Kumon Mathematics and English now open in Officer, VIC!

Kumon is now open in Officer, Victoria, to support all children develop their mathematics and reading ability.

Kumon Officer Education Centre is led by Instructor Pooja Sivakumar, who is a former Kumon student and assistant. Pooja became an Instructor because of how Kumon benefited her personally.

“As a student, I was not a fan of Kumon. Then, when I joined Kumon Narre Warren Education Centre as an assistant, my perception of Kumon changed as I observed the growth of the students in terms of their mathematics and English,” Pooja explains.

“However, the most profound moment was when I realised students gained a boost in self-confidence, whenever they understood a complex topic”, she continues. “This self-confidence reflected both in their personal and academic life. This enables them to push themselves beyond their comfort zone to gain many achievements.”

“Now, I am determined to help all my students to reap all the benefits of Kumon”.

Kumon Officer Education Centre is located at Maranatha Christian College, Officer Campus, 62 Rix Road. Classes will operate from 4pm to 7pm on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons.

Please contact Kumon Officer directly should you wish to enrol or to learn more: https://www.kumonsearch.com.au/Centre/KUMON-OFFICER-VIC#info

Kumon partners with Surf Lifesaving Queensland

Kumon Australia and New Zealand continues to help children develop their potential, this time in the surf.

Through a new community partnership, Kumon and Surf Lifesaving Queensland are working together to promote Little Lifesavers, a fun and educational program that educates children about water safety.

Yazmine Rieck from Kumon Queensland says she is thrilled to support an organisation equally as passionate about helping children develop essential life skills.

“Surf Lifesaving teaches children how to confidently and safely enjoy the beach, a massive part of life in Queensland”, Yazmine says.

“Kumon provides children with strong skills in mathematics and English, and the confidence to excel academically. We see this partnership as a way for both of our organisations to help children grow into confident, well-rounded adults”.

Helen Hallett, SLSQ Community Awareness Manager, says, “We are proud to partner with a likeminded educator”.

Should you wish to learn more about the partnership, please contact us via our enquiry form: https://au.kumonglobal.com/contact-us/general-enquiry/ 

*Photo credit: Nigel Hallett, Courier Mail. 

Kumon partners with Athletics West

We are pleased to announce Kumon Australia and New Zealand is partnering with Athletics West. Both organisations are committed to developing children of all ages and abilities.

Kumon students and Athletics West athletes recognise the importance of persistence and practice to achieve results. This is why both organisations are working together throughout 2021.

“Kumon is thrilled to support an organisation like Athletics West that shares our passion for helping young people to reach their potential”, says Joanne Adam, Division Leader of Kumon Western Australia.

Vince Del Prete, Chief Executive Officer of Athletics West, says they are delighted to partner with Kumon.

“In 2020, Athletics West was able to engage more than 10,500 Primary School students through the Little Athletics Program for Schools. Now, Kumon LAPS will connect young West Australians with new tools to improve their experience both in athletics and the classroom”, he says.

Should you wish to learn more about this partnership, please contact Kumon via our enquiry form: https://au.kumonglobal.com/contact-us/general-enquiry/

Kumon partners with Little Athletics SA

We are pleased to announce that Kumon Australia and New Zealand is partnering with Little Athletics SA. Both Kumon and Little Athletics SA are committed to developing children of all ages and abilities.

Kumon understands the connection between healthy bodies and healthy minds. Eating nutritious food and undertaking regular exercise helps students achieve their best, both on the sports field and at school.

Students and athletes also recognise the importance of persistence, practice and hard work in order to achieve results. This is why Kumon and Little Athletics SA are working together throughout 2021.

“When our students encounter a new problem, they keep trying until they are able to solve it. They also understand that the right amount of practice lays the foundation for smooth progress. This is similar to young athletes who keep trying and continue practising until they achieve their goals”, says Esther Head, Public Relations Division Leader at Kumon Australia and New Zealand.

“Kumon is thrilled to support an organisation like Little Athletics SA that shares our passion for helping young people to be the best they can be”.

Sue Bowman, Chief Executive Officer of Little Athletics SA, says they are delighted to partner with Kumon.

“By proactively supporting Little Athletics SA, Kumon is contributing to an innovative program that supports the skills development and a fit and healthy way of life for young children”, she says. “This showcases Kumon’s devoted involvement in supporting the local community”.

