Meet Lauren Heaydon
G-day my name’s Lauren Heaydon and I am the founder and director of Heaydon Learning. My business started off as a very poor university student back in 2001. Whilst working at the local supermarket and strapped for cash I tried my hand at some private home tutoring. My Mum put a notice in the local primary school where my siblings attended. Within weeks I was making house calls in my 1988 Toyota Corolla, charging $15/hour and basically I thought I had no idea what I was doing but cash was good and I absolutely loved it.
From there my business just grew and grew. After graduating from the University of Sydney at the end of 2004 I took up my first permanent primary school position in the western suburbs of Sydney. I don’t think I realised what I was getting myself in for but realise now what an experience it was. I worked alongside some brilliant teachers particularly in the area of teaching children of a second language and special education. And it was in special education that I found my knack!
In 2006 I travelled the world teaching and travelling along the way. Somehow or other I ended up in the working class city of Manchester. This time I was a very poor backpacker! I tried my luck as a supply teacher in a variety of schools in Manchester. I was ready for anything. The western suburbs of Sydney had absolutely nothing on Manchester. I saw it all! Parents were being taken away in police paddy wagons within the school grounds, bad language, teachers quitting left right and centre, hysterical and violent students and paper aeroplanes or other objects being constantly pegged at my head.
Oh, how lucky we have it in Australia. On my return to Sydney it was time to work hard and pay back this debt I’d accumulated over the past 12 months. Casual teaching, bar work and tutoring were my three careers. I picked up many of my old tutoring jobs in my hometown area. However I could see a market in the Sutherland Shire bigger than no other.
Whilst teaching full time I started by business from scratch. I would work from 8am till 4pm and then head back to work (tutoring) most afternoons and then tutor Saturday morning. By this time I had upgraded my car and was doing home jobs all over the Sutherland Shire and St George area. No job was too small or too big! I’d also learnt along the way that you should never ever knock back work.
In 2009 I opened HEAYDON LEARNING in Gymea and I absolutely love it. It’s now mid 2010 and I have three contractors that work under me and I have just opened a second office in another Gymea location. All of my work comes from referrals and word of mouth.
I pride myself on being an honest, open and fair dinkum person. At times I offend people with my bluntness. However wouldn’t you prefer to hear the actual truth about your child, their progress and their development?
We cater for all student’s abilities and ages in Mathematics and English. No one person is treated as the same as anyone else. I assess your child and provide programs that are specific to your child’s needs. Monitoring, advice and parent mentoring is what I do best
Lauren Heaydon
