Booking a tutor

1. Find a tutor

Go to upmarktutoring.com/tutors. Filter by subject, grade, and whether you want lessons online or in person. Add your suburb if you want to see how far each tutor is from you — it’s optional.

What’s on a tutor’s card:

• A credential line — their matric marks in the subjects they teach where we have them, otherwise their degree, otherwise how many hours they’ve tutored. Marks are what the tutor told us. We check that every tutor has a matric certificate or a degree, but we don’t check those figures against it.
• Verified means we’ve checked their ID document. Separately, no tutor is listed at all until we’ve checked their ID and a matric certificate or degree. Neither involves a background check.
• Police clearance — asked for, not required. We show where each tutor stands, and most have not given us one, so this is yours to weigh up.
• Their rate, subjects, and whether they teach online or in person.

2. Create an account

Click Book and you’ll be asked to create an account first. If you’re a parent, choose “Parent — Book for my child”. It’s a click at the top of the page and it’s easy to miss. Pick it before you fill anything in — it changes what the form asks for.

You’ll give your own name and date of birth, then your child’s name, grade and date of birth, and consent for us to hold their information. You can use Continue with Google instead of a password; we’ll ask for your child’s details straight afterwards. We’ll email you a confirmation link — clicking it brings you back to the tutor you were booking.

3. Book the lesson

Three steps: choose a time from the tutor’s availability, tell us the subject and what you’d like covered, and pay. You can book a single lesson or the same slot every week.

Booking an in-person lesson? You’ll need a saved address on your child’s profile first. Without one we can’t work out the distance, so we won’t let the booking through. Add it in your profile settings and try again.

4. The attendance code

At the start of the lesson, the learner reads a code out to the tutor (if the learner has no login of their own, the code is on the parent’s screen). It appears on their screen when the lesson starts, under a button saying Show my code — it won’t be there before then. The tutor types it in on their side. That is how we know the lesson happened; the tutor is then paid when you confirm the lesson, or automatically 72 hours after it.

It takes five seconds and it’s easy to forget, which is why it’s worth knowing about beforehand. If nobody enters it, we release the payment 7 days after the lesson’s scheduled end unless you report a problem.

5. Your money

We hold your payment until after the lesson, then release it to the tutor. We hold it as the platform — it isn’t kept in a separate trust account. Our terms explain this in full.

Cancelling a one-on-one lesson

Free to cancel or move up to 24 hours before. Between 12 and 24 hours you still get a full refund, and we'll offer a reschedule first. Inside 12 hours you can move it free, or cancel for a 60% refund.

In other words: more than 24 hours’ notice is refunded in full. Between 12 and 24 hours is also refunded in full, and we’ll offer a reschedule first. Inside 12 hours, moving the lesson is still free; if you’d rather cancel, 60% is refunded and the tutor keeps 40%, because they kept the time free. If the lesson time passes and nobody attends or cancels, no refund is due. Exactly 24 hours and exactly 12 hours both count in your favour, and any travel fee is refunded in full whatever the notice.

Cancelling a group seat is not the same

Free to cancel up to 24 hours before the class. Between 12 and 24 hours you still get a full refund. Inside 12 hours you can cancel for a 60% refund.

A seat can’t be moved and no reschedule is offered — a group class has no reschedule. The three figures are the same; the options are not.

Something went wrong? You have 48 hours after the lesson to report a problem. We hold the payment while we look at it, and how that works is written out in full.

6. After the lesson

The tutor records what was covered and how your child got on, and you’ll find it on your dashboard. You’ll be asked for a review — it counts towards the tutor’s rating from the moment it’s posted, so yours genuinely helps. Booking the same tutor again is one tap, from the past lesson on your Lessons page or the tutor shortcut on your dashboard.

Group classes

Some tutors run group classes: one lesson, several students, priced per seat, taught by the same verified tutors. You can join one from the Group classes page, or ask a tutor to run one from their profile. A group class has a minimum number of students — if it doesn’t reach that number, the class is cancelled and everyone is refunded in full. Some group classes are free: booking a seat needs no payment, so there is nothing to refund.

Were you in a free group class without booking a seat? You can still confirm you were there and review it. Create a free account or log in, open the class's "Were you in this class?" page, and enter the attendance code your tutor reads out or shows during the class. You can do this from the start of the class until 7 days after it ends. The same age and parent rules as booking a seat apply. The tutor can remove anyone who wasn't there, which also removes their review.

Some group classes are held in person, at a public venue such as a library or a school, or at the tutor’s own home. The tutor arranges the venue and UpMark approves it before anyone can book an in-person seat. Before you book, the class shows the type of venue and the suburb, and a class at a tutor’s home says so and shows whether the tutor has added a police clearance. The full address is shared only once your in-person seat is confirmed.

Still stuck?

Email support@upmarktutoring.com. A person reads it.