Would you make a good Tuition Centre Principal?

This year MagiKats is really going from strength to strength and it’s wonderful to see so many new centres opening across the country. We’re also lucky enough to have attracted some very talented Principals, both taking on new franchises of their own or taking over the reins of some of our more established centres. And that begs the question: what skills and experience do you need to be a successful Principal and what is it that inspires them to take up the position? 

The answer to that is never straightforward. There are many elements to making a Tuition Centre a success – and these are often not what you’d assume. But there do seem to be certain common factors amongst many of our Principals, both old and new.

A professional or business background

Khalid Mahmood is the new Principal of the Sonning Common MagiKats centre and is no stranger to either education or how to run a business.

In his former career, Khalid was an accountant and he also has a master’s degree in business administration (MBA). A lot of our Principals have either a professional or business background meaning they understand how a business functions and what is required to make it a success.

Sam Khan is another example. She is the new principal of our Glasgow tuition centre and like Khalid, Sam has a BA Hons in Business Law and Finance and an MSc in Marketing.

However (and as with both Khalid and Sam), our Principals are also often tired of the corporate rat race and want to do something more meaningful and which isn’t all about driving profit into the pockets of others.

Even then, it’s not all about corporate - around half our Principals are teachers looking for a change!

An interest in the community and in education

Khalid is also a proactive member of the board of trustees at the Abu Bakr Islamic centre which provides community services and runs a supplementary school. Khalid has supervised the supplementary school including the day to day running, design and development of the curriculum.

Sam also has considerable educational experience. With three children of her own, Sam has been actively involved in education by teaching and consolidating school work received by her children and those of family and friends, preparing them well in advance for their admission exams for private education.

This is something both Principals have in common with a lot of our Principals, namely a strong sense of community and some understanding of education. Being a qualified teacher is an obvious advantage, but hat’s not to say our Principals have to be teachers…because they don’t. We provide all the materials they’ll need. It’s just that we often find a Principal’s interest in education has been piqued due to some sort of involvement in education– even if that’s just a case of steering their own children through the system!

Giving back

Nearly all our Principals have a strong sense of wanting to give back to or support their community and Khalid sums up his driving motivation when he explains,

“I’ve always wanted to run my own business but at the same time, I want to serve my local community. And I wanted to ensure that the support I provide is of the best possible standard.

MagiKats ticked all the boxes for me.”

An interest in helping children is a must!

Of course, many of our Principals are either parents, grandparents or have a history of working with children! Both Khalid and Sam have children and strong ties to the community. Sam is born and bred in the West End of Glasgow while Khalid has lived and worked in Reading for 18 years and is also a father of three. He’s been through the process of finding good private tuition for his own son.

Sam explains why she thinks helping local children is so important,

“The great thing about MagiKats is that children who may be struggling in certain areas will get the help and support that they need in order to flourish and improve with their learning. But children who have a particular skill or talent are stretched and challenged to ensure that they also reach their full potential.”

Do you have the right skills?

The above are just some of the factors that inspire our Principals and help them to run a successful Tuition Centre. But there is no prerequisite list of the skills you need to be a MagiKats Principal and whatever your background and experience, if you’re interested, please give us a call or come to one of our Information Days to find out whether it’s right for you.

As a family owned franchise, at MagiKats we want to be absolutely sure we get the right people for the job because we want you to be a success. We can discuss whether you have the right skills, provide any necessary training and we are always there when you need us to support and advise you.