About the Author

Laura has worked for twenty eight years in education in a range of settings. Most recently, she has supported schools as an Education Consultant, delivering effective whole school continued professional development and improvement. With a passion for supporting student teachers at the beginning of their career, Laura has also worked as a tutor on PGCE courses at two universities. Laura works as a freelance primary education author and has several books in publication. She is a Team Leader for marking KS2 Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling SATs test papers. Shareen is executive director of education and leads on curriculum, teaching and learning and assessment across a multi-academy trust, based in London and Surrey. She is also an education adviser and supports schools and organisations across the country and has fulfilled a wide range of senior leadership roles, including being a local authority lead primary adviser and an English adviser. She has a proven and extensive history of raising standards in primary schools, particularly for writing, and has worked with schools and LAs across the country. Her subject specialisms are English, assessment, teaching and learning, multi-school leadership and curriculum. She is a fellow of the Chartered College of Teaching and part of the Confederation of Schools Trust (CST) Policy Advisory Group.
Shareen is an established educational author, writer and editor and has written educational resources and books for several leading publishers. Her books focus on English reading, phonics, writing, handwriting and spelling. She has also co-written, with her husband, several story and non-fiction books for pupils in their earliest stages of reading.
For more than a decade, Shareen has worked with the Department for Education in various advisory/ reviewer roles, including as a KS1 and KS2 reading and grammar quality assurance subject expert proofreader, and as an STA deputy standardisation team leader for the KS2 national writing training.