Newsletter #8 - 28 September 2026

Dear Parents and Students,

We have officially reached the final stretch of the academic year! Trials are now behind us, final examinations are only about a month away, and the next few weeks are going to be extremely busy.

There are also some exciting developments happening behind the scenes at WRMStudio, as well as an important change I would like to discuss regarding next year.

Here are a few important things to take note of:

1. INVOICING AND PAYMENTS

October invoicing has now been completed.

Please ensure that all accounts are settled on or before 1 October 2026.

I would once again like to remind everyone that if payment is late and does not reflect, there will be no lesson until the account has been settled.

This is particularly important during the examination period. My schedule becomes extremely tight and I cannot hold lesson spaces open while waiting for outstanding accounts.

Please make sure payments are made on time to avoid unnecessary lesson interruptions.

2. TRIAL EXAMINATIONS

All Trial Examinations are now officially finished!

For the majority of students, the marks I have received have been very impressive and I am extremely happy with the progress that has been made throughout the year.

There are, however, some students who will need to put in considerably more work over the next month to ensure a good outcome in the final examinations.

Trials give us a very good indication of where problems still remain. A disappointing Trial mark does not mean that the final result has already been decided, but it does mean that we now need to take those weaknesses seriously.

There is still time to fix problems, strengthen weak sections and improve exam technique — but from this point onwards we need to use our remaining time wisely.

3. OUTSTANDING TRIAL MARKS

If you have not yet sent your Trial results through to me, please do so as soon as possible.

I use these marks to identify the areas where students are still losing marks and to decide what we need to prioritise during the remaining lessons before finals.

Please send the complete results where possible.

4. FINAL EXAMINATION SCHEDULES

Final examinations start in approximately one month.

I will begin putting the special examination schedules together shortly and will send these through as soon as everything has been worked out.

I do need to ask everyone for some flexibility during this period.

With many students writing examinations at the same time, limited teaching hours available and lessons needing to be moved around particular examination dates, I unfortunately will not always be able to accommodate preferred lesson times.

There will be a lot of juggling involved.

For Grade 12 students in particular, the remaining lessons will be concentrated around their individual final examination dates, just as I do with the other grades during exam periods.

This means lessons may be moved closer to a specific Mathematics, Physical Sciences or other relevant paper so that the available time is used where it can have the greatest impact.

The normal weekly lesson pattern may therefore change quite a bit during the final examination period.

I will always try my best to accommodate everyone fairly, but during finals students may need to accept different lesson times or days from their normal schedule.

Please bear with me during this period. It is always the most difficult schedule of the year to put together.

5. SOMETHING NEW IS COMING - THE WRMSTUDIO STUDENT LIBRARY

I have also been working on something quite exciting behind the scenes.

A completely new WRMStudio Student Library is currently being developed and is already undergoing private testing.

The idea behind the Library is to create a central place where students can access learning material, worked examples, explanations and resources that we use during lessons — without having to search through old WhatsApp messages, emails and files.

One of the things I am particularly excited about is that the entire system is self-hosted by WRMStudio.

Rather than simply relying on a collection of third-party services, I am building a system that I can control, develop and adapt specifically around the needs of my own students.

Over time, I also plan to introduce AI-assisted learning tools into the Library.

This will not simply be an unrestricted public AI chatbot.

The system is being designed around very specific educational parameters and will be strictly moderated and trained by me, with its resources, behaviour and assistance focused specifically on the South African school curriculum.

I have already noticed that many students are beginning to use AI as part of their studies.

Rather than pretending that this technology is not going to play a role in education, or simply telling students not to use it, I have decided that the better approach is to embrace it responsibly.

My aim is to act as a gatekeeper and moderator for how AI is used by my students.

One of the biggest concerns with students using public AI tools on their own is that the information they receive is not always accurate, may not follow the South African curriculum, or may explain concepts in a way that is not appropriate for the level they are studying.

A student may receive an answer that sounds completely convincing but is still wrong, outside the syllabus, or based on methods that are not expected in our schools.

By integrating AI into a controlled system, I can place boundaries around what it is allowed to do, guide the type of assistance it provides, and continually review and improve the material it works from.

The goal is not for AI to replace teaching or simply give students answers.

The aim is for it to become another educational tool — helping students understand concepts, navigate resources, find relevant worked examples and get additional support — while I remain responsible for the curriculum, the teaching approach and the quality of the information being provided.

I would much rather students use AI within an environment that I can supervise and shape than be left to navigate public systems entirely on their own.

It is a much bigger project than simply building a website, which is why development is taking place gradually.

My current students will be the first group to get access.

During the upcoming examination period, I will begin opening the Library to selected current students so that the system can be tested under real-world conditions.

Students will need to register themselves in order to gain access to the Library. The registration link will be sent directly to students via WhatsApp.

Once registered, students will be able to start exploring the available resources and use the system during their exam preparation.

This initial rollout will also allow me to identify technical problems, see which resources students find most useful, and refine the overall system before access is expanded further in future.

