06/05/2025
Dear Parents
The new term has started and it’s back to the same old grind. School, sports, music and all sort of other things that parents do for their kids. I remember doing all that stuff for my kids and I remember my parents doing all that stuff for me. Back in the old days, there was almost nothing in tutoring - just older kids tutoring your kids. The older kids’ qualifications were that they were, indeed, older kids. My, how things have changed.
The election is over and the result is vaguely what I expected - I had no doubt, whatsoever, that the current government would be returned in majority; I didn’t expect what actually, happened, though. As usually, the polls from before the election was announced were wildly inaccurate. That’s always the case. During a government’s term in office, the polls reflect how people feel about the government; the polls during an election campaign reflect how people will vote. Those two things are quite different. At least the campaign is over and we won’t have those messages from Trumpet of Patriots (or Saxophone of Silliness of Flugelhorn of Fools). Weren’t those texts annoying?! They were perfectly legal and, according to the law, all political parties are allowed to spam us during an election campaign. The campaign is over - they can stop, now.
So - here comes the bad news. Fees are going up. I always struggle when it comes to this because I don’t want to put anyone into financial hardship. I know how hard it is, currently, and I really don’t want to add to the hardship. I don’t want to put myself into hardship, either. Our fees have been going up muuuuuuch less than inflation, over the last few years, so I have a little catchup to play over the next few years.
As of the beginning of week 4 (21st of May), fees will go up by $2 per student. If you pay the fees for the term before then, you will get them for the current price. If you pay termly fees after then, the price will include the new amount. If this increase is difficult, please talk to me - I don’t want to make things too difficult, if I can avoid it. As I said, I struggle with this decision every time. I didn’t go into this business because I wanted to become rich - I went into it to help students and support my local community. That’s why it is so hard for me to raise fees, I only do it when I absolutely have to. Even then, I often don’t do it.
I’m also going to trial a way of doing receipts. I will trial sending receipts at the end of each lesson whether or not payment has been made. That means that you will receive a receipt showing how much I received from you that week. If you paid nothing that week, you will receive a receipt showing a $0 amount. I will see whether this is helpful by talking to people over the next few weeks. If it is not useful, I will discontinue it. Please let me know what you think of this after I start the process.
Just a very early heads-up: I will be going on holidays at the end of the year. We will be ending Term 4 in late November. I know this is very far ahead but I’m making sure everyone knows and that there are no surprises. This means that Term 4 will be a short one and I won’t be charging anyone for the last few weeks of term nor will I be arranging make up lessons. This is a long-planned trip which will include introducing my better half to family I met only last year. If you were to follow the page, you’d be able to see my pics of the tour.
I have another plea - I would ask that you tell me the things you would like me to work on with your child. While my assessment is extensive and my observations are detailed, I have had some parents showing some disappointment that I wasn’t working on other things. Often, I can easily include what people are after. Sometimes, I have to explain why that is not the best way to go. Please talk to me so we can get the best result for your child.
I hope that the coming term will be one of great progress for all the students. They usually work very hard but - and we’re all human - sometimes they need a bit of a push. Even a lot of a push. Let’s work on that together so that we all succeed.
Martin
