After becoming disenchanted with the politics of working at a university, Anna Barry decided to take control of her future and open a tutoring business.

Moving from Auckland to Kerikeri in search of a more relaxed way of life, the mum of one says she now has a much more balanced lifestyle and time to spend by the sea with her partner and two-year-old daughter.

“I’ve always loved the water and used to go fishing and dig for clams when I was young,” says the American-born Barry.

“Now we have the time to take our daughter to the beach to marvel at the sea life while my partner Oti dives for kina and paua. We love it up here.”

At the start of July, Barry bought the license to set up a tutoring franchise in Kerikeri, called the Far North Hub, from established business Impact Tutoring.

She hasn’t looked back.

Barry currently employs five tutors and an administrator who help over thirty primary to high-school students with their literacy and numeracy, and her student base is growing quickly. The occasional adult pops into Far North Hub too if they need help with bridging courses and papers.

She says she got into education to make an impact on people’s lives, but her university job meant long hours researching and working on her own.

Mathematics is her passion, and she has a PhD in the subject. She says that everyone finds maths hard, but it doesn’t need to be with the right approach.

“I have a mission to support students to suffer less in maths. I want them to see that it’s not as scary as they think it is,” she says.

“I’ve been tutoring a young girl who was having some learning difficulties; she was nervous and had a lot of walls up as she didn’t feel like she could do it. Her mum got in touch with me after her first session to let me know that she had told her she felt really positive and heard. Lessons are all about little wins like that.”

Barry also says she tutored a student who was failing maths in year 10, who then went on to achieve with merit on her NCEA Level 2 maths exams.

“She’s now studying sports science at the University of Auckland. Before tutoring, university wasn't even a consideration for her.”

For years Barry played with the idea of starting her own tutoring business but didn’t know where to start.

After moving to Kerikeri, during the pandemic she reached out to Jean McKenzie, the owner of Impact Tutoring in Te Awamutu to see if she could offer some online tutoring.

“I had heard about the incredible work Jean was doing with the Mathematics For A Lifetime charity with kids and saw that she also had this tutoring business, so I started offering some online tutoring from home with her guidance,” says Barry.

“It was fantastic to get that personal connection with students and see their progress, but I felt there was a limit on the number of students I could help on my own.”

Thanks to some serendipitous timing, McKenzie had just decided to offer franchise opportunities for Impact Tutoring and was thrilled to talk to Barry about her plans.

“Anna had been tutoring online for me for five years and I knew she was she was eager to grow an amazing business and wanted to make a real impact in her community,” says McKenzie.

“She was the perfect fit for us.”

Northland consistently performs in the bottom two regions in the country for numeracy and literacy, so there’s a real opportunity to help children in these small, rural communities.”

After the conversation with McKenzie about opening a franchise in Kerikeri, Barry wanted to say yes on the spot.

 “But I did my due diligence, and everything more than stacked up.”

The support from Jean through the franchise has been invaluable in getting set up for success, says Barry.

“Jean is a phenomenal leader in the education sector and a sharp businesswoman. Her support on the softer skills side of business has been so helpful.

“Impact Tutoring has been established for 10 years and has a solid business model but most importantly to me, Jean and I have a really strong alignment of values.”

Barry has big plans for making waves in the surrounding rural communities up north.

She would love to set up an Impact Tutoring hub in Kaitaia. She’d also like to start offering home-schooling programmes to those who need them.

With the remoteness of some of the families living in parts of Northland, accessing educational support is a challenge.

The Kerikeri community has been so welcoming and supportive of Barry and her business.

“People have been excited to share what I’m doing and are helping me spread the word.”

“It really does take a village and I want to see kids up here have confidence in their numeracy and literacy, so they have a solid foundation for life.”