Emily has a Masters from Cambridge University in Mathematics with Education.
During her 15 years in the classroom, she spent time as a Head of maths before being seconded to work across the Trust, coaching new & struggling members of staff.
As part of this Trust-wide role, she also co-authored the maths subject review framework for the CfBT Schools Partnership Programme, led whole-school CPD on various topics, and organised TeachMeets to enable teachers to share good practice in English, maths & science.
Moving into a Lead Practitioner role at a new school, she set up a 'Parent Champions' group to boost parental engagement and communication.
Since leaving the classroom, Emily continues to be a vocal supporter for teachers, keeping parents informed throughout the pandemic (particularly to provide some balance to the media narrative about schools being 'closed'!). She can also be seen in the media regularly giving a teacher's perspective on everything from exams, 'maths until they're 18, and most recently, the impact of Ofsted.
She also published her book, 'GCSE Survival Guide for Parents' in 2020.
Paul has a Masters in Information Management and Computing from University of Sheffield, and a degree in Geography from Coventry University.
Prior to his teaching career, Paul worked in banking. It was only when the twins were due that he returned to the UK and trained as a Computer Science teacher.
His first teaching job was at his training school and that is where he spent the remainder of his 16 year career.
12 months in, he was appointed as the deputy curriculum leader for ICT and just 18 months later was elevated to head of department.
When the school academised, he assumed responsibility for a whole host of other departments including Business Studies, Child Care, Health and Social Care and ,most entertaining of all, became the Head of Hair and Beauty....
Paul spent all 16 years as a 6th form tutor, and 14 of those as lead UCAS tutor; he's an expert in the university application process.
He’s also a huge advocate of the Extended Project Qualification having spent many years as a supervisor for the qualification.
Since co-founding the ParentGuidetoPost16, Paul spends a lot of his time mentoring students and their parents through the university application process and presenting webinars to help parents and their teens navigate the university application process.
Paul & Emily met during teacher training, and have been happily married since 2008. With twins at university, and a daughter just starting her GCSEs, they know exactly how difficult these years can be as a parent!
With over 30 years of teaching experience between them, they bring a wealth of knowledge to their mission: helping parents support their teens through the exam years.
Parent Guide to Education was created by Emily & Paul Hughes.
Having experienced Parents' Evenings from both sides of the table, they know that 5 minutes simply isn't long enough to get across everything parents need to know.