Open Key Tutoring Academy: Our Story

I started working in the field of education nine years ago. It began as a talent for teaching friends, family members —with students constantly telling me that I had a unique and unusual knack for teaching, something that allowed me to reach and assist even the most difficult of students.

 

Beginning as an educator in the field of teaching was very eye-opening for me. Initially, I saw my career beginning in schools, so I engaged in university spaces, completed my teaching degree, and began to gain experience in schools. What I saw disillusioned me pretty darn quickly—teachers too caught up in their own politics to prioritise the needs of their students. School systems designed in a way to maximise profit rather than prioritising the educational needs of each child under its wing. What I saw frustrated me, and a fire was born in me that day. I decided that I wanted things to be different. I decided that I wanted to make a difference. I decided that I wanted children to have access to the kind of personalised, caring, supportive, effective education that would allow them to not only be successful during their school years, but to form the foundation of a future of success and well-being.

 

The path ahead of me seemed difficult, to say the least. That was when I discovered tutoring. I knew that if I was to try to create change within currently existing school systems, I would forever be limited by the politics, by the institutionally mandated rules and regulations that old, stuffy leaders had put into place years before I had come along. I knew that trying to create change in such a place would be difficult and slow and possibly even futile. But when I discovered one-on-one tutoring, I discovered for the very first time what I could do when I took a child out of that system. When I studied their needs, their academic aspirations, their talents—and created a supportive educational space that met every single one of their needs.

 

I quickly began to receive feedback from parents on the effectiveness of my techniques. A lot of parents didn’t fully understand what it was that I was doing, but they were noticing the changes in their child. I was working with students who at times had given up all hope that they would ever be successful in school. I was working with students who were excelling, but I could tell were on the edge of burnout and needed something more. I was working with students who had years of curriculum material that they were behind on and felt helpless in how to tackle it all. But no matter the type of student, and no matter the challenges, my techniques—my approaches—were incredibly effective. Parents were coming to me shocked at the changes in their child. It turns out that when education effectively addresses the real needs of each student, personalised to the needs of that child, that miracles are possible.

 

But these weren’t miracles that could be achieved alone. I recognised early on that in order to create the kind of effective support that these children needed, I needed to have a direct connection to their school curriculum—to be able to look ahead at all upcoming assignments, to be able to demystify the material for the students and, brick by brick, create the foundations necessary for effective study planning and organisation. I knew I needed to involve the parents, to communicate with them in an ongoing fashion about their child’s evolving needs and give them ways in which they could support their child’s needs at home between lessons. And so it became that what started off as a small dream evolved into a tutoring business that became the bridge between school and parent and child—and effectively, an educational support system that would support that child from all angles.

 

This business has evolved to what it is today: a small team of very dedicated educators who see the potential to do more—who are guided by the very same principles that I put into place during my earliest years as an educator. Principles that I have found, time and time again, to be the most effective approach in assisting students. And now, today, I offer those principles—this service—to you.

Welcome to the Open Key Tutoring Family.