Grade expectations
McEvoy turns school fail into an A+ tutor company
HE went from being a failing schoolboy to owning the Gold Coast’s largest tutoring company.
Hayden McEvoy started A Team Tuition three years ago, which has since grown to a team with 46 tutors teaching more than 1000 students across the Coast, with plans to expand to the Tweed.
Hayden suffered from ADHD as a child and said it was only through the help of his mother who studied a master’s degree in psychiatry in order to help him, that he was able to channel his energy into swimming, and later, his studies.
As the older brother of swimming champion Cameron McEvoy, Hayden also had aspirations to become a national star in the pool.
“I planned everything and stuck to a strict schedule of eating, sleeping and training and when I pulled it off and got massive results I thought ‘why don’t I do the same thing with school?’,” he said.
“I started planning every aspect of my school life, sleep, study, social life and time, even relationships with my teachers, and in one term went from Cs and Ds to straight As.
“I told my teachers ‘I’m going to get As and you’re going to help me do it’ and when I actually followed through with it, it became such a beautiful teamwork environment.”
It was when Hayden narrowly missed making the Olympic team for London 2012, he began focusing solely on starting his business.
“I had 16 clients by the end of that year and I had every single one of them to As,” he said. “We’re the only tutoring company on the Gold Coast that actually screens and trains our staff before we match them with clients.”
Year 11 student from The Southport School Callum Hayden said he started having tutoring sessions with A Team three weeks ago to help with writing assignments.
“My tutor helps me with work and planning my whole week effectively,” he said.
“It’s very helpful because I’m a boarder so I live away from my parents.”
Griffith University Head of the School of Education and professional studies, Professor Donna Pendergast said while tutoring is not necessary it can be an important step to help students grasp particular concepts.