Company
Why are you called "Five Tuition"?
We have a policy of no more than five students in a group. A more detailed explanation can be found on our 'Why Five?'' page.
IS FIVE TUITION A FRANCHISE?
No. Our three locations are all owned and operated under single ownership and management. We're able to operate three locations at once because we have a talented and passionate team. We also keep things simple.
Tutoring
WHO IS FIVE TUITION FOR?
The personalisation, flexibility and adaptive nature of Five Tuition makes it a unique service that caters for a range of students.
We cater for:
Prep to Year 12 students.
Students with all kinds of needs. This includes those that are 'struggling', 'wanting to stay on top', or 'wanting to stay ahead'.
Students who want tuition in a range of subjects. We can assist in English, Maths (General Maths, Further Maths, Maths Methods, Specialist Maths), Biology, Chemistry, Physics and other VCE subjects.
Families (we can arrange for members of the same family to be taught during the SAME time frame).
Every student, at any point in their schooling, can benefit from Five Tuition.
How long does each session run for?
Each session runs for 2 hours. We do not offer one-hour classes because there is not enough time for students to be taught new concepts, practise what they have learned, receive feedback, and engage deeply with the subject content.
Sometimes parents are concerned that two hours is too long, especially for young children. We have found that this is rarely an issue, and that longer sessions help to improve students' concentration skills over time as they are surrounded by other students who are focused on their work.
Can I obtain tuition in more than one subject within the 2-hour session?
Within the 2-hours session students are able to work on MULTIPLE subjects with their tutor. However, we recommend students work on no more than TWO subjects per session.
Can I choose which tutor I want to be taught by?
Usually a tutor who best suits your needs will be allocated. For example, some tutors specialise in certain subjects or work on certain days. However, if you have a particular tutor you'd like to be taught by, you may request this tutor, and/or be placed on the tutor's waiting list so that if a new class is started you'll have an opportunity to move into their group. Tutor availability cannot be guaranteed though.
CAN I BRING MY OWN WORKBOOKS?
Absolutely. In fact, this is encouraged if there is something you want our tutors to address specifically or tailor the tuition in accordance to. Although we provide resources for free (via our copyright licence with Copyright Agency Limited), we're not attached to any particular resource or set of resources. There are plenty of good quality resources available, so feel free to purchase workbooks and bring them in.
How do I enrol?
You can either enrol online, enrol personally via our hotline or by attending one of our campuses during our trading hours.
What should students bring to their first class/every class?
Primary-school students are advised to bring:
Stationary (i.e. pencil/pen, rubber, sharpener).
2 lined exercise books.
High-school students are advised to bring:
Stationary.
The textbook they are using at school.
An exercise book.
Their calculator.
A list of questions that they currently have in regards to the material in which they have covered at school thus far.
Any revision material that they have been given if they are hoping to prepare for any upcoming SACS, tests or exams.
Are the students within a group all from the same year level?
Generally, primary-school students work alongside other primary-school students; whilst high-school students work alongside other high-school students.
Because students receive individual help, it doesn't really matter who else is on the same table, being taught by the same tutor. However, we try to keep students who are of a similar age together for social reasons, and to avoid older students being distracted by younger students, who sometimes make a bit more noise (e.g. when reading aloud).
Who are the tutors? Are the tutors qualified teachers?
Five Tuition has chosen not to employ qualified teachers, although we do have several tutors who are studying university Masters courses in teaching, after having finished their degree. We draw a clear distinction between 'teachers' and 'tutors'.
Our tutors are all University students who have achieved VERY HIGHLY throughout their schooling. We employ tutors who have received any ATAR of 90 or more.
All of our tutors have therefore recently completed the school curriculum, and demonstrated their knowledge and understanding of the curriculum through their VCE results. Our tutors seek to work alongside their students as a peer or mentor; who is able to relate, empathise and guide their students.
We are happy to employ qualified teachers, as long as they meet these strict standards, and are able to demonstrate competence as a tutor. To be honest, many of the state's smartest tutors would love to acquire a teaching qualification, but are currently attaining qualifications in areas such as science, medicine and law.
Payments and Bookings
For the most thorough description of our policies, please see our Term and Conditions.
Why don't we get a refund when my child is sick or away on school camp and misses their group session?
