6 min read · Updated 2026-10-18
In short
After every lesson, write three things: a short note for the centre, a plain update for the family that names the skill, a strength and the next step, and homework due at the next lesson. Draft them from the lesson's own record so nothing is typed twice, and never send a figure the record does not hold.
It is 7.05 pm. The tutor has just finished their fourth lesson in a row, the next student is already at the door, and three parents are waiting to hear how tonight went. So the notes get written at 10 pm from memory, or not at all, and the parent who pays for the term hears nothing until the end of it. The parent is not being difficult when they ring to ask what their child is actually doing. They just have no other way to find out.
The lesson wrap-up is the five minutes that fixes this. Done well, it gives the centre a record, the family a reason to stay, and the student a clear task for the week. Done badly, or skipped, it is the first thing a family mentions when they leave.
Three things, written once
- A note for the centre: what was covered, where the student struggled, anything the next tutor needs to know. Staff only.
- An update for the family: the skill, one strength, one thing to work on, and what happens next. Written to be read on a phone.
- Homework, due at the next lesson: a clear task, how it will be judged, and whether the student may use help.
Keep the two notes apart. The staff note can say "lost confidence after the second error, needs fractions revisited before Year 8 algebra". The family update says the same thing kindly: "we worked on equations tonight, and next week we will strengthen fractions so the algebra feels easier". Mixing them either makes the family note clinical or puts something private in front of a parent. Our article on parent communication covers the tone families respond to.
Draft from the record, not from memory
Most of what a wrap-up needs is already known: the student, the date, the subject, last week's homework, who was there. The tutor should only have to add what only they know, in a few words. Retyping the rest is where the five minutes become twenty, and where mistakes creep in.
In XTutio the tutor opens Wrap up this lesson, jots or dictates a few words and taps Draft. The draft fills in the notes, the family update and the homework with its criteria, from what the portal already knows about the lesson, and the tutor edits it and taps Save once. That one save writes the centre's notes, puts the update on the family's lesson page, and sets the homework due at the student's next lesson. Before the draft is written, students' and parents' names are replaced with placeholders, and the names go back in only for the tutor.
- Jot
A few words only the tutor knows: what clicked, what did not.
- Draft
Notes, family update and homework drafted from the lesson's record.
- Check
Any sentence with a figure the record does not hold is taken out.
- Edit
The tutor reads it and changes anything that is not right.
- Save once
Notes saved, update on the family's page, homework due next lesson.
The number check
A parent remembers numbers. Tell them their child scored eight out of ten on a quiz and they will repeat it to the other parent, the grandparents and the school. If the figure is wrong, the centre loses trust it took a term to build. So the rule is simple: no figure goes to a family unless it is in the record. When the XTutio draft contains a number that is not in the lesson's record or the tutor's own words, the sentence holding it is removed before the tutor even sees the draft, and the family update also passes a safety check.
Homework that can be marked fairly
Homework without criteria is homework nobody can mark consistently. Two to four short criteria ("shows each step", "checks the answer by substitution") tell the student what good looks like and let any tutor mark it the same way. Decide too whether the student may use help, because work done alone tells you something different from work done with support.
- Due at the next lesson, so it is checked while the topic is fresh
- Two to four criteria the student can read
- Whether help is allowed, stated on the task
- Whether the student hands work in, or brings it to the lesson
- Marked by a person, with the result visible to the family
Homework that takes a submission is marked on the tutor's Homework page. An AI first pass can suggest marks against the criteria, quoting the student's own words as evidence; a quote that is not actually in the work is cleared, and the draft never reaches the student or the family. The tutor marks it, and families see the status on their own homework page. Work done with no help and marked by a person is counted separately, so a parent can see what their child can do on their own.
Lessons that live in Teachworks
A centre still running its timetable in Teachworks sees those lessons in the portal, read only. They do not have a wrap-up yet, so for those students the tutor sets homework from the Homework page instead. Our checklist for moving off Teachworks covers running both side by side.
Wrap-ups work for lessons at the centre, at home and in the online classroom. Parents read the update and homework in the family app, alongside the lesson itself. Drafting uses your centre's AI connection, and AI requests may be processed outside Australia.
Questions centres ask
- What should a tutor write to parents after a lesson?
- Name the skill covered, one strength, one thing to work on and what happens next. Keep it short enough to read on a phone, and leave anything sensitive for the staff-only note.
- Can AI write lesson notes for tutors?
- It can draft them, but a person should always read and save them. In XTutio the draft comes from the lesson's record with names replaced first, any sentence with a figure the record does not hold is removed, and the tutor edits before saving.
- When should homework be due?
- At the student's next lesson, so the tutor checks it while the topic is fresh. XTutio sets that due date automatically, or a week out when no next lesson is booked.
