How I support families
I support families by bringing learning back to life, using purposeful play, imagination, and rich hands-on experiences that capture children’s attention, build real skills, and spark motivation in the ways their brains are designed to learn best. Each session is closely linked to what your child is learning at school, allowing play-based tutoring to reinforce and extend their classroom learning.
And while play-based tutoring creates remarkable growth on its own, we see exceptional progress when it’s paired with collaboration and advocacy. Our direct communication with your child's classroom teacher across a full term equips your child’s teacher with a clear understanding of what your child needs to thrive across their academic, social, and emotional world.
That’s why our Tutoring Plus+ Program is one of a kind. Families receive both the tutoring that helps their child engage and grow and the coordinated support that turns those gains into lasting success at school.
Play-Based Tutoring
This 1:1 session is powered by play-based learning: the approach that helps children relax, open up, and genuinely enjoy learning again.
✔️ 1:1 play-based tutoring sessions. 1 hour.
✔️ Aligned with classroom learning
✔️ Homework help
✔️ Inspired by your child’s interests
✔️ Led by Mrs Siegel, experienced teacher with a Masters in Teaching
Tutoring Plus+
A comprehensive package pairing weekly play-based tutoring with direct collaboration with your child’s classroom teacher.
✔️ 1:1 play-based tutoring sessions. 1 hour.
✔️ Direct collaboration with your child’s teacher. Weekly communication handled for you. No more waiting months for updates
✔️ Homework help
✔️ Weekly parent communication: phone calls and email
✔️ Led by Mrs Siegel, experienced teacher with a Masters in Teaching
Classroom Advocacy
A full-term advocacy program where I work directly with you and your child’s teacher.
✔️ Weekly communication with your family and your child’s classroom teacher
✔️ Classroom adjustments recommended, trialled, and refined over the course of a full-term
✔️ A clear, shared plan between home and school
✔️ Led by Mrs Siegel, experienced teacher with a Masters in Teaching
Why play-based learning?
Play-based learning is learning that feels like play, yet sits on decades of research showing that children thrive when learning matches the way their developing brains are wired: to move, explore, imagine, and make meaning through hands-on experience.
When learning feels like play, motivation rises, stress falls, and the brain forms strong, long-lasting connections that make new skills stick. This is why we teach the way children learn, so the gains reach far beyond the session.
Book or enquire
Due to the direct dedication I give each family, I only accept a few every term. As a starting point, kindly submit this form.
My name is Katrina Siegel
I’m an Advocacy Coach, Private Tutor, and mother of three, with a Masters in Teaching and a Bachelor of Communications.
I spent over a decade working in schools, both as a classroom teacher and a Learning Support Officer supporting children one-on-one, where I was trained extensively in play-based learning and saw firsthand its extraordinary impact.
Across those years, one pattern became unmistakable: progress begins with connection, and it deepens when the environment shifts to meet the child. Whether I was teaching whole classes or supporting individual learners, the greatest breakthroughs came when we understood how a child learns, not just what they struggle with.
That insight shapes everything I do now. I believe the real transformation happens when a child is genuinely seen. When their strengths, interests, and potential are recognised and nurtured rather than managed. My work is built on that belief and it guides how I support families, collaborate with teachers, and help children thrive.
TESTIMONIALS
"Before Katrina, I felt like I was constantly second-guessing myself and wondering if I was being too much or not enough.
She helped me understand my child's needs in a new way and gave me the confidence to advocate without guilt. For the first time, the classroom feels like a place where my child is understood. The relief of not carrying it all alone has been enormous.”
Parent of a Year 3 student
“I collaborated with Katrina to make small changes with approaches I could realistically implement. They had a huge impact. I feel like I have a better relationship with that child now and I’m seeing progress that I really never thought I would”
Stage 2 Classroom Teacher
“I’ve referred many families to Katrina because her work bridges the gap between diagnosis and daily school life. She advocates with insight, empathy, and practicality, helping both parents and teachers shift their lens, adjust the environment, and build real connection around the child. She brings systems-thinking with a profoundly human touch.”
Psychologist
Our Mission
At the heart of our work is a deep belief that no child should grow up believing they’re ‘bad at school' simply because the system was designed before we understood how children learn best. We care fiercely about stopping that belief before it takes hold. In our Tutoring Plus+ Program, we give teachers tools and anchors to notice your child, and to reflect on small moments of growth, effort, or connection. That act alone changes how teachers follow through. Not because someone told them to, but because they’ve seen something worth continuing. We’ll unpack your child's learning environment, decode what might be underneath their behaviour, and explore gentle, practical steps forward both in the classroom and at home. Whether a child isn’t thriving because of an unsupported diagnosis, a different learning style (visual, creative, emotional), because they’re gifted and feeling unchallenged or misunderstood, or if it's a quieter kind of struggle, growth is strongest when support exists in both the learning space and the classroom. That’s the purpose of our play-based tutoring and our Tutoring Plus+ Program: together they create a complete circle of support. That means thoughtful changes in how teachers communicate, how the classroom is designed to support learning and how parents are supported to respond with insight, structure, and compassion at home. Sometimes it’s a small tweak; sometimes it’s a new approach. But always, it’s about creating conditions where the child can show us what they’re capable of.