There is still a lot that I want to add and improve before the Library is eventually opened more widely, but this is an important first step.

So you may start hearing quite a bit more about this very soon!

6. LOOKING TOWARDS 2027 - AN IMPORTANT CHANGE

There is one other change that I want to communicate well in advance so that everyone has sufficient time to plan for next year.

As many of you know, this year marks quite a significant milestone for me.

Many of the students who formed part of my first major generation of learners are now finishing school. Some of these students and families have been with me for many years, and their graduation represents the end of a very big chapter of WRMStudio.

It was always my intention that when we reached this point, I would reassess how I teach and how the business should move forward.

After approximately 15 years of travelling to students and teaching lessons on site, I have decided that from 2027 I will no longer be travelling to students for lessons.

This has not been a quick decision, and there are several reasons behind it.

For many years travelling worked extremely well and allowed me to build WRMStudio into what it is today. But the way I teach has changed tremendously over the years, and so has the amount of time I spend on the road.

On some teaching days, I can lose as much as four hours of the day simply driving between students.

Those are four hours in which I am unable to teach, prepare resources, assist students or work on projects such as the new Student Library.

There is also an increasingly important financial reality.

With the rising costs associated with fuel and operating a vehicle in the current economic environment, travelling between students has become considerably more expensive.

When the time spent driving is combined with fuel, vehicle costs and the teaching time that is lost while travelling, it is becoming increasingly difficult to operate this part of the business at a point where the loss of income remains acceptable.

I have always tried to keep the additional cost of travelling reasonable for families, but there eventually comes a point where the model simply stops making sense for both the business and the amount of time involved.

There is also the safety aspect that I can no longer ignore.

A large amount of my travelling happens at night, and over the past few years I have experienced more and more close incidents on the road. At this point I simply do not feel that the additional risk involved in driving late at night is justified anymore.

Traffic and travel delays have also increasingly resulted in the first students on driving days occasionally losing lesson time or having lessons disrupted when something goes wrong on the road.

When I combine the time involved, the growing operating costs, the safety concerns and the direction in which WRMStudio is developing, I believe this is the correct point to make the change.

After 15 years, it is time to move into the next chapter of the business.

That next chapter will allow me to spend considerably more of my working day actually teaching, preparing, developing resources and supporting students, rather than travelling between lessons.

7. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR MUSIC STUDENTS?

This change will primarily affect my music students who currently receive lessons at home.

Most importantly, nothing changes for the remainder of 2026.

Lessons will continue as normal for the rest of this year.

I therefore do not want anyone to panic or feel that they suddenly need to make alternative arrangements before the end of the year. I am communicating this now precisely because I want everyone to have plenty of notice and time to consider what will work best for 2027.

For students who would like to continue with me next year, I would strongly encourage you to consider moving your lessons online.

Online teaching has developed tremendously since I first started offering it and, with the systems I now use, it is very different from simply having a video call and trying to teach through a laptop screen.

If you are unsure whether online lessons would work for you or your child, I would actually prefer that we try it before the end of this year.

We can move one or two lessons online as a test, without making any commitment for next year, and see how the student responds to the format.

Some students adapt to it remarkably quickly.

This gives everyone an opportunity to experience the system properly and make an informed decision about 2027 rather than having to decide immediately.

I will also discuss the change individually with affected families over the coming months.

8. CONFIRMING LESSONS FOR 2027

I also need all current students and parents to please confirm as soon as possible whether you intend to continue with lessons in 2027.

Planning next year's timetable becomes considerably easier when I know which current students are returning and which lesson spaces will become available.

Please do not assume that your current lesson time will automatically be carried over into next year without confirmation.

The earlier I receive confirmations, the easier it will be for me to start building the 2027 schedule and accommodate existing students before opening the remaining spaces to new enrolments.

I would also really appreciate your help in spreading the word.

There will be openings for new students in 2027, particularly as some of my current Grade 12 students finish school and the structure of WRMStudio changes.

If you know of a student or family who may benefit from Mathematics, Physical Sciences or online tuition, please feel free to let them know about WRMStudio or pass my details on to them.

A very large part of the studio has always grown through recommendations from existing students and families, and I am extremely grateful for that support.

THE FINAL STRETCH

There is quite a lot happening!

The next month will be challenging, particularly for our Grade 12 students, but we are almost there.

For those who performed well during Trials, we now need to maintain that momentum and polish the areas where marks are still being lost.

For those who were disappointed with their results, now is not the time to give up. Trials have shown us where the problems are. We still have time to do something about them.

At the same time, WRMStudio is beginning to move into a new phase.

The Student Library, curriculum-focused AI development and a greater emphasis on online teaching are all part of building something that I hope will eventually allow me to offer students far more support than I could ever provide simply by driving from one lesson to the next.

There is still a lot of work ahead, but I am genuinely excited about where this next chapter can lead.

For now, though, our immediate focus is very simple:

Finals first.

Let us finish the year properly.

Regards,

Werner