Our Team

Karena Mairs

Early Years Teacher

Specialises in the 3+, 4+, 5+ and 7+ examination preparations.

A little about Karena:

Hi, my name is Karena and I am a primary school teacher. I have been teaching for seven years. I have a wide range of experience teaching children from a variety of ages, learning styles and backgrounds.

I am a passionate and enthusiastic teacher, always basing my lessons on the individual needs of each child I teach.

I pride myself in making lessons fun, engaging and on ensuring children make secure progress in all areas of the curriculum.

Outside of being a teacher I love to keep active, sing, create homemade crafts and spend time with my 4 beautiful cats!

Helen Ryall

KS1 and KS2 Specialist

Specialises in the 3+, 4+, 7+, 8+, 11+ assessments and occasional place assessments.

My name is Helen and I am a qualified primary school teacher. I have 27 years of experience teaching across the primary age range and working with children who have a range of different learning styles and needs, including special education needs. I have specialisms in teaching phonics (to support early reading and spelling), writing and maths. I have a firm belief that practice and fluency in basic skills supports more complex learning, reasoning and mastery.

I love to teach and look forward to meeting and working with you all soon!

Maria Mazarese

Creative Minds Tutors Director

I specialise in the 3+, 4+, 5+, 7+, 8+, 11+ and 13+ examination preparations. I also also specialise in all occasional place Assessments.

I have been an educator for over 16 years. I am truly passionate about what I do. Teaching children is always different each day and it is always a true pleasure to get to know each and every child as an individual. I qualified as a teacher 15 years ago and have a lot of experience in various educational settings. Having worked in both the private and public sector, I have a wealth of experience.

Progressing through my career, I have been able to see the challenges that face our young children each and every day. Having one to one support is something that I truly believe to be of utmost importance to all children.

In my free time I love to teach gym classes, swim, go for long walks in nature, spend time with my family, read and cook.

Emily Armstrong

KS1 and KS2 Specialist

I specialise in the 3+, 4+, 7+, 8+, 11+ and occasional place assessments.

Hi, my name is Emily and I am a qualified primary school teacher. I have been teaching for 8 years and have experience across all of the primary age phase. I have also worked as a Head Teacher at a Primary School.

I am extremely passionate about helping children to achieve their full potential in all areas of the curriculum. I have taught children with many different learning styles during my career and always tailor my teaching to meet the needs of the individual child.

My lessons are engaging, varied and designed to both consolidate and deepen understanding.