At Breakaway Tuition, we value the skills that our students need to develop when it comes to writing. Sometimes, we focus so much on the reading aspect of literacy, that writing falls to the side.

The world around us is evolving every day using technology. There are a variety of handy tools that are now available at home and in the classroom to help ALL students access education.

Change is hard. Especially when it is unexpected and affects your child's learning environment, like an unexpected change of tutor.

We are coming to the pointy end of the year. The HSC is just around the corner and end of Year 11 exams are about to rev up.

Have you ever heard someone say they talk to their plants because it makes them grow stronger?

It sounds ridiculous right?

Tuesday the 5th of February 2019 is Safer Internet Day. This day is celebrated in over 130 countries globally and is starting to make its mark on Australia.

Why should we celebrate it?

I have finally got to writing (and finishing) my blog on positivity. The video that I posted on Breakaway Tuition’s page a few weeks ago on how to create positivity for our kids goes hand in hand with this blog.

This article on Irlen Syndrome has been a long time in the making—- to tell the truth, it has taken me a whole year and numerous starts on the article to get to this point. It has been hand written 10 times over, been eaten on, had coffee spilt on it, been typed and gone missing! I’ve spoken briefly about Irlen through a few of our newsletters at Breakaway Tuition and have helped numerous students (and myself) with correct identification, and seen the impact it has had on those students.

Looking at buying your children books for Christmas this year?

Books (i think) are the ULTIMATE Christmas gift for all children. In today’s society with so much dependence on technology, nothing beats sitting down to read a good book with your child, or giving them a book to indulge in themselves.

>NAPLAN this year starts its online revolution roll out! This roll out will occur over the next 3 years, until all testing is completed online. Not just completed online, also marked online. This is a massive undertaking to get every Australian child in Year 3, 5, 7 and 9 to sit online testing at the same time.

We are at that time of the term!!

Assignments are beginning to roll into homes around the state.

Whether it be for High School or Primary School, a major stress with assignments is trying to work out exactly WHAT you are supposed to do for them.

Sometimes we can see the visible signs that our child is struggling at school. Sometimes……..you can’t! Sometimes they are so fantastic at hiding their struggles it makes it really difficult for parents to pick up that their child may need additional help!

It’s that time of the year again- with only 14 sleeps until English Paper One kicks off the beginning of the HSC!

Stress levels are certain to be high in all students and their families at this time.

Here at Breakaway Tuition, we believe that balance is definitely the key to success this HSC season! Individual well being is just as important, if not more important than the study and sitting of the exams.

As humans we have access to a wide variety of words that we draw upon to explain and provide meaning in a range of situations.

Hello, I’m Glenys (Mrs. T) Trouncer and I’m joining Breakaway Tuition as an MSL Professional to provide literacy intervention for students of all ages. A Southern Highlands local, born and bred, I’ve worked as a Private Music Tutor for over 25 years and hold a Master of ...

Over the last week, I have had several of my Year 8 tutoring students come to me in a panic. All of them have the same concern. How on earth am I supposed to get a Band 8 in my NAPLAN next year, if I’m already struggling and really want to sit my HSC in 2020? The media has a massive influence over our communities.   

It really breaks my heart when I see a child think that just because they don’t understand a task, or just because they make a mistake, then they are stupid and will never move forward. In a world where we are surrounded by “perfect” people, and where we hear lots of stories about success and only a few about the mistakes that were made, I guess it is an easy conclusion to jump to.

In my last blog I wrote about how to use mind mapping as a tool to put all of your ideas on a page before turning it into an essay. Not only does this help to get all of that information you have studied onto a page for organisation, it also helps you to create a “check list” so you don’t forget anything.

One thing that was often forgotten when teaching in High Schools was the fact that often students when we gave them an essay question, would come back and say “I have no idea how to write an essay!!!!”

It seems that essay writing was a skill that we either didn’t teach ...

We often forget that when we tell our children to go and “study” that this is often a skill that hasn’t been explicitly taught. Kids never know where to start, how to organise their work or what they should actually be achieving when completing the “study” routine.

When I was teaching in the classroom, I often had students ask me what the value of attending English was. After all, they will “never need to know how to write an essay” once they have finished school. Children often do not appreciate and value the skills that are associated with each task they are asked to complete.