"The tuition is making all the difference for Edie, she feels a lot more confident, and she was the only person in her class as school to pass both papers for the mock exam last week, so she is happy! Before the tuition she felt like she was going to fail the exams, but Jackson has really taken a lot of her stress away, so thanks very much!!!"
Edie’s mother Gretchen, September 2014
Year 13, Physics
“Mae has found Emma to be an excellent tutor. She was punctual, knowledgeable and friendly. Mae said she could always answer her questions and was an informative teacher. Her exact words were "she knew heaps about chemistry!"
Please pass on our thanks to Emma.”
Mae’s mother Truus, November 2015
Year 12, Chemistry
“I couldn't speak more highly of AHeadStart and my tutors, they were so friendly, so helpful and they both truly wanted me to succeed in English and Mathematics by continually giving me every opportunity to improve and prepare. Even in English when I first started tutoring in Level 1 - I went from getting 'achieved' in internals to suddenly getting 'Excellences' for the rest of the year and for Level 2 I received all Excellences for all of my internals and passed all of my exams.”
Mikayla, January 2016
Year 12, English & Mathematics
“Thank you for all your assistance with Emma and her work in Maths. Her confidence has grown and I am sure it will show in her grades too.
I am sure Emma will be keen to continue with your support so will contact you in the New Year.”
Emma’s mother Karen, November 2015
Year 11, Mathematics & Science
“The most helpful thing about tutoring is when I don't get something my tutor will explain it in another way until I understand it. It is also useful to be able to ask as many questions as you want to.
In chemistry I found it really useful to be able to have someone explain directly a concept I didn't understand in class. I enjoyed eventually feeling confident with chemistry!”
Laura, January 2014
Year 12, Level 2 Chemistry & Mathematics
"Thank you so much for the Progress Report. We are really pleased with Blake and the progress Spike is making. It’s been excellent timing for him at school to keep up with the work and make him aware of looking into the future."
Spike’s mother Di, October 2013
Year 11, English
“I have nothing but praise for the way this business is run. From the first contact (with Melanie I think) she was friendly, helpful and informative.
The tutor was excellent. My son kept going back which is a start! Plus his exam results were great.
I am very happy and would definitely recommend to family/friends as a positive, friendly and stress free experience. Some businesses are in your face with email/phone contact to introduce you to more of their opportunities but I found AHeadStart had none of that. With our busy lives these days it's annoying having lots of emails or phone calls etc, this was not the case at all.
Thank you to Melanie and her team at AHeadStart.
All the best and regards
Chris Peckham.”
Blake’s mother Chris, January 2016
Year 13, Physics
"FYI - we are very pleased with Sam's progress. Considering she was planning not to continue with statistics, with tutoring she has grown in confidence and achieving. It has been good that there was some degree of flexibility and we relied on Sam to work things out with the tutor. I think this has helped her take responsibility & make sure she was getting what she needed."
Sam’s mother Kathryn, October 2013
Year 13, Statistics
"Scott seems quite happy with the exams so far. I am very appreciative of the skills and abilities of the tutors as Scott has certainly become more confident in the knowledge that he does know things. Both Helena and Kirsten have helped greatly in developing his skills and techniques in both subjects.
I don’t know how children get on who don’t get tutoring, especially when the lack of knowledge comes down to the teacher that the student currently has. I firmly believe that Scott would probably have struggled to get an achieved in both subjects if we hadn’t approached you.
Please pass on our thanks and best wishes to Helena and Kirsten."
Scott’s parents Susan & Bruce, November 2014
Year 11, English & Mathematics
"I would like to thank you very much, your professional service and Jackson's tuition have been fantastic, and has really made all the difference to Edie's stress levels (rather the lack of stress) and understanding of physics, and has been a huge boost to her confidence. She actually won the Excellence in Physics cup, and although she says that this is purely because she goes to a school where there is a very small class size and very little competition in the field, I have been assured by the staff that they don't give out the prize if there is not a deserving recipient! So please pass on our thanks to Jackson, as his tuition has been behind her success. That success and confidence has also contributed very much to her overall self-esteem, which is so important at this time of life!"
Edie’s mother Gretchen, November 2014
Year 13, Physics
"As a result of having tutoring I feel I understand every topic a lot better. Before I started tutoring I thought I understood the topic but test results said a different story. After having tuition I found I had a better understanding of the topics in general and most of the time I understood what the question was asking.
I thought that Melanie was very helpful in explaining easy ways to understand what the question meant. In Solving Probability problems during the year my report was not achieving at the end of the year it changed to Achieving well my results changed from a not achieved to a merit. Understanding the language they used in Probability was my biggest problem I feel tutoring really helped this subject improve as I grasped what they were really trying to ask.
In the subject Applying Probability Distributions my results changed from not achieving to a merit. This is because I learnt when to apply binomial or Poisson or normal distributions. I learned the difference between these three distributions and it helped improve my test results.
In the topic Using Confidence intervals my results changed from not achieved to an achieved but I feel that the practice and revision I did between the last school results and the final NCEA exam that hopefully my results are higher than that. I feel more confident with this topic now.
Finally with the topic solving equation I could only ever do the simultaneous equations and not the graph part. I use to avoid this paper and did not do it in the school practice exam. So I do not have any results to show how I have improved but I feel with the lessons I have received that I can now answer all questions in this topic and I find it the most enjoyable and the easiest topic to do out of all of them."
Kate McDonald, December 2008
Year 13, Level 3 Statistics
"The tutors were fantastic and I am very happy with the quality of teaching they all provide. Thank you."
Year 13 Student, December 2009
Level 3 Physics & Statistics
"Many thanks for Jackson's report on George's progress. We have been so impressed with Jackson - he certainly packs a lot into an hour! George has found him very easy to relate to."
George’s mother Judith, October 2014
Year 12, Biology, Chemistry & Mathematics
“Hannah achieved NCEA Level 3 with merit and is attending Canterbury University this year - she enjoyed her tutoring with Robert and although she became disengaged towards the end of the year, that was of her doing and her results in Statistics and Biology are testament to her having received tutoring.”
Hannah’s mother Louisa, February 2015
Year 13, Biology & Statistics
"I learnt how to take a question and work through it simply and correctly. I was taught how to properly use the formulas given, to understand and answer selected questions. I was taught the information which I needed to know for the exam which I had not been properly taught."
Danielle, December 2009
Year 12, Level 2 Physics
"I thought I would just flick you a short one to tell you that the lessons are great and going really well & Gemma is a fantastic tutor! Very patient and thorough, making sure I understand every step we go through. Thanks Briar (:"
Briar, May 2011
Year 12, Level 2 Mathematics & Physics
"All seemed to go well. Thomas was great, seems like a good match between the two.
It will be interesting to see where Thomas thinks Gus is sitting in terms of curriculum level over the next few weeks.
Great to see the homework, also. More than we have seen from school.
Thanks"
Gus's father Adam, July 2025
Year 4 English and Mathematics
“My tutor was excellent, she really made me feel that I was in a safe and comfortable learning environment and motivated me to learn with her positive enthusiasm.”
Lisa, January 2016
Graduate Diploma in Business, Mathematics