Charlotte’s story

Family Aspirations

Charlotte’s parents, Emily and David, were keen for her to get into the right school, but more importantly, they wanted Charlotte to be able to reduce her anxiety and start to enjoy her learning. Charlotte faced significant challenges as she was extremely shy, and suffered from severe separation anxiety, making it difficult for her to adjust to new environments and people.

Academic Diagnosis

At first it was difficult to ascertain Charlotte’s academic ability, but Mentor Education proved to be a nurturing place for Charlotte. Miss Andrea created a calm, structured routine and lessons that helped her feel secure. Slowly but surely, Charlotte’s anxiety began to lessen. Our Early Years team began to sense her underlying high ability.

How We Helped

Miss Andrea provided tailored lessons for Charlotte to increase her ability to talk to adults and then began to gently introduce spatial reasoning and critical thinking tasks. Charlotte also discovered a love for stories and books during her visits to us. She would sit attentively during group story times and focus hard. This newfound interest in books became a gateway for her to express herself and answer the higher order questions at her 4 Plus assessments.

The separation anxiety that once seemed an insurmountable problem has diminished and Charlotte’s progress over the months was remarkable.

Charlotte’s success

Charlotte was immediately offered a place for Sydenham High Junior School and waitlisted for JAGS.

We were thrilled when her parents were contacted by JAGS and she was offered a place at a later date. Charlotte starts reception in September 2026.