A Short History
MagiKats Directors, Sarah Marsh and Emma Lomas
A Family Run Maths and English Tuition Business
MagiKats was officially launched in 2005, but the family behind the programme have, literally, grown up in education together.
Originally started by husband and wife team, Jan and Rick, their daughters joined them in the early 2000s and now Sarah and Emma run the business.
The content for our tutoring programmes has been developed over the past 30 years and has been used to support children’s learning across the world.
Across the UK, franchisees run our nationwide network of tuition centres, united by shared values that empower students to become confident, independent learners.
Reaching more children through franchising
Development of the MagiKats forerunner, Mathamagic, started in early 2004. It was originally intended to be used personally and locally in the UK, to give children help at the times when they especially need support - such as directly before end of year school exams, or entrance tests for selective schools.
It quickly became apparent that there was a need for a programme that directly supported children in the challenges posed by the UK's National Curriculum every day at school, not just at test time. Every child has different needs and so development moved towards devising a programme that would be capable of as much variation as the students that it sought to support.
Today, the MagiKats programme is a comprehensive system, providing materials to help students aged up to 16 to master English and Maths. It’s delivered via small group tuition workshops by our franchise network, either in-person or online, encouraging thousands of students each year to develop a love of learning that supports their education at school.
MagiKats also launched in Australia in 2006, developing a small but successful network of Tuition Centres, some of which are still operating today. More recently, however, the opportunity to use our materials has been opened up to more independent tutors and tutoring companies under the brand Study Central, ensuring that more kids than ever can benefit from receiving support from the MagiKats programme.
Having worked in education for decades, Jan founded the programme and quickly brought Rick on board for technical support. Rick created the KATS system, which today underpins the activity in all our Tuition Centres and across our other business operations.
Sarah and Emma joined the family business in their early 20s and are now running the company, along with a small team which includes designers, marketers and admin support.
Our Philosophy
Our educational philosophy
Children, especially teenagers, who want help with their school work want that help NOW.
They want topics being covered at school to become more accessible immediately.
At the same time, they are likely to have gaps in core skills that need to be filled.
We provide a two strand system – one to give an immediate boost and one to provide steady consolidation.
Every student is an individual, so has a programme that is built just for them – no two programmes will ever be the same!
Students receive help from Day One with curriculum topics (addressing the student’s need to feel they are receiving support with school work) and practise their core skills independently (addressing the need to fill any gaps in previous learning).
Our business philosophy
Our main priority is to support existing franchisees as they develop their Tuition Centres.
Our second priority is to promote the franchise so it expands into new areas.
To ensure we achieve both priorities, our rate of expansion is strictly limited.
Any existing franchisee with plans for growth is actively supported and priority always given for new territories.
Our Programme
Information about our programme can be found on the MagiKats website.
Our programme is supported by our computer system, 'KATS'. It is a classroom management tool that is used exclusively by our MagiKats Principals and, sometimes, their staff. Its functions include classroom management tools and reports that can be used to provide feedback to parents; however its key function is the preparation of the core work programmes for each student.