Mathematical Methods, General and Specialist Maths, English, Chemistry, Physics and Biology for VCE students living in Dubai, taught to the current VCAA study designs. Live online from Melbourne, in Dubai time.
Start the free Skills Check → ✉️ info@rhztutoring.com.au 📞 +61 3 9509 3293
Australian families in Dubai most often come to us for VCE, because it is the subject where curriculum differences show up fastest. Here is how our online VCE tutoring (Units 1–4) works from Dubai: the teaching approach, the curriculum topics, local session times, A$ pricing and answers to common questions.
Dubai has one of the largest Australian expatriate communities outside the English-speaking world, spread across Jumeirah, Dubai Marina, Arabian Ranches and the Springs, and most families are on two- to five-year contracts in aviation, construction, finance, hospitality or education.
VCE is the Victorian Certificate of Education, and it is administered by the VCAA for students enrolled at a registered VCE provider: a Victorian school, Virtual School Victoria or one of a small number of overseas schools that offer the VCE. RHZ Tutoring is not a VCE provider and cannot enrol a student in the VCE. What we do, for families overseas, is the same thing we do for families in Melbourne's west: tutor the subject, week in and week out, so the student walks into each SAC and the end-of-year examination prepared.
The most common overseas VCE arrangements we see are a student enrolled with Virtual School Victoria while living abroad, a student at an overseas school that offers the VCE, and a Year 10 student who is returning to Victoria next year and wants to start Units 1 and 2 preparation early. In each case the tutor works from the current VCAA study design for the subject, uses past VCAA examinations and examiner reports, and reports to you after every session.
We tutor Mathematical Methods, General Mathematics, Specialist Mathematics, English, Chemistry, Physics and Biology at Units 1 to 4. For the maths subjects that includes CAS technique on the TI-Nspire and Casio ClassPad and building the bound reference across the year; for English it means weekly timed writing marked against the VCAA criteria; for the sciences it means calculation drills, exam-style explanations and preparation for the Unit 4 investigation.
Because there is no cohort around an overseas VCE student, we deliberately add what a Victorian school provides for free: a timeline of SAC dates and exam dates, timed practice from mid-year in Unit 3, and frank feedback about where the marks are being lost. Sessions run one-to-one or in small online groups of two to four at the same unit level, which is often the only way a student overseas can find peers doing the same subject.
Start the free Skills Check → Book a free video consultation Email info@rhztutoring.com.au
Keeping pace with Australian year levels is the first thing Dubai families ask about. International curricula are excellent but they are not the Australian one: topics come in a different order, algebra starts earlier or later, and the persuasive and analytical writing that Australian schools assess from Year 3 is often not taught at all. Our tutors are Victorian-curriculum trained and plan every session from the Australian year level your child will step back into.
The second reason is the return. A family that comes back to Australia for Year 9 or Year 10 is walking into the run-up to VCE in Victoria or the HSC in New South Wales, and a family aiming at a selective-entry school (the Victorian selective-entry exam is sat in Year 8; New South Wales tests in Year 6) needs a child who is a year ahead, not a year behind. We prepare overseas students for all of that from Dubai, including scholarship and selective-entry preparation on the same timeline as our Melbourne students.
Third: there is no NAPLAN in Dubai. Australian children sit NAPLAN in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9, and overseas families lose that benchmark completely. The free Skills Check is the closest thing to it: an online diagnostic pitched at the top of the Australian year level, built on a bank of 5,900 questions from Prep to Year 12, with a topic-by-topic report the same day. Most overseas families use it annually and before any return.
Dubai parents tell us the same thing: the school is excellent, but it is a British or IB school, and nobody there is thinking about what Year 9 back in Melbourne or Sydney will expect.
Dubai families we tutor use international schools including Dubai College, Jumeirah College, GEMS Wellington International School and Dubai British School. None of these runs an Australian program, which is precisely why weekly Australian-curriculum tutoring matters for a family that intends to come home.