Should you wish to learn more about this partnership, please contact Kumon via our enquiry form: https://au.kumonglobal.com/contact-us/general-enquiry/

Zoe reads way ahead with Kumon English

While it may not seem like the most obvious link, completing the Kumon English programme will help 10-year-old Zoe to have the skills to become a mechanical engineer.

In Year 4 at school, Zoe finished Kumon English in March 2021, meaning she has the reading comprehension ability of a Year 12 student. She also topped the ranking for her year level amongst all Kumon English students in Australia.

Zoe’s commitment to her Kumon studies has real-world benefits for her, both in and out of school.

“Kumon English has helped me in a few different ways”, Zoe says. “One of them is with my comprehension, which has helped me get better grades from spelling at school. Another one is with reading instructions, which helps me to build things and help my dad too”.

Zoe says that her ability to comprehend complex instructions will help her in mechanical engineering, where she wants to build robots and cars. She also studies Kumon Mathematics nearly two years ahead of her school grade.

Krystal, Zoe’s mother, says she enrolled her daughter into Kumon to extend Zoe in her reading.

“Zoe started Kumon English in pre-primary. At that time, she was already ahead in her literacy; she could read a lot of difficult words and stories and books”, Krystal explains. “However, [her school teacher] found out her comprehension and literacy level had a clear gap. Zoe didn’t understand what she’s reading at that time, so they suggested to improve her comprehension”.

“Then, I did some research and I found Kumon English is a good way to help her to increase her comprehension. So, that’s the reason I enrolled her”.

Krystal says that beyond strong reading comprehension, Kumon will have many benefits for Zoe later in life.

“I think Kumon gives Zoe a lot of a practice in managing her time, and in being more disciplined. This is a worksheet programme you do at your own pace, on a daily basis”, Krystal says. “She has schoolwork, outside of school activity and school, so she does need to manage her time and be more organised in her daily life”.

“It also gives her a lot of confidence and I think it’s a really good foundation to prep her for high school. If she has these foundations and confidence, it will help make the move to high school a bit easier”.

New edition of ‘Potential’ magazine out now!

For our second edition of Potential for 2021, we discuss how Kumon develops self-learning and how this ability will help students to navigate a rapidly changing future.

We hope you enjoy reading!

Passion and great support help Berry’s Kumon centre thrive

Berry Zhu is the proud franchisee of Kumon Gladesville Education Centre in NSW. She took over from the previous franchisee in 2019. Her own child was attending Kumon there at the time.

“[When I enrolled my child] I was amazed by how well the Kumon worksheets were designed; how systematic it was,” Berry says. “Later on, the centre’s former franchisee decided to retire. She asked me whether I would like to take the opportunity. I said, ‘Yes.’”

Berry says she received great support from the Kumon Sydney Office in giving Kumon Gladesville what she describes as, “a complete makeover.”

When asked how she has found her new role as a Kumon franchisee, Berry says, “It is demanding and it involves lots of details.”

But for Berry all the hard work is worth it when she sees her students make progress.

“I keep seeing the progress of the students and their amazing improvements,” Berry says. “The feedback I receive from parents is also very rewarding.”

Kumon is looking for franchisees to open new or takeover existing Kumon centres at various locations across Australia and New Zealand. If you are interested in one of our franchise opportunities, please register for an Information Meeting.

Beyond mathematics and English: the full benefits of Kumon

Sometimes the purpose of tuition is to help a student catch up. Many families initially seek the support of Kumon Mathematics and English for this reason.

But Kumon goes beyond tuition. We empower students to learn for themselves, rather than preparing for a particular test or assessment. Kumon students work towards building self-learning ability, meaning they will not be dependent on the skills and knowledge of others.

Key to this empowerment is advanced study, whereby Kumon students self-learn mathematics and English concepts far ahead of their school grade. Advanced study is more than knowledge acquisition. Toru Kumon, the late founder of Kumon, believed when students self-learn ahead of school grade, their character also grows. Confidence and discipline were specific character traits Toru Kumon saw thousands of students develop during his lifetime.

“Go to any Kumon centre and you can see examples of children developing as people as they develop their academic ability,” Toru Kumon once said.

Research, published in the American Educational Research Journal, backs up Toru Kumon’s belief in the link between academic ability and student’s character development. This study sampled more than 200 students in Years 2, 4, 6 and 8, and found that success in school was linked to children’s growth in positive character traits.

“With success in academic tasks in the school comes positive personality characteristics; with failure comes lower levels of regard for self and abilities,” the researchers conclude. “The relationships become stronger and more powerful as the success or failure becomes prolonged and as a consistent pattern of accomplishments emerges.”

