About Us

I created The Story Room as a place where children can come and be themselves and write freely, without fear of judgment or the red pen. As an 11-plus tutor I am all too aware that children are often told what they should and should not write. But at the Story Room there is no right or wrong. In the welcoming and friendly environment of our workshops children can let their creativity flow. Through this they can grow in confidence and become better writers, which ultimately will help them improve across the whole curriculum. I aim to instil a passion for writing and reading in all the children who come through our doors.  I have worked with children who thought they didn’t like English and now skip to our workshops and enjoy writing in their free time.

I spend a lot of my free time reading and writing and am constantly on the look out for new, exciting ideas for our workshops. I regularly attend writing courses to develop my own writing skills and have had my poetry published in City Lit's 'Between The Lines',  'South Bank Poetry' 'Poetry for Good' competition top 100 poem, Stonecoast Review (USA), https://enfieldpoets.com/ekphrasis-a-poetry-and-photography-exhibition/ and  'Enfield Poets Anthology'. I write poetry and short stories. I was a 2020 BBC 500 Words judge and have appeared on BBC Radio Berkshire talking about the work the Story Room does.  

I am a partner at www.succeed11-plusmocks.co.uk where we specialise in 11-plus tuition and mocks, preparing children for their entrance exams.

As a mother of three boys, I am particularly passionate about getting boys into reading and writing.  I have written articles for N21online.com on helping dyslexic children access literature and  how to encourage boys to read

I have a degree in Law from UCL and am a qualified solicitor.

I absolutely love what we do at The Story Room - We are very lucky to have a brilliant team of workshops leaders and tutors, all passionate about writing and guiding children to flourish personally and academically.  We are proud of what every child writes at The Story Room.

See you soon at The Story Room!

Helena Steel

LIST OF SUBJECTS HELENA TUTORS IN:

• 11-plus and 13-plus Entrance Exams
• King’s Scholarship (Eton)
• Creative writing 

Helena has had more than ten years of 11+ experience. She has helped countless children gain entry to their first choice school including; City of London (girls and boys), St.Pauls, Dame Alice Owens, Latymer, Henrietta Barnet, Queen Elizabeth Boys, Haberdashers (girls and boys), St Albans, Channing, St Michael's Catholic School, Palmers Green High, St John's (Enfield), Benedeen, North London Collegiate, Highgate, Mill Hill and Queenswood.

For as long as I can remember I have been devouring books and writing. When I was eight, I won a nationwide writing competition for Ottakers and had several poems published. These heartening experiences gave me the confidence to keep writing and I have since written one full length fantasy novel, various award-winning comedy scripts for TV and several short films and stories. I was lucky to have teachers who encouraged my writing and know just how crucial inspirational role models are to a child’s academic and personal development. My main intention, as a tutor and workshop leader, is to spark a genuine interest within the student for the subject. I bring a vital sense of humour, patience, and tailor my approach to every student. If they struggle with focus, I’ll find new ways to engage with them. If they are lacking confidence, I use my background in performing arts to help them with their storytelling.

I have a degree in English Literature and since graduating have worked with children in the performing arts.  I have had an exciting career, running workshops all over the country including at Shakespeare’s Globe and for BBC Radio. I currently tutor children in creative writing, 11-plus and GCSE English. As a scholarship student at the Godolphin School I understand the pressures of the 11-plus incredibly well. I have a flair for helping children learn how to negotiate the expectations of exams and have a talent for breaking things down in a way that children can understand and enjoy. 

I take great pride and joy in helping every one of my students flourish and I look forward to helping your child find their voice at The Story Room. 

After several years of working in a variety of creative roles including working in galleries and as a graphic designer, I decided to become a teacher. I felt compelled to share my experiences and insights with children and young people. I completed a PGCE in secondary Art and Design at Goldsmiths University London, where I soon found the most enjoyable part of teaching for me was around building relationships with the children. Seeing what children could achieve once they felt they were in a trusting situation is still a big part of my motivation to teach today.

I am a qualified practitioner BA (Hons) PGCE with over ten years’ experience as a Primary School Teacher, Secondary School Teacher and SENCO. I am currently working part time as a school SENCO in a north London primary school with an Independent Schools Inspectorate rating of Excellence in 2019.  A role that enables me to continually develop my teaching practice and expertise, depending on the needs of the child that I am working with. I have a very natural teaching style and I have high expectations of all the children that I teach.

