Online specialised tuition and coaching for children and teenagers in Hong Kong.
One to one online sessions for children and teenagers aged 7 to 18, focused on confidence, friendships and managing a demanding school week, with tuition available where it is needed.
Room to breathe in a busy school week.
- London Teacher of the Year Award 2021
- BSc Psychology (Hons) and Qualified Teacher Status
- 10+ years with children in the UK and internationally
- One to one online sessions, ages 7 to 18
A lot of children here are managing a full and fast week: school, then activities, then homework that stretches into the evening. When something starts to slip, it often shows up as a child who is either flat or suddenly furious, rather than as a child who says they are struggling.
Coaching gives them one hour that is not being marked. Ruby and your child use it to work out what is actually taking the most out of them, and what they can change, whether that is how they plan their week or how they handle a friendship that has gone quiet.
It runs alongside Ruby's wider work with international and expat families, all online from the UK.
At a glance
- Main service
- One-to-one online coaching for children and teenagers
- Ages
- Coaching for ages 7 to 18. Tuition for ages 7 to 13
- Areas of support
- Friendships, social confidence, emotional regulation, executive functioning, organisation, school transitions and independence
- SEN and neurodiversity
- Psychology-informed support adapted for autistic children, children with ADHD and children with other additional needs
- Tuition
- British curriculum tuition, academic confidence, 7+, 9+ and 11+ preparation can be incorporated where appropriate
- Format
- Individual online sessions tailored around the child’s strengths, needs and goals
- Availability
- Online sessions arranged around Hong Kong after-school hours.
- Practitioner
- Ruby Cole, qualified teacher, BSc Psychology (Hons), former Assistant Psychologist and London Teacher of the Year 2021
- Scope
- Education-led, psychology-informed coaching. This is not therapy, counselling, psychological assessment or clinical treatment
The pressures children here often describe
Children who move between here, the UK and other postings can end up doing the settling-in task repeatedly, each time in a school with different expectations. Some become very good at it on the surface while quietly deciding it is not worth getting too attached.
Others are managing a heavy workload and comparing themselves constantly with people around them. Ruby and your child spend time on what they can control, on what a realistic week looks like, and on separating a difficult piece of work from a judgement about themselves.
What Ruby and your child work towards
The focus is decided with your child, and it changes as things change. These are the kinds of shifts Ruby and your child work towards.
Social confidence, friendships and communication
Friendship changes are one of the most common reasons children arrive. Groups shift when people leave, and a child who was settled in September can be on the outside by January through nobody's fault.
Ruby and your child work on the practical parts, including how to rejoin, how to start a conversation with someone new, and how to tell the difference between a friendship that needs repairing and one that has run its course.
The friendships and social confidence programme goes into this in more detail.
Executive functioning, organisation and independence
With long days and tight evenings, planning matters more here than it might elsewhere. Ruby and your child look at how they actually uses their time rather than how a planner says they should, then build something simpler that they will keep using when nobody is watching.
For teenagers, that usually means working backwards from deadlines and getting comfortable with starting badly rather than not starting at all.
This draws on the organisation and independence coaching.
Emotional regulation, confidence and transitions
Confidence here is often tangled up with performance. A child can be doing perfectly well and still believe they are behind. Ruby and your child work on noticing that thought, checking it against what is actually true, and building a steadier sense of what they are good at that does not depend on the last result.
Where a family is preparing for another move, or for a child returning to the UK, sessions cover the practical worries as well as the feelings underneath them.
SEN and neurodivergent children
Support is available for autistic children, children with ADHD, and children whose reports mention working memory, processing or executive functioning differences. The aim is a workable day and a child who understands themselves better, not a child taught to hide how they are wired.
Where a family is between assessments or has not found local specialist provision, online sessions can offer experienced, education-led support in the meantime.
See SEN and neurodiversity-informed coaching for how sessions are adapted.
When academic support is needed too
Tuition can be added for ages 7 to 13, following the UK National Curriculum and supporting children in British, Cambridge and IB schools. It tends to be used for bridging gaps after a move, or steadying a subject that has become a source of dread.
Families looking ahead to UK school entry can read about 11+ and entrance exam preparation, including interviews.
Sessions across the time difference
Ruby works from the UK between roughly 9am and 6pm UK time. Hong Kong is seven hours ahead in British Summer Time and eight in winter, so after-school sessions here land in her morning. Weekday late afternoon and early evening slots are usually the easiest to hold week to week.
Everything is one to one over video call at a regular agreed time, with a written note to you afterwards.
Who this is for
- Children carrying a heavy school week and starting to flag
- Children whose friendship group has changed since term began
- Teenagers who leave everything until the last possible hour
- Children who move between here, the UK and other postings
- Neurodivergent children who need support that fits how they think
- Families considering a UK school application or a return move
About Ruby
Ruby Cole is a qualified teacher with Qualified Teacher Status and a BSc Psychology (Hons), and winner of the London Teacher of the Year Award 2021. She has more than 10 years of experience supporting children and young people in the UK and internationally, including specialist one to one teaching across mainstream, SEN and neurodivergent profiles.
She previously worked as an Assistant Psychologist within a children and young people's clinical psychology service, and has contributed to research with UCL and the Anna Freud Centre. That background is why the work is psychology-informed: sessions start from how a child is developing, what they are carrying and how they learn, rather than from a fixed programme. Ruby works closely with parents throughout, and with a child's school where the family would like her to.
What this is, and what it is not
Ruby offers education-led, psychology-informed coaching and support. This is not therapy, counselling, psychological assessment or clinical treatment. If a child's needs fall outside the scope of coaching, Ruby will always be open with the family and recommend appropriate professional support.
Questions families in Hong Kong ask
My child is doing well academically. Is coaching relevant?
Yes, and it often is. Plenty of children who are doing fine on paper are working far harder than they need to, or feeling far worse about it than the results suggest. Coaching looks at that gap.
Will sessions add to my child's workload?
No. There is no homework attached. Sometimes your child will choose one small thing to try before the next session, but it is chosen by them and kept realistic.
Can coaching help with pressure around exams?
It can help with how a child approaches work, how they recover from a poor result and how they plan their time. It is not exam tutoring, though tuition can be added separately if the subject knowledge is the issue.
What if my child does not want to talk?
That is common at the start, particularly with teenagers. Early sessions are often built around activities and low-pressure conversation, and Ruby is comfortable letting the talking build at your child's pace.
We may relocate to the UK. Can you help prepare for that?
Yes. Coaching can cover what changes, what stays the same and what to expect socially, and tuition can bridge curriculum differences before the move.
Is this therapy?
No. It is education-led, psychology-informed coaching. If Ruby thinks a child needs clinical support, she will say so and point you towards the right kind of professional.
Do you tutor children in Hong Kong's international and ESF schools?
Yes. Tuition supports children in ESF, British curriculum and other international schools in Hong Kong, and coaching works alongside any school system.
Where to start
If you are not sure whether coaching or tuition fits, that is what the first conversation is for. You can read more about coaching for children and teenagers, or go back to the international coaching page for the wider picture.
Talk it through with Ruby.
A free 15-minute discovery call, no pressure and no obligation.