Tan, 17 years old and a completer of the Kumon Mathematics and English programmes, says the personal development he acquired through Kumon is its most valuable aspect.

“I believe the greatest benefits of Kumon is the way it fosters characteristics such as perseverance and discipline,” Tan says. “Kumon helped me develop key characteristics that will enable me to further develop myself professionally and as a person.”

Both Kumon Mathematics and English support students to develop a daily study habit and to use self-learning to overcome challenges in their worksheets. As students build their daily study habit, they develop discipline, and as students overcome challenges using self-learning, they grow in confidence.

To learn more about the positive impacts of Kumon on the lives of our students, visit our YouTube channel.

Should you wish to enrol, please contact your nearest Kumon centre: https://www.kumonsearch.com.au/

With Kumon’s support, Oshi is ready for her Maths Olympiad

Oshi, 13 years and in Year 8 high school, has her third Maths Olympiad competition coming up. She feels prepared for this challenge because of her advanced study of Kumon Mathematics.

Oshi said studying the equivalent of Year 10 level mathematics at Kumon helped her greatly in her first two Maths Olympiads.

The Australian Maths Olympiad is a five stage Olympiad-level maths contest comprising of five questions each test and is conducted under school supervision. Around 200 of the highest achieving students from across Australia and New Zealand are invited to participate each year.

Oshi says Kumon allowed her to memorise multiple methods for solving complex problems.

“When the questions are hard, you do have to analyse them,” Oshi says. “Having mathematical formulas in the back of my head helps me perform this analysis more quickly.”

This will also help in her upcoming third Maths Olympiad, Oshi says.

“But I’m still nervous for the third one because they do get harder as they go, but I’m also excited,” she says. “It helps knowing if a formula question comes up, I don’t have to worry about not understanding it.”

Oshi hopes to become a doctor when she grows up. She says having a strong understanding of mathematics will help her in her career and throughout life.

“For any job that I have, I’ll have to use maths at some point,” Oshi says. “So, knowing how to complete equations easily, without having to look them up or use a calculator, will be very useful.”

Pivi, Oshi’s father, said says he enrolled Oshi into Kumon after trying a few tutoring options that didn’t work well for her. But Kumon develops self-learning, the ability to take in information, process, retain and understand it, without having to rely on being taught every new topic or concept. Pivi says this has been highly beneficial for Oshi.

“If she does not get the answer right in her worksheets, she tries to find the error,” Pivi explains. “Then she knows where she went wrong and she corrects those mistakes by herself. That’s a great achievement by her.”

Should families wish to learn more about how the Kumon Mathematics and English programmes could benefit your child, please visit our website: https://www.kumonsearch.com.au/

A love of working with children led Shilpa to become a Kumon franchisee

With two years’ experience, Shilpa Shetty is the franchisee of Kumon Upper Coomera Education Centre on the Gold Coast, Queensland.

Shilpa opened Kumon Upper Coomera as a brand-new centre. Initially, she was searching for a Kumon centre for her son to attend, however, there were none in her area. This motivated her to take the next step.

The Kumon Brisbane office was also looking for a franchisee to open a centre in Upper Coomera and having been selected as the successful applicant, the rest is history.

“It occurred to me that, ‘Why shouldn’t I do this?’” Shilpa says. “I love working with kids.”

Shilpa says it is a highly rewarding role being a Kumon franchisee. It taps into her passion for working with children and nurturing their academic abilities.

“The main thing that motivates me is to help as many children as I can to think for themselves through self-learning,” Shilpa says. “With self-learning, children can attempt anything that’s challenging, whether it be in school or in life, without being scared to attempt it.”

It is through Shilpa’s hard work and ongoing communication with students and parents that she is now seeing the fruits of her efforts.

She offers the following advice for those considering becoming a franchisee.

“I think the most important thing is communication. As a franchisee, make sure you communicate with your customers not only when your students enrol, but throughout the child’s entire journey,” Shilpa says.

She says she also received great support from Kumon Brisbane while establishing her new business.

“I’m a year and a half into it, but I still have a lot of support from my Field Development Consultant and the Kumon branch office,” Shilpa says. “They’re constantly supporting and really do assist every step of the way, as much as they possibly can.”

Kumon is looking for franchisees open new or takeover existing Kumon centres in various locations across Australia and New Zealand. If you are interested in one of our franchise opportunities, please register for an Information Meeting.