Teaching provides an excellent opportunity for me to pass on my interests and experience. I particularly enjoy inspiring creativity in children and sharing with them ways in which they can see ideas through to reality. I believe my experiences outside of teaching can be of real value in supporting children and giving them a firm foundation.

I continue to build my small creative business, designing a range of unique illustrated products.  I supply a number of specialist stockists, most notably Benjamin Pollocks Toyshop in Covent Garden, famous for its paper theatres and unusual range of toys and games. A couple of Christmas’s ago, I was invited to create various props including – paper sledges, reindeers and magical Christmas fairies for ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ Christmas themed window display. It was a really delightful experience and wonderful to be able to observe visitors reactions to the final display!   

I look forward to working at the Story Room and inspiring creativity, passing on my knowledge and developing children’s writing skills in a fun and inclusive environment.

English to my mind is the best subject at school but of course I am biased being both an English teacher and bookworm. It really has something for everyone; whether you like making up stories, talking about books or performing speeches about the state of the world: English is for you.  However sometimes students need a little help in finding their voice in this subject and this is where I come in.

In the last 5 years, I have enjoyed working one to one and in small groups, seeking to motivate and mentor my students.  Working with all abilities – from the underperforming and very unconfident to those who may be in a top set in a grammar school who are not being stretched enough – I can help.  Usually, my students far exceed their predicted grade and become more assured along the way - this often encourages them to work with a greater self-assurance in other subjects. One of my parents recently described her son’s experience of English tutoring as suddenly opening a Pandora’s Box in a positive way, helping him fuel an interest for learning. I am passionate about my students’ success both at school and in the exam hall. Though I consider myself an exam specialist, I am fond of identifying bespoke strategies that work with the individual student and not solely teach to the test.

Previously I worked at Highlands School for 10 years and there ran a fast track group for GCSE and taught solely exam classes across Key stage 4 &5 for GCSE and A Level. Since leaving after having my son, I have been focused on tutoring and have also moderated coursework for AQA.

I have a degree in English Literature from Loughborough University, a PGCE from London Metropolitan and more recently a Graduate Certificate in Linguistics from Birkbeck.  In my twenties, I worked in marketing, gaining experience in writing persuasive copy that has been invaluable to me as both an English teacher and tutor helping my students with both their university personal statements and writing in general.

LIST OF SUBJECTS CATHERINE TUTORS IN:

English KS3 booster/support

GCSE English Language

GCSE English Literature

Catherine can also assist with: 

EPQ writing

Writing a personal statement 

Once upon a time I decided to be a creative writing coach for children. I was born in the beautiful blue city of Barcelona where I trained to be a Tax Lawyer. One Autumn I attended a series of lessons on Hamlet at the English Studies Faculty in Barcelona and a few months after I moved to London. Maybe I had heard the call of the English language. That was almost twenty years ago and the love story has endured.

I took an MA on Bilingual Literary Translation at Westminster University and later on a second MA on Comparative Literature at King’s College. I am now a freelance literary translator from English into Spanish, my last published translations in Spain are TimeRiders I and II, the first two books of a time travelling series by Scarrow for 11+ that have been a bestseller in England.

I have my dream jobs working with children at  The Story Room and with families and children at The Tate as a Tate Early Years and Families workshop innovator. I also volunteer as a Writing Mentor at The Ministry of Stories and I have attended multiple Creative Writing courses and workshops at City Lit, Birkbeck College and Arvon which have helped me immensely both in my own writing but also in enabling children to free their own creativity. I am also a qualified Neuro Linguistic Programming coach, which is helpful when children are stuck in a negative self-limiting belief and are really convinced they are ‘not creative’.

As an aspiring author I am working towards the publication of two Tales for children and a collection of Short Stories for grown ups.

My favourite part of working as a writing coach is when a child comes to a workshop and  looks down thinking he cannot ‘write’ anything because he does not ‘know what to write’ and then leaves proud and smiling, eager to show something he has ‘written’ and was ‘so easy to write’! The next time he attends, the only question is ‘what are we going to be writing about today?’. It's amazing to see the transformation when children see that writing is not such a daunting task anymore.

I look forward to meeting your children at The Story Room workshops.

Àngels G.Vila

LIST OF SUBJECTS ANGELS TUTORS IN: 

•  Creative writing (small groups and one-to-one)
•  GCSE Spanish (all boards) 
• A Level Spanish (all boards)

For me, working with children began with a volunteering role. As a mentor and visitor to a child in foster care, I felt the reward and privilege of being part of a young person’s life over many years. This led me on a path away from a career in University Administration to a role supporting pupils with SEN in a secondary boys’ school. After 9 years, I moved on to a primary school and a Graduate TA role, supporting pupils’ learning and teaching groups as well as whole classes. I am now a primary English and maths tutor.

