Sign up to my newsletter to receive weekly tips and useful resources to help you to understand what your child needs to do to improve their English grades.
Season's greetings
|
Hi Reader As the year comes to a close, I just wanted to say thank you for following my work and being part of this community. Supporting young people with their reading, writing and confidence in English is something I care deeply about, and I am very grateful to have you here. Whether you are celebrating Christmas or simply enjoying a winter break, I hope this time brings rest, warmth and a positive start to the New Year.
Looking forward to hearing from you, All the best, Verity |
Verity Bell English Educator
Sign up to my newsletter to receive weekly tips and useful resources to help you to understand what your child needs to do to improve their English grades.
Hi Reader As we move through January and Year 11 students have their mock results in hand, one area that consistently causes anxiety is unseen poetry. Unlike set texts or the anthology, unseen poetry gives students no chance to prepare content in advance. They are expected to read, interpret, analyse and often compare poems they have never seen before, all under time pressure. For many students, that feels intimidating rather than exciting. This is why the 2025 GCSE English Literature...
Hi Reader Unseen Poetry: From Confused to Confident Unseen poetry is one of the areas of GCSE English that students often find most unsettling. Not because they don’t have ideas, but because they’re unsure how to organise their thinking quickly and turn it into a clear, focused exam response under time pressure. To support students with this, I’m running a live online workshop: Unseen Poetry: From Confused to Confident 📅 Thursday 19th February 🕥 10.30–11.35 (UK time) 👉 Full details and...
Hi Reader Over the Christmas break, I ran a live Macbeth Masterclass to help students feel clearer and more confident ahead of their mocks. The feedback afterwards really stuck with me: “This really helped me understand Macbeth more, as it was an area I struggled with.” “No questions from me, but thank you – that was really helpful.” “My son found it really useful.” What parents valued most wasn’t just the content, but the clarity: knowing what examiners are actually looking for and how to...