newsletter #6 - 28 July 2026

It has been a while since I have sent out a newsletter. Things have been so busy on the ground with many schools writing June exams and some already doing Trials. Lets reconnect by addressing some important information:

1. august holidays

August holidays are upon us! This is going to be a long break.

Term 2 ends: Friday, 7 August 2026

Term 3 starts: Wednesday, 9 September 2026

Please diarize these dates as I will not be attending any lessons during those times.

2. invoicing and payment schedule

Just in case anyone needs a reminder, lesson fees are averaged—or more accurately, equalised—over the full year. This is why lessons work on a monthly subscription basis.

You pay the same monthly amount regardless of whether there is one lesson or five lessons in that particular month. When lessons end, either at the end of the year or after your notice period, any remaining balance caused by the equalization of fees becomes payable.

You are not paying more or less than you should be paying for your lessons. My system makes sure that the fees remain fair and accurate. If you continue with lessons until the end of the year, your outstanding balance will automatically be zero.

Please make sure that all invoices are paid in full. I am always happy to explain the calculation or correct something if the figures genuinely do not add up.

Also, please remember that late payments do have consequences. If an invoice for the new month has not been paid before your next scheduled lesson, I will not arrive for or conduct the lesson until the account has been settled in full.

3. lesson schedule

Please also keep in mind that I follow the IEB three-term school structure. If your school follows a different calendar, there may be interruptions to lessons when your holidays do not line up with mine or when you are unavailable during my teaching term.

I am happy to move a lesson to another available time within the same week, but lessons cannot be carried over or deferred to a later date. Unfortunately, missed lessons cannot be made up.

Your weekly time slot is reserved exclusively for you, which means I cannot offer a credit when you are unable to attend. Naturally, if I need to cancel a lesson and cannot arrange an alternative time during that same week, the lesson will be credited back to your account.

4. IEB trial exams and other exams

Maths and Science students writing their trial exams during the August holidays do not need to worry. I will make sure that I see all of you before you write.

Some lessons will be brought forward so that we can get the necessary time together and give you the best possible chance of success. I will contact you shortly with the details of what your individual schedule will look like.

5. comments on trial exams

Trial exams are often exceptionally difficult, regardless of how well you have prepared. You could have completed every available past paper and still be faced with newly formulated questions that are so complex they make you doubt your own ability.

If this happens and you do not achieve the mark you were hoping for, do not immediately see it as a failure. The important thing is that you prepared properly, were challenged—sometimes unfairly—and learned a new way of approaching the work.

Yes, it is inconvenient and frustrating that this happens in such an important exam. However, consider how much more difficult it would have been if you had not prepared well at all.

Final examinations are generally fairer because they are standardised and written nationally. Trial exams, however, are set by your individual school, which means the level of difficulty is largely up to them. Do not take a difficult paper personally. Learn from it, keep your eyes on the horizon and remember the end goal.

Trials also do not make up a large portion of your portfolio mark and should not drastically lower your final result if you have worked consistently throughout the year. A difficult trial exam is also not necessarily an accurate measurement of your progress or a reliable prediction of how you will perform in the final examination.

So, if you had a particularly tough paper, keep this in mind. Chin up. We will analyse what went wrong, learn from it and include those lessons in our final preparation in case similar questions appear again.

However, if you did not prepare properly, left everything until the last minute or used our lessons for crisis management instead of arriving with prepared questions, then the result should serve as a wake-up call. It is time to change your study habits and also honestly evaluate how you are using our lesson time.

I genuinely believe that every student I work with has the ability to improve. Even if you have failed certain topics before, you can reach a point where you understand them and pass them.

You must realise, however, that most of the work will come from you. Your progress depends on your willingness to sacrifice some time now, work consistently and engage with the material every day.

See you all again soon for lessons and work hard.

Regards,

Werner