We teach English literature because we know exactly what it asks.
Foci Education was built on a straightforward premise: English is not a subject that benefits from generalist teaching. Most tutoring centres offer every subject — which means English is taught by whoever is available, by someone whose attention is divided across a dozen disciplines, and whose understanding of the HSC rarely extends beyond the syllabus dot points.
We made a different choice. Every member of our team has studied English at university, worked with students in NSW schools, and sat — or marked — the HSC itself.
That combination of degree-level study, NSW classroom experience, and personal HSC performance produces teaching that is precise, specific, and grounded in how the subject actually works — not how it appears to work from the outside. The difference is felt in every session.
We do one thing. We understand what is at stake in it. That is the whole idea.
The answer is not the curriculum, the rank, nor is it even the results — though those matter. The answer is the way we teach. Anecdotal. Story-driven. Human-centred.
Our PrinciplesArgument is the method,
not the outcome
Most English tuition is built around writing practice and essay marking. At Foci, it begins earlier than that — in conversation. We believe a student who cannot yet articulate an argument aloud will not produce one in writing. Every session is structured around discussion: of texts, of ideas, of the thinking underneath the response. The essay is the record of a mind that has already done the work.
One subject,
taught at depth
Most centres teach everything. We teach one subject. That focus isn't a limitation — it's the whole point. When English is all you do, you stop teaching it generally and start teaching it precisely. Every resource, every method, every conversation at Foci exists because English asked for it. Breadth is not a virtue here. Depth is..
Taught by people who
know how it's marked
Understanding the HSC from the student's side is one thing. Understanding it from the examiner's chair is another. Our teaching staff includes an active NESA marker for English Advanced — someone who has sat with real scripts, applied the real criteria, and knows exactly what Band 6 looks like in practice. We don't teach to what we think the marker wants. We know.
A place worth
coming back to
Results matter. They are the reason most families find us, and they are the standard we hold ourselves to. But a student who feels seen, settled, and genuinely known learns differently from one who doesn't. We have thought carefully about what the centre feels like to walk into, who greets you, and what happens in the minutes before the session starts. That is not incidental to the work. It is part of it.
The people behind the teaching
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Emma Tang
Co-founder & Director
12 years experienceEmma has been teaching English since 2014. She holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Education (Secondary) from the University of New South Wales, and has taught across a number of Sydney’s most academically demanding high schools, including those that consistently rank Top 5 in NSW.
Recently and for the last few years, she has also worked as a HSC marker for English Standard and English Advanced with NESA. That credential matters more than it might appear. Marking the HSC — sitting with student responses and applying the criteria from the examiner’s side of the table — produces a different order of understanding than teaching alone. Emma knows what A-grade body of work actually reads like in a marked script. She teaches to that standard.
The thing Emma notices most in students arriving at Foci Education: they know what they want to argue, but not how to make the argument hold. That is the gap she closes.
Outside the classroom, Emma is into composting and has been known to cry at art exhibitions. Both, she insists, are signs of a healthy relationship with the world.
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David Truong
Co-Founder & Director
11 years experienceDavid has been working with students in English since 2015. He majored in English Literature at Western Sydney University, where he graduated in 2018, also as an alumnus of The Academy, the university’s selective programme for high-achieving students — with sub-majors in Sociology, Linguistics, and Education.
His teaching background is deliberately broad. He has worked with students from the diverse learning unit at Sir Joseph Banks High School, international EAL/D students at Chester Hill IEC, and refugee students through the Inclusions Program at Arthur Phillip High School — students who arrived at English from entirely different starting points, different languages, different schooling systems, different relationships with written expression. When a student cannot articulate what they mean, David knows precisely where the difficulty lives. That is not a skill most English tutors have.
He founded Foci Education in 2019 with a clear position: English teaching, done with the rigour it deserves, in an institution built around nothing else.
Outside the classroom, David goes on cafe runs and makes solo dinner reservations. He considers both a form of research.
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Cindy Xie
English Educator
Since 2026Cindy graduated from Fort Street High School in 2023 — as a Foci Education student. In her HSC, she scored 96 in English Advanced, 96 in English Extension 1, and 98 in English Extension 2. She is now completing a Bachelor of Commerce and Media at UNSW, with her Media specialisation focused on public relations, advertising, and journalism — all of it writing-intensive.
What Cindy brings to her students is something neither a university degree nor a teaching qualification can manufacture: the memory of sitting the HSC recently, knowing what it felt like when the framework clicked, and knowing precisely how to explain it to someone standing where she recently stood. Her Extension 2 score of 98 is not the point — the point is that she can account for every mark.
She knows the current prescribed texts. She knows the current marking criteria. And she knows what it takes to move from a Band 5 draft to a Band 6 response, because she did it herself, under exam conditions, not long ago.
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Jerry Situ
Client Engagement Coordinator
Since 2025Jerry joined Foci Education in 2025 as our Client Engagement Coordinator — the person whose job it is to make sure that what happens around the learning is looked after as carefully as the learning itself. He is completing a Bachelor of Business at UTS, majoring in Marketing, PR and Advertising, and manages client communications, accounts, and the marketing that brings families to Foci Education in the first place. Most tutoring centres do not have this role. We think that says something.
In practice, what Jerry does is straightforward: he knows every student’s name before they walk in, remembers what they’re working on, and has a way of making the centre feel like somewhere you want to be, not just somewhere you have to be. For a lot of students, that matters more than people expect. For a lot of parents, knowing there is a real person at the other end of a message — not a booking system, not a form — is what makes the difference.
Outside the centre, Jerry is into cars, music, and finding the best place to eat within a ten-kilometre radius. Students tend to clock him immediately — which, given that his job is to make them feel at home before the session starts, is exactly the point.
“David and Emma have become like family — guiding our four children with expertise, patience and genuine care. Their deep understanding and encouragement have made a lasting, meaningful impact. We’re truly grateful.”
— Koralis family,
Clients since 2020. Pictured on 28th of July, 2024 at our grand opening.
Let’s begin the conversation
If you have read this page and feel that Foci might be the right place for your child, we would like to hear from you. There is no enrolment step yet — just a conversation about what your student is working on and whether we are the right fit. We respond within one business day.