Preparing your tutoring business for the new school year

Preparing your tutoring business for the new school year

The new school year is the stretch from mid-August to late September when a private tutor rebuilds a weekly schedule and confirms which students are coming back. Families decide fast, often before the first day of class. Prep done in August puts you ahead of the tutors who wait until the last minute.

In France, the Ministry of Education sets the student return date for early September, split across three regional zones. Requests for tutoring cluster in the three weeks around it, then a second wave arrives after the first round of report cards.

Reconfirm last year's students

A student who worked with you last year does not automatically come back. A message sent in mid-August saves you from finding out in September that a slot you counted on is empty.

For each returning student, write down three things:

• The subject and level for the coming year. Moving up a grade changes the syllabus and often the rate.
• The pace they want: one session a week, two, or occasional help before tests.
• The slot: keep Tuesday at 5 pm, or does it need to move?

A family that gets a clear message in August books the slot. The same family, hearing nothing, calls another tutor in September.

A simple table of confirmed returns tells you at a glance how many hours are already sold and how many slots are still open. It is also the moment to update your student records: contact details, school, who pays for the lessons.

Fill the schedule before the rush

Private lessons pile up in the late afternoon and on weekends. A solo tutor really has fifteen to twenty sellable hours a week: Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 5 to 8 pm, Wednesday afternoon, Saturday morning.

Place the confirmed returns first, then open the remaining slots to new requests. A scheduling tool that handles recurring lessons saves you from retyping the same weekly appointment and flags clashes before they happen.

Plan for the autumn break

The first gap in the schedule comes quickly, at the autumn half-term break in late October. Decide at the start of the year whether you keep, pause or move those sessions, and tell families early. It heads off a batch of grouped cancellations six weeks later.

Update your rates

The start of the year is when a rate increase lands most easily: everyone expects things to change. If you raise your price, say so in the return message, not at the first lesson.

A few concrete markers:

• A rise of 2 to 3 € on a 25 € hourly rate is accepted well when it is announced ahead of time.
• A student entering high school justifies a higher rate than at middle school.
• If you offer the tax credit, remind families that their real cost is halved. See our article on the instant tax-credit advance.

Get the admin ready

A declared activity needs a bit of order before lessons restart. Check three things:

1. Your revenue declarations to URSSAF are up to date and your status is in order.
2. Your invoice and tax-attestation templates are ready for the first sessions.
3. Your payment tracking starts clean for the new year.

A student management tool that links scheduling, invoicing and payments gives back the hours the new term usually eats in re-entry.

A back-to-school checklist

• Mid-August: message every student from last year, confirm subject, pace and slot.
• Late August: lock in the schedule of returning students, open the free slots.
• First week: welcome new students, decide what happens over the autumn break.
• September: send the first invoices, check that payments come in.

A school year prepared in advance means a full schedule by mid-September, while others are still looking for students.

Sources

• School calendar, French Ministry of Education
• Secondary school, service-public.fr
• URSSAF Auto-Entrepreneur
• The instant tax-credit advance, URSSAF