Henna Sabir - English
English teacher and middle leader, teaching online across the UK. She is a current examiner for two exam boards, marking GCSE English for AQA and A-Level English for Cambridge.
Verbal reasoning strategy and the standard of creative writing that selective schools actually reward, for families sitting highly competitive entrance exams.
Essay structure, analytical writing and exam technique, taught by someone who marks these papers and knows where the marks are won and lost.
About Henna
Henna is an English teacher and middle leader with a background in curriculum design and assessment strategy. She teaches online, so families anywhere in the UK can work with her.
Her specialism is the gap between the two ends of English. At one end are the foundations: reading properly, writing clearly, building a sentence that does what the pupil intended. At the other end is the analytical writing that top grades depend on at GCSE and A-Level. Most pupils who are stuck somewhere in the middle are missing something from the first list, and Henna's first job is to find out which.
She is also an active examiner. She currently marks GCSE English for the AQA exam board and A-Level English for the Cambridge exam board, which means she reads real scripts against real mark schemes every year.
Marking papers shows you the difference between an answer that sounds impressive and an answer that scores. Henna teaches to the second one. She can tell your child exactly which sentence in their paragraph earned the mark, which sentence earned nothing, and what to write instead.
11+ and selective school entry
Henna has prepared pupils who went on to win places at highly selective schools, including Heckmondwike Grammar School. The 11+ English paper rewards two things that are rarely taught well at primary school: a reliable method for verbal reasoning questions, and creative writing that stands out in a pile of hundreds of scripts.
She teaches both directly. Verbal reasoning is broken into question types with a method for each, so your child stops guessing under time pressure. Creative writing is built up sentence by sentence, using the specific techniques that make a marker stop and read properly.
What to expect
Sessions are one to one and online. The first session is an assessment rather than a lesson, because the topic a child arrives with is often not the thing holding them back. Henna maps what is secure and what is not, then builds the plan around the gaps she finds.
After that, every session has a clear focus, and your child gets specific feedback on their own written work rather than general encouragement. Parents receive an honest written update covering what was taught, what improved, and what the next few sessions will target.
What changes for families
- Pupils learn what actually earns the mark, taught by someone who marks the real papers.
- Creative writing improves in a way selective schools notice, rather than simply getting longer.
- Feedback is specific to your child's own writing, so they know exactly what to change next time.
- Weak foundations get fixed on the way through, so the analysis at GCSE and A-Level has something to stand on.
Who Henna works with
Qualifications and background
Tools and resources
A few things parents and students find useful alongside sessions.
Book a free 15-minute call. Tell us the year group, the exam and what keeps going wrong in their writing. We will give you a straight answer on whether Henna is the right fit and what the first few sessions would target.
Book a Free Consultation
We usually reply within 24 hours
See exactly where your child is losing marks
Tell us the year group, the exam they are working towards, and what keeps going wrong. We will match your child with the right teacher and give you a straight answer on what to fix first.
- Experienced UK teachers leading every session.
- Feedback after every lesson, so you can see the progress for yourself.
- 1-to-1 from £40 a session, or £20 each if they study with a friend.
No obligation, and no pressure to book. If it is not the right fit we will say so.