Sharing stories with my own three children has been one of life’s gifts - although interesting boys in books has been, at times, a battle with digital temptations. Thank goodness for authors that took us into battles, on journeys to discover magical lands and introduced us to characters that we were thirsty to learn more about.  Writing with children has unlocked hidden treasures too. Appreciating the beauty of nature from vivid descriptions: like the intricate beauty of a cobweb or a morning cloaked in snow.

I am very excited to share these joys with children at The Story Room and look forward to helping them find their hidden gems.

I have a degree in Politics from Loughborough University, and a Masters in Nationalism, Society and Culture from Middlesex University.

Lizzy Richards

Allan Boroughs is a traveller and writer with a passion for classic adventure stories “in which a lot of stuff happens”. His debut novel, Ironheart, published by Macmillan in 2014, was inspired by his travels in Siberia, whilst the sequel, Bloodstone (Jan 2015) took him to the Antarctic. He is currently planning a trip to the jungles of Venezuela for the third book in the series.

Allan is also a founding member of Future Perfect Writers, who perform regularly at spoken-word events. He divides his time between his business in London and his home in Cornwall; he lives with his wife and two children

My desire to teach creative writing was inspired by my own writing teacher from when I was nine years old. No matter our ideas, be they tales of Bull Sparra, king of the sparrows, questionable murder mystery plots or lengthy poems about squirrels, our teacher always listened attentively, feeding our creativity with questions and enforcing confidence and a sense of freedom when it came to our imaginations. Her unwavering belief in my nine-year-old scribbles still inspires and motivates me today, and this is something I wish to give to every one of my students.

With the roles reversed, I am forever blown away by my students’ imaginations; the earth originated from a book, made by the goddess of literature; blocks of flats sometimes grow legs and wander about in search of celery; all of the listening hats in Europe have been stolen! The most delightful part of my job is asking “and then what happens” and seeing my students’ faces light up in the realisation that even their most outlandish idea is being taken seriously, worthy of developing into the next “and then…”. It is always a delight to see students sitting up straighter and engaging more readily in conversations beyond their stories, all because they realised that others want to hear what they have to say. I am so excited to be a member of the team at The Story Room to find new spaces and opportunities to bring empowerment to young imaginations.

Having grown up in Hong Kong, I moved to London for a BSc in Psychology at University College London before completing an MSt in Creative Writing at the University of Oxford in 2022. I wrote and co-directed Purple for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2019 and won the Kellogg College Creative Writing Competition in 2022. I now teach across various settings and age groups, from running writing workshops for Pascal Theatre Company’s Women for Women project to helping students prepare for exams and improve their English skills. I also volunteer with the literature department at the Finborough Theatre and love sharing my passion for scriptwriting with my students.

LIST OF SUBJECTS ELLA TUTORS IN:

• 7-plus and 8-plus exams
• English booster (years 3, 4 and 5)
• Preparatory work for children who need a boost before starting their 11-plus tuition. 
• Creative writing (all ages)

My teaching experience began not in creative writing or in English, but in art - spending my Saturday mornings and summers teaching pottery classes to children. It was something I found particularly rewarding, having children come into the studio with ideas of things they wanted to make, and watching them as they brought their visions to life. 

I always wanted to be a teacher in some way, but only discovered my love for creative writing and teaching it when I began my undergraduate degree. As I progressed through my education, completing my studies for an English degree at the University of Southampton and an MSt in creative writing at the University of Oxford in 2021, I slowly began teaching more and more English lessons and running my own creative writing workshops. 

Teaching children I am always impressed by their imagination, and ability to come up with ideas that I could never begin to think of. Working one on one in the past I have always loved sharing in their creative process, and seeing how much they love and care about writing. Regardless of the student, I’ve always found that children tend to look forward to creative sessions and, given the option, will always jump at the chance to write a story. 

While studying, I was lucky enough to spend time working at a variety of literary magazines, and really valued the opportunity this gave me to read a wide range of new, fresh, exciting work from a really wide scope of writers. I currently continue to write - working on my own short stories. Because of my MSt, am lucky enough to be surrounded by a strong, close-knit group of writers that make me feel confident in, and excited by, my work. This is something I value very closely, and I look forward to welcoming students into a creative space which offers them the same inspiration and support.