What should you do in the summer holidays 2021?

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With the summer holidays fast approaching, parents have been asking me what their young people should be doing in the summer holidays. In this post, I’ll be sharing the things students in years 7-13 should be doing in the summer holidays to give you some clarity and reassurance. What should you do in the summer […]

“What’s the point of learning Pythagoras?” A parent’s guide to motivating teens to learn things they ‘don’t need to know’

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“What’s the point of learning Pythagoras’ Theorem? I’m never going to use it in real life.” That’s what one of the members of The Extraordinaries Club was moaning to his mum. If you’re the parent of a teen studying for exams, you may well have heard the same complaint about any number of things they […]

Choose your hard

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GCSEs are hard. A-Levels are hard. But what’s the alternative? The alternative is even harder. That’s what we’re thinking about today. Choose your hard The other day, my head coach, Helen, sent me a meme that said: Marriage is hard, Divorce is hard. Choose your hard. Obesity is hard, Being fit is hard. Choose your […]

The accidental story of how I became an academic coach

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Recently, one of the members of The Extraordinaries Club asked me how I became an academic coach and if I could write a blog post and publish a podcast episode about it. I thought as it’s Christmas week, you might quite like a story rather than a ‘how-to’. It’s not a straightforward story and I […]

How to get good at something and persevere

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None of us is born knowing how to do anything, let alone being good at anything. Yes, some people pick some things up faster than others – one person might learn to read rapidly when another learns to skillfully wield a tennis racket much faster. But, we’re all initially blank slates. Ultimately, we all have […]

What should you do in the summer holidays?

With the summer holidays fast approaching, parents have been asking me what their young people should be doing in the summer holidays. In this post I’ll be sharing the things students in years 7-13 should be doing in the summer holidays to give you some clarity and reassurance. What should you do in the summer […]

Constructive Praise: How giving it to your teen will prevent nagging

We’ve all heard the phrase ‘constructive criticism’. And, you’ve probably received some from a well-meaning person. But, have you ever thought about ‘constructive praise’? The phrase ‘constructive praise’ first came out of my mouth when I was on a parents’ only coaching call for The Extraordinaries Club, my online hub that supports parents and students […]

Your 4 Futures: Do this simple exercise NOW and set yourself up for exam success this summer

It’s January 2020 (at the time of writing) and there are six months until you finish your GCSE or A-Level exams. Exams are a bit like a marathon, you have to keep going at a steady pace for two years, but in the final miles, you want to pick up the pace to finish strong. […]

7 things I’d tell my younger self

It’s the season of new year’s resolutions and you may well be busy trying to pursue self-improvement goals. However, most people set themselves goals that are: a) almost impossible to fulfill (e.g. ‘get fit’. What does that even mean? How will you know when you’ve achieved it?) b) not actually terribly worth achieving anyway because […]

What to do when you don’t like your teacher

It’s really tough if you have a teacher that you don’t like. It can really impact the way you see the subject, how you feel about going to their lessons and, ultimately, how well you do in that subject. In this blog post, I’m going to share some advice about what to do when you […]