Our story

We are a teacher-couple specialising in 11+ tuition. I’ve been teaching for 15+ years in secondary schools, and my wife has been teaching for eight years in primary schools.

Our own journey started with our eldest daughter, Safaa. Before we moved to the outskirts of London, we used to live in the inner city where the schools were not great. We knew we didn’t want to send our children to any of the local schools, and that’s when we started looking into grammar schools for our own children.  

Safaa was a keen reader, even at a very young age, so we were confident she would embrace the challenge of the 11+ curriculum. When Safaa was in Year 4, we began the 11+ course with her. The English and Maths subjects were relatively straightforward. The VR and the NVR subjects, however, were more tricky to teach as they’re so different to anything children learn at school.

Around this time, we used to tutor other children, too, but it wasn’t specialist 11+ tuition at this point. Also, our clientele were a mix of online and face-to-face clients (we didn’t have our own facility in those days, so we’d go to the client’s home).  

Fast forward a couple of years and we moved to Bexley when Safaa was in Year 5. She sat her 11+ exam in September in the following academic year when she started Year 6. Safaa did very well in every 11+ exam she sat.

By this point, we had invested so much into the 11+ curriculum that we felt this was our strength. We had bought countless books and digital resources and coached Safaa through many, many hours of mock exams. We would analyse her results to see where she made mistakes and work on areas of weakness.  

We were hoping to get Safaa into a Bexley grammar school, but we didn’t want to put all our eggs into one basket. We therefore registered Safaa to sit three 11+ exams with three different councils: Bexley, Kent and Medway. We were confident in Safaa securing a place at a grammar school in at least two out of the three.

As it turned out, Safaa passed her exams for Bexley, Kent and Medway. She achieved one of the highest scores in Bexley (if not the highest) as a ‘top 180’ pupil. She did similarly well in the Kent and Medway exams.

What we’ve learnt from this experience is that the 11+ journey is a team effort. It takes a lot of dedication for the pupil and also a lot of sacrifice for the parent(s).

We look forward to working with you to achieve the best possible outcome for your child.

Abdul & Masuma

Grammar School Pathway is a specialist 11+ tuition agency. This means we exclusively provide 11+ tuition focusing on Maths, English, Verbal Reasoning (VR) and Non-Verbal Reasoning (NVR). We are part of the SLT tuition group so if you require GCSE tuition, please contact Stem Learning Tutors.

At Grammar School Pathway, we prepare students for the GL assessment as our clients usually target grammar schools in Bexley and Kent. Students typically start with us when they’re in Year 4 (although we encourage parents to contact us if their child is in Year 5 to see if we can help).

We are based in Bexley, near the high streets of Welling and Blackfen. Our tution studio is set up for small groups (maximum 8 pupils) and has a homely feel to it so our pupils feel comfortable during their study.

Meet the tutors

Masuma read History at the London School of Economics and then went on to gain her PGCE with QTS (Qualified Teacher Status).

She worked as a primary school teacher in schools based in London and also held the Head of History role before taking a career break.

She returned to teaching once Safaa successfully completed her 11+ exams and continues to teach.

Masuma has tutored children who have passed their 11+ exams in Bexley, Kent, St Olave’s and Medway.

Abdul Aziz is a qualified teacher based in London.

He studied Geography at the prestigious King’s College London and then gained his PGCE at the world renowned UCL Institute of Education. Abdul has been teaching since 2010 and is also an examiner for Edexcel. Abdul has worked as a Head of Year and also held the Duke of Edinburgh Coordinator role in multiple schools.

Abdul has tutored pupils preparing for their 11+ in Year 3, Year 4 and Year 5 and has managed an 11+ tuition centre in Bexley.

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Frederick Bloy read English Literature and Creative Writing at Lancaster University.

Upon graduating with a first class BA degree, he taught creative writing to 11+ students whilst authoring a book, also on creative writing.

Frederick went on to earn a PGDL after publishing his first book and his current interests lie at the intersection of law and publishing.

Frederick is working with Grammar School Pathway as a consultant tutor to help deliver the creative writing aspect of the 11+.

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