Bury St Edmunds teacher-turned-tutor Tiffany Docking speaks of how long Covid has changed her life
Tiffany Docking, from Bury St Edmunds, loved teaching and never thought she would stop.
The 54-year-old mother-of-four had been a primary school teacher for more than 20 years, the last eight at Guildhall Feoffment, in Bury.
But she left the job two-and-a-half-years ago due to having long Covid, an illness that wiped out her strength and energy and has left her with chronic fatigue.
Tiffany is one of an estimated 1.9 million people in the UK to report they are living with long Covid, according to latest figures.
At her lowest point, in 2022’ February half-term, she said she woke up on the first day ‘and couldn’t move a thing’. It was the moment she realised she had to stop.
On leaving teaching she felt very lost about what to do next as she ‘adored teaching and never planned to stop’.
However, for Tiffany there has been a silver lining – or silver linings – from what has happened. She has since started tutoring, carving out a thriving business over two years, after being approached with tutoring requests by parents.
She said: “I feel really, really lucky – not to have Covid, but that it’s given me this new life that I really do love.”
Tiffany currently tutors about 33 children aged five to 11, helping them with maths and English in her dedicated tutoring room in Bury. She has a waiting list, but has expanded to offer some group tuition, too.
She said her pupils really varied and included those with special needs and some who struggled to attend school.
“I feel like I’m making a bigger difference and it just happened,” she said, adding that she really gets to know her students as ‘people’.
She said the biggest difference to the children was gaining greater confidence: “They skip in and skip out. They enjoy it because there’s no pressure and it’s at their level.”
Due to high demand for her services and the ‘gap’ of support for parents when children first started school, Tiffany launched her Facebook group ‘Going to School and Learning at Home with Teacher Tiff’. It offers free educational support to parents to help more children to thrive in their first few years of school. There is also a paid membership option.
“I feel pleased I can help so many more people this way – not through tutoring, but through my membership or free group,” said Tiffany.
“My dream is to help so many more parents.”
Tiffany, who now gets to spend more time with her family, still has to be mindful of her long Covid. She added: “It’s about how to live with your symptoms to reduce them and how to live differently to keep it at bay.”
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