We specialise in extension tutoring and remedial tutoring.

Our tuition for Years 9 - 13 students is one-on-one, multi-subject (if required), either in-person or online, and personalised to the particular student’s learning needs.

Our tutoring

Remedial tutoring is a style of tutoring which provides remedial support to a student who has fallen behind.

Extension tutoring is a style of tutoring which focuses on extending or stretching a gifted or high-achieving student.

Both of these kinds of students have learning needs which are often not met in a classroom environment. Our tutoring helps them extract the most out of their schooling.

Browse the tabs below to read about how we help these students.

How do we help gifted students?

Gifted or high-achieving students are students who have the capability to work at a level above that of their peers.

For these students, there is often a missed opportunity to be growing their capability beyond their classmates, and developing skills beyond their expected level. Our extension tutoring helps these gifted students devise, and stay motivated towards, new academic goals – for instance, winning academic awards at their school, building their extra-curricular portfolio, and obtaining a scholarship to their target university.

Our goals with gifted or high-achieving students are:

>> to grow their skillset and problem-solving habits beyond that of their expected level;

>> looking ahead at future years' curriculums/content, to give them an academic advantage as they progress through school; and

>> building solid learning habits.

By keeping gifted students challenged, driven, and interested, we help set solid learning foundations for future growth at school, university & beyond.

Why do gifted students struggle in a class environment?

Schools often do not have sufficient resources to provide due attention to gifted students. When gifted students are bundled together with other students, a gifted student experiences:

>> a lack of intellectual stimulation in class;

>> boredom/restlessness in class, sometimes leading to poor behaviour; and

>> a learning habit of complacency being instilled in them, rather than growth.

Another factor is that gifted students frequently have learning styles which don’t align with the traditional teaching methods/environments. For these students, frustratingly don’t perform well in assessments because they aren’t using what is conventionally recognised as the correct method, or because they struggle to articulate their understanding in an assessment context (even though their understanding is there). Students with Specific Learning Disabilities (SLDs) often fit within this description.

How do we help students who have fallen behind?

Once a student finds themselves behind their class, it is difficult for them to catch back up without targeted support. As the curriculum content progresses, so too does the ‘assumed knowledge’ (foundational skills) that they are expected to have a handle on – and if there are gaps in a student’s foundational skills, they cannot fully engage in new skill acquisition. It is an issue which can snowball quickly and become discouraging for a student.

Trajectory provides remedial support for a student who has fallen behind, through regular tuition. Our goals for these students are to:

>> guide them through curriculum content which has been missed or not fully grasped by the student;

>> address the underlying factors which might have led to them to fall behind in the first place (lack of self-confidence is a common factor); and

>> setting them up to better absorb forthcoming curriculum content.

Why do students who have fallen behind struggle in a class environment?

A number of factors can lead to a student falling behind their expected level.

The contributing factor that we most frequently see is low self-esteem and low confidence. It is discouraging to see your peers getting better results than you, and not understanding why. By showing students that they can achieve what they thought they couldn't, we rebuild students’ self-confidence and self-belief, which sends ripples through other areas of their academia.

Other common sources of a student’s struggle are a disinterested teacher, unsuitable class environment (either in terms of teaching style or structure), or Specific Learning Disabilities (SLDs) & other learning challenges.

It is common for students with Dyslexia, Dysgraphia, Dyscalculia, Dyspraxia and other processing disorders to find aspects of classroom learning unsuitable, despite being very capable learners in their own right.

For gifted students, click here

NCEA & Scholarship

Trajectory provides high quality tutoring for Years 11 - 13 students looking to achieve certain results in NCEA & NCEA Scholarship. All NCEA subjects that we tutor can be tutored all the way up to Excellence level.

Trajectory also provides assistance with scholarship applications to Universities, including consulting on the leadup to Year 13. Contact us to learn more.

Full Subjects List

How are tutorials structured?

Our tutorials are structured flexibly. Generally, our tutoring model is: 1. introduce content and guide the student through it; 2. set work for the student at the appropriate level; and 3. monitor student’s performance and provide real-time feedback. Lessons often begin with a brief bit of information gathering: we’ll discuss with the student about how they have been going with their classwork in the week forgone, talk through any teacher feedback they’ve received recently, and find out what assessments they have upcoming. After that, the content of the tutorial depends on the outcome of the discussion and our particular goals with the student. We are able to look backwards at previous year’s curriculum content, or ahead at future years, depending on what our target areas/subjects are.
Why extension tutoring?

In the past decade, there has been a movement led by the Ministry of Education to eliminate class streaming from NZ's schools. By consequence of this, classes are comprised of students of mixed ability, and teachers are given the impossible task of teaching all of them to a level suitable to each of them. The evidence shows that mixed classes do reduce educational inequality and are suitable for some students. However, a great many of my students over recent years have learning needs which aren't being met in their classroom environment. From our observations, the adversely affected students are usually the students who sit at the top of the class (gifted and high-achieving students) and those students who are sitting at the bottom of the class (i.e. students who have fallen behind). Extension tutoring targets the learning needs of these particular groups of students and provides the learning support they need. For these students, individual attention is crucial and can make a remarkable difference to their academic ability, their motivation and their perception of their future. The middle-runners in the class are generally not as adversely affected by mixed classes, but this absolutely varies from student to student.
Do you set homework?

Homework is an important part of our tutoring method. We only have limited time together during the tutorial, so part of our job as tutor is to, as best we can, make sure our students are maximising their time outside of tutorials. We set homework after almost every lesson. We are fervent believers in homework. It is a valuable opportunity for the student to complete work in an independent, self-led environment. Independent study forms the basis of NCEA and further education (tertiary), and hence we see it as incredibly valuable to develop the underlying traits early (those traits being discipline, independence, and time-management).
What subjects do you tutor? Can you tutor multiple subjects for the same student?

We tutor numeracy, literacy (reading and writing), pre-NCEA, NCEA, Cambridge and Scholarship up to Year 13 level. All subjects that we tutor, we can tutor up to Excellence level. The full list of school subjects that we teach can be found here. Tutoring can be for a single subject or multiple subjects. It is up to the tutor, in consultation with the parent/student, to determine how tutorial time is used.
How long are tutorials?

Lessons can be either 60 minutes or 90 minutes long. For Years 9 - 10 students, we recommend 60 minute lessons. For Years 11 - 13 students, both 60 minutes or 90 minutes can be suitable, depending on the needs of the student (after 90 minutes of tutoring, you will generally find that a student's attention starts to drop off).
How regular are tutorials?

Weekly tuition is the ideal frequency. It allows time in between tutorials for the student to do their homework and come to the next lesson with their motivation levels high. A higher frequency of tuition is also possible - especially on the leadup to an exam, it is not uncommon for a student to request extra tutoring. It depends on the availability of the tutor, but in almost all cases we are able to accommodate.
Where does tutoring take place?

Lessons can take place at your home, local library, at school, or online. We travel throughout Christchurch, but where travel is required to outer Christchurch suburbs we will charge a $5 - $15 travel fee, depending on distance.

Student Stories

> click to read about our students' successes in 2024