that child hiding under the duvet with a torch reading well into the night so that I could finish my latest magical adventure. I was lucky to find reading easy but I know through teaching that for some children it can seem like an insurmountable task. 

In my previous role as a Key Stage 1 Lead, I developed intervention for children who were struggling with phonics and reading. With this specialised, tailored support, the children made great progress and were more confident in their learning. I believe the ability to read has astonishing benefits for children. It provides comfort, reassurance, confidence, security and relaxation. 

Reading builds self-esteem, vocabulary and feeds imagination. When I heard about The Reading Doctor and had a phone call with Deborah, I knew that I wanted to join in with this mission to unlock the potential in struggling readers. I am so proud to be bringing The Reading Doctor back to Northern Ireland and to be able to provide specialised and uniquely tailored reading support to Moira and the surrounding areas. I hope that I can help unlock the magic of reading with your child, to transform their reading abilities and help them on their journey towards a love of reading.