Five operates a bit differently from other forms of tuition where it makes sense to swap into other sessions. These include large group tuition (6+ students), class tuition (several tutors attend to a class full of students), or worksheet tuition (where learning is based on worksheet completion under supervision).
At Five, we've created our fees and bookings structure around the following principles:
Tuition works best when there are no more than five students with a tutor
Tuition works best when it involves regular weekly sessions
Tuition works best when students are with the same tutor each week
Rates, charges and discounts should accurately reflect the actual cost of providing the service
When you book a group session at Five, you're effectively reserving a seat like you do on a plane. Like a flight, Five's costs remain the same whether students attend or not. And like an airline, Five provides a budget option (no refund Pay-per-Term), a flexible option (half-refund Pay-per-Session) and a first-class option (Private Tuition).
If were were to provide "make-up sessions" we would have a few options:
Keep prices the same but allow more than five students per group, so that students who have missed their session can join another group. Problem: With more than five students in a group students wouldn't get enough attention.
Run more groups so that there's plenty of groups for students to move into when they miss their session. Problem: We would need to increase our fees to compensate for the lower average group size.
Provide bookings on a week-by-week basis. This is something we do offer (Pay-per-Session). The downside is that the availability of sessions can't be guaranteed, and we need to increase the cost to compensate for smaller group sizes.
Previously we offered more flexibility in this area, but we were losing money as the group sizes were getting too small to be profitable, and students were getting distracted by having different students being swapped into their group regularly. We also had to cancel sessions, which meant that tutors were regularly sent home.
Rather than increasing our prices substantially to compensate, we decided to alter our policies so that we could keep our weekly group rates as low as possible. As a result, families get the best value for money when students are able to attend every week.
Why do you charge a $55 cancellation fee if I cancel my term enrolment?
When students are no longer attending their session, it reduces the size of the group, sometimes to the point that we're losing money by running the session. This is particularly the case when multiple siblings are booked into a session. The cancellation fee reflects the cost involved in reserving the session and the time taken to find another student who's able to attend that same session. It also provides a disincentive to un-enrolling, so that we don't need to cancel classes or increase our fees to compensate for unpredictable group sizes.
IF I miss my booked GROUP session can i swap into another GROUP session free of charge?
No. If you miss your booked group session, you have these options:
Book and pay for an additional session (Pay-per-session), OR;
Book and pay for private tuition
We don't allow swapping for these reasons:
We take our "no more than five students" policy seriously. As a result, we couldn't guarantee that any other groups would be available to move into.
Because tutors need to get to know the needs of students who have been swapped into their session, they are distracted from attending to their regular students
It can be disruptive for students to have new students in their group each week who have been swapped into their group
Because of our 'no more than five student per group' policy, it blocks new students from enrolling into the sessions that students have been swapped into
How do bookings work?
Booking/payment method: Pay-per-Term.
Pay-per-Term Bookings
When you enrol before the start of each term, one of our receptionists will contact you to arrange a suitable day/time, and request payment for the term.
Once payment is received, the chosen day/time/tutor is secured for the rest of the term. If payment is not received immediately, the spot may be allocated to another student.
How CAN I pay?
You can pay via phone using your credit card or have an invoice emailed to you which you can pay online.
We also offer direct-debit payments for Pay-per-Term payments. This involves splitting the Term fee into weekly instalments, which are automatically debited from your credit card on a weekly basis.
Are my credit card details secure?
Yes. We don't store any credit card details, either on paper or on any of our own systems. Online invoices take you to a secure payment gateway. When your credit card details are used for phone payments and direct debiting, we put your credit card details directly into an external secure online server and all we can see are the last four digits of your credit card and the card's expiry date.
What if I can't attend my booked session?
You don't need to do anything, unless you'd like to book and pay for another session.
If you're booked on a Pay-per-Term basis and you know in advance that you'll be unable to attend more than one session, you have the option of cancelling your term enrolment, in which case you'll get a refund (minus a $55 cancellation fee). After the time off you can then re-book on a Pay-per-Term or Pay-per-Session basis, depending on availability at the time of booking.
Can I un-enrol?
Yes, you can un-enrol at any time. If you have booked a weekly session on a Pay-per-Term basis, then we will refund the value of any remaining unused sessions, minus a $55 cancellation fee.