Meet The Team

Helen is our tutor co-ordinator and has been with LearnOnline since its inception. She has a PhD in materials science and a masters degree in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge.

Helen worked as a research scientist in a variety of industries before moving into education in 2009. She holds a PGCE and is a chartered science teacher.

Jules worked for Pfizer for 10 years after completing her degree, then converted via GTP to gain qualified teacher status. Jules has been teaching Maths and Chemistry at both IGCSE and A Level for the past 5 years. She is training to be able to diagnose a Irlens, and understands a wide range of SEN conditions.

Jules is a stay at home Mum, who helps out at her daughter’s school. She also plays for the Salvation Army Brass Band in Canterbury, and likes cooking and gardening.

Julia is a senior lecturer at Pembrokeshire College, and has been a part of the teaching staff since 2000. She has been involved in teaching degree level Business and Law, A Level Business and Law, and the Extended Diploma in Business.

In her free time, Julia likes watching sport, and was a keen sports person in her youth. She is also enjoys music and the outdoors.

Dr Matt Jones is from Llanelli and has a PhD in Film from the University of Wales Trinity St David (UWTSD). He has taught a wide variety of filmmaking modules at UWTSD since 2015, and specialises in theoretical disciplines such as history, genre, narrative, adaptation and more recently, documentary. Dr Matt has also taught a number of practical modules, including film music composition. He has been with LearnOnline since November 2021.

Outside of work, Matt is a musician and songwriter, and has been a member of Llanelli band ‘The Hepburns’ since 1985. He finds inspiration all around him in Welsh life, including the people as well as the places. He loves rugby, dogs and the sea, his perfect day would involve all three.

Mike graduated from the University of Oxford with a degree in Economics and History. He has worked in banking and finance in London, but has spent the majority of his career in education. Mike has taught both economics and history in colleges and schools, as well as management on degree courses.

Mike is a fairly keen cyclist, and have recently completed Lands End to John O’Groats with some friends and family. One is his big likes is a hot curry!!

Along with being a LearnOnline Tutor, Nick also teaches at Kirklees College and with the Open University. His career has focused on teaching English Literature in Universities, academic research and writing, alongside teaching French and German privately. Nick gained his degrees and post-graduate degrees at the Universities of Oxford and Manchester.

Nick is a keen actor and director in local theatre, and has recently taken up running with the aim of completing a half marathon next year. Nick is also an occasional TV actor – look out for him lurking in the background.

After graduating from Cardiff University with a BA in English Literature, Rebecca chose to teach. A previous Head of English in a comprehensive school, she enjoys the diversity of teaching both English Literature and the combined Language and Literature A-levels, supporting the critical and creative skills of students.

Peter has a degree in Geography and a teaching qualification from the University of Wales, Swansea. He has been involved in the world of education for 35 years a specialist teacher of Geography at both GCSE and A Level. Peter has acted as Both Head of Department and Head of Faculty, along with being a mentor to new teachers.

Peter has also worked as an examiner and question setter for WJEC, Edexcel and AQA.

In his free time, Peter likes listening to music, reading, and exploring the great outdoors.

Russell has worked in education for over 15 years. He started off as a website developer and computer programmer. Russell joined a FE College to develop a virtual learning environment, soon after he was asked to teach and has not looked back. He enjoys working with young people, helping them to achieve. Russell also has a keen interest in working with students with disabilities and/or learning differences, he provides one-to-one support at University level.

Russell spends most of his spare time entertaining his three children. They live an active life, and enjoy most things outdoors. When they leave Russell alone, he turns his attention to his garden, or to doing up properties. He also enjoys cooking, films and travel.

Sarah-Kay has been teaching Religious Studies and History for around 15 years in a range of establishments, private, state schools and colleges. She is currently an A Level lecturer of Philoophy, Ethics, Beliefs & Values as well as History at Pembrokeshire College. She studied at Lampeter University, completing a BA in Religious Studies, Philosophy and Humanities.

Sarah-Kay is an enthusiastic and optimistic person at heart, who will always look for the good in everything. She enjoys long distance trail running with her dog, playing the piano, creating nail at, and just enjoys the company of other people.

Shan was born, raised and educated here in Pembrokeshire. She graduated in Physics and gained a PGCE qualification, leading to a variety of teaching posts. This has included teaching Physics and Mathematics up to A Level in several schools, and tutoring Maths for the Open University.

Shan enjoys walking the beautiful Pembrokeshire Coastal Path, and is also developing an interest in gardening. She also volunteers as a Street Pastor in Haverfordwest.

Susann has a sound background in pedagogics and psychology alongside the methodology of English language teaching having acquired a Masters Degree in Pedagogics specialising in the delivery of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) as well as History at Leipzig University, Germany. Her particular interests lie in all aspects of linguistics but especially within phonetics and phonology. She has specialised in the delivery of IELTS (International English Language Testing System) classes. Susann has been teaching English (this includes EFL, Literacy, English KS 3-4) in schools, colleges and community centres since 2007, both in the UK and Germany, and added a qualification in Online Tutoring to her teaching repertoire in 2016.

Tara previously taught English Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Southampton, and before that, the University of Gloucestershire. She subsequently developed an interest in additional needs, and worked in a specialist service for learners with social, emotional and behavioural issues for quite some time. Nowadays, alongside her work for LearnOnline, Tara manages a service for disabled students at a Welsh University.  Her love for literature, writing, self-expression and creativity in general, keeps me continuously wanting to be involved with all kinds of learners learning to love literature themselves.

In her spare time, Tara is a Team member of National Theatre Wales, and gets involved in the script writing workshops with them. She is also currently learning the Welsh Language.

After achieving a Combined Science degree (Biology and Geology) Trudy spent the next twelve years teaching Biology, Chemistry and Physics at a school in Newcastle.  She moved to Italy ten years ago and have spent the past 9 years writing teaching resources, GCSE Biology and A level Geology exam papers for a UK exam board and marking A level Biology exam papers.

In her free time, Trudy likes to spend time in her allotment and garden, along with being on the lake kayaking, swimming and paddle boarding. She loves to travel and uses her second ‘job’ of organising national and international hand gliding competitions as a way of visiting new places and countries.

Following his high school education, Yener obtained a Diploma in Electronics from Bosuphorus University in Turkey. During his studies, he developed a keen interest in computers and how they worked. After moving to the UK, Yener worked in the IT support departments of colleges and universities whilst he studying for a degree in IT and Computing with the Open University. Yener studied a post graduate certificate in Education at Lancaster University and worked as a subject specialist in number of secondary schools. Yener currently holds senior posts examining Computer Science with the OCR exam board. Yener works as a secondary school teacher delivering Computer Science at GCSE and A level in the classroom in addition to teaching online lessons with Pembrokeshire College.