A 9pm session in Melbourne is 3pm in Dubai (2pm once Melbourne moves to daylight saving), because Dubai is 6 hours behind Melbourne while Melbourne is on AEST and 7 hours behind Melbourne on AEDT. Dubai is on Gulf Standard Time, UTC+4. Melbourne is on AEST (UTC+10) until 3 October 2026 and AEDT (UTC+11) from 4 October 2026 to the first Sunday in April. The slots below are the ones Dubai families most often book, with the child's local time in both Melbourne seasons.
| Melbourne slot | Dubai time (Melbourne on AEST) | Dubai time (Melbourne on AEDT) |
|---|---|---|
| Weekday 2pm (Melbourne) | 8am | 7am |
| Weekday 9pm (Melbourne) | 3pm | 2pm |
| Weekday 10pm (Melbourne) | 4pm | 3pm |
| Saturday 3pm (Melbourne) | 9am | 8am |
Because Dubai is well behind Melbourne, weekday sessions fall in the Melbourne evening; weekend-morning slots (Melbourne afternoon) are popular with Dubai families. Tell us the days and times that suit your child and we will match a tutor to them.
The Skills Check is free, online, and works from Dubai exactly as it does from Truganina. Your child does 10 to 15 minutes of questions pitched at the top of their Australian year level, drawn from a 5,900-question bank covering Prep to Year 12, and you receive a topic-by-topic report the same day. A tutor then calls or video-calls you for a free consultation to walk through it. Families overseas repeat it every year as their substitute for NAPLAN and once more before any move home.
There is no card and no commitment. If the result shows your child is on track, we will say so; if it shows a gap, we will tell you exactly which topics and suggest a plan.
One-to-one online tutoring is A$35–A$45 an hour by year level; small online groups of up to four are from A$25 an hour. Prices are the same as for families in Melbourne; there is no international surcharge. Plans are monthly, you choose the number of sessions a week, and you can pause or cancel any time, which matters for families in Dubai who travel over the northern summer.
Payment is in Australian dollars and international Visa, Mastercard and American Express cards are accepted; your bank converts at its own rate. The Skills Check and the consultation are free.
Our Australian-curriculum practice papers are sold as instant PDF downloads and work anywhere in the world: buy from Dubai, print at home, and mark against the included answers. They cover primary maths and English, Years 7 to 10 maths, NAPLAN-style reading, writing and numeracy for Years 3, 5, 7 and 9, and VCE topic tests. Many Dubai families use them alongside tutoring, or on their own between Skills Checks.
Browse all practice papers (instant PDF) →
Dubai is 6 hours behind Melbourne while Melbourne is on AEST and 7 hours behind Melbourne on AEDT. A 9pm weekday session in Melbourne is 3pm in Dubai (2pm during Melbourne daylight saving). We schedule in your local time, confirm the Melbourne equivalent in writing, and adjust automatically when either side changes clocks.
Both. The Victorian Curriculum is Victoria's implementation of the Australian Curriculum for Prep to Year 10, with the same content sequence, so a child in Dubai who is returning to any Australian state is covered. For Years 11 and 12 we tutor to the VCE study designs; ask us about HSC or other state courses and we will be honest about fit.
Yes, and it is one of the most common reasons Dubai families contact us. Australian schools place students by age and year level regardless of what an international school has covered, so we run a Skills Check as soon as the move is confirmed, focus on the Australian topics the current school has not covered, and hand the new school a clear picture of where the child sits.
Only through a registered VCE provider: a Victorian school, Virtual School Victoria, or an overseas school that offers the VCE. RHZ is not a VCE provider and cannot enrol students, but we tutor VCE subjects to students who are enrolled, and we prepare Year 10 students in Dubai who will start VCE on their return to Victoria.
Mathematical Methods, General Mathematics, Specialist Mathematics, English, Chemistry, Physics and Biology, Units 1 to 4, each by a tutor who knows the current study design.
Yes, from mid-year in Unit 3, together with the examiner reports, and we run timed practice so a student in Dubai is used to the pace of the real exam.
Start the free VCE Skills Check from Dubai → Book a free video consultation Email info@rhztutoring.com.au
Other subjects for Dubai students: Maths online in Dubai · English online in Dubai · All online tutoring for Dubai
Australian-curriculum tutoring in nearby cities: Abu Dhabi · Doha · Singapore · Hong Kong · All cities worldwide
More: How our online tutoring works (Australia) · Practice papers (instant PDF) · Free Skills Check · Tutoring in Melbourne's west
RHZ Tutoring · 17/47 Apex Drive, Truganina VIC 3029 · +61 3 9509 3293 · info@rhztutoring.com.au · Prices