Specialist tutors focused on your child’s success
How do I join ACE Tutoring?
You can enrol online – click on ‘login/enrol’ at the top menu bar. This simply provides us with your child’s information, year level and subject needs – there is no obligation.
If you then wish to arrange your child’s first lesson, contact us about a suitable day and time at acetutornz@gmail.com and we’ll organise it.
You aren’t charged until after the first lesson, when we know your child is happy and settled with us and you wish to continue. When continuing, your child is booked for a term/the rest of the term. For the following term they will have automatic priority of place. We send out accounts each new term, and you can opt then to continue or stop lessons.
Once you’re all set up, you’ll have access to our online weekly teaching schedule, so you can make any changes if you need to reschedule your child’s lesson. Alternatively, we can do this for you.
What does an online lesson look like?
One teacher, supporting one student, via their own online lesson space filled with materials chosen especially for them. The teacher and student can see and hear each other, and ‘draw’ on the uploaded materials. The lesson takes 40 minutes (often a little longer) and optional homework is assigned.
The materials in the lesson space soon become covered with colourful notes, workings, ticks, corrections, stickers and drawings. There’s even ‘virtual confetti’ to celebrate great work.
You can visit our open-to-visitors example lesson space here.
Students can choose to download pages of their choice to write on them by hand, then show their teacher in the next lesson. We recommend this for younger learners who are still mastering handwriting.
How long will it be before we see results with ACE Tutoring?
We generally see an immediate increase in confidence. We aim to encourage and empower our students. We typically see academic improvement after 3 to 4 sessions – and so will their school teacher. We have lost count of how many ‘most improved’ school certificates our students have been awarded over the years!
How long will my child need to learn with ACE?
The answer is as varied as our students. We have emerging writers who attend once a week for two or more years to learn this complex craft. We have young mathematicians who just need a boost for two or three terms to completely catch up to their peers, readers who flourish in a couple of terms and reach their target reading level, and High School maths students who find that one year at ACE helps them get ‘up to speed,’ and stay there! Other learners need ongoing support over their school years with one weekly session, and some students come to us for years for more challenging Gifted and Talented extension learning.
What about students with specific learning needs?
Many of our students have special learning challenges and needs, e.g. dyslexia, dyspraxia, ADHD and/or giftedness. The three key advantages we have in helping are:
-years of experience teaching children with a wide range of learning styles and needs
-access to a huge range of resources including dyslexia-friendly, uncluttered computer activities
-time to focus on your child and specifically provide what will help them – including the chance to revisit a concept in different ways until it has been learned.
For more information, email us at:
Not every child appreciates computer-medium learning, however, and in this instance we recommend an in-home tutor. SPELD is a great place to start for this requirement.
What about Year 1-9 assessment?
Initial assessment: Because our teachers are very experienced, we know exactly what is needed if we are told, for example, ‘My child is struggling with Year 3 maths,’ or, ‘We need help with phonics.’ We include assessment in the first 1-3 lessons and can quickly form a list of next learning goals for, and with, your child.
Progress reports: We’re happy to tell you about your child’s progress at any point. After approximately 15 lessons, we formally reassess (using the same assessments as schools) and report verbally to you. Written reports can be provided on request.
We are here to help your child succeed at school, so if their teacher requests specific help on a topic, we’ll work on that.
How do you assess Year 10-13 students?
At this level, students are regularly completing assessments and assignments at school, and these results show their progress.
Will we be pressured to join your centre, or to keep attending after a term?
No! We are very proud of the success we help our students achieve, and the progress of our students is our best tool of persuasion.
Can a Year 1-9 student study more than one subject (e.g., reading and maths) in their lessons?
Yes, they can opt for a mix of literacy and numeracy in the one session, if they do not have too much to catch up on. If a lot of catching up is needed, we recommend sticking to one single subject to support rapid progress. We discuss the subject mix with you at the start, and review it as we go.
How is the specialist subject teaching catered for in Year 10-13?
In general our teachers are subject specialists (e.g., physics only, calculus only) but we do have some teachers who can teach two subjects in the same, or alternate lessons (e.g., physics + calculus; physics + chemistry; biology + general maths.) You can check with us to find out what is available:
We find that our senior students go into final exams relatively relaxed! They feel well prepared and have attained good results throughout the year at school.
Who is teaching?
For Year 1-9, our teachers are experienced primary tutors and/or NZ trained primary teachers. All their planning and teaching is overseen by NZ qualified and experienced teachers, Katherine and Evan Barker.
For Year 10-13 we provide High School trained and experienced tutors, and experienced university student tutors who are working towards a degree in the relevant subject.
Do you expect children to rote-learn things like tables?
Yes – in manageable chunks. Without all the basic knowledge we adults take for granted, such as times tables, addition and subtraction facts, or how to spell high frequency words, learners can find themselves ‘stuck’ at a certain level in their learning. For example, if a child does not know that 4 x 5 is 20, they cannot move on to 4 x 500, or 40 x 5000.
We help students learn maths facts through worksheets, computer tasks, and games. We also suggest free online resources (e.g. times tables games) to support your child’s learning between lessons.
Most importantly, we make sure the student understands the concepts underlying what they are learning – for example, multiplication means ‘how many lots of.’
Do you give homework?
For Year 1-9, yes. It is optional, but we feel it greatly increases the value of what we offer. Homework is checked during the following lesson. If it is time-consuming to mark, we provide answers for self-marking, and address any errors in the next lessons.
In addition to the designated homework, your child’s lesson space is filled with plenty of extra tasks so they can do as much extra work as they want to between lessons.
If you have any further questions email acetutornz@gmail.com – we’re here to help.