From early childhood learning to high school mastery, Twinkle Academy Gold Coast combines evidence-informed teaching with creativity and care to help young minds thrive.
Ask any parent what they want from their child’s education and the answer rarely changes: confidence, curiosity, a kid who comes home wanting to talk about what they learned rather than dreading going back. Ask them how easy that is to find, and the answer changes just as reliably — not very.
Somewhere between rising academic pressure and childhood’s natural instinct to play, many good intentions can get lost. Twinkle Academy was built on the belief that they don’t have to be.
Founded in Sorrento and now expanding with a second centre in Robina, the academy has spent its short life arguing that rigour and warmth aren’t opposing forces — they’re the same idea, approached from two directions. Children learn best, the founders say, when they feel genuinely seen. Everything else follows from that.
Two founders, one shared instinct
At the heart of Twinkle Academy’s success are its founders, Bryant Tan and Melody Zhu, whose complementary backgrounds create a uniquely rich educational framework.
Bryant’s background spans mathematics and music — an unlikely pairing until he explains it. “My experience in mathematics highlighted the vital importance of building strong foundations in literacy, numeracy, logical thinking, and problem-solving from an early age,” he says. “At the same time, my background in music instilled a deep appreciation for creativity, focus, and self-expression.” The two disciplines, in his telling, aren’t opposites so much as siblings — one teaches precision, the other teaches a child to trust their own voice. “Education isn’t just about test scores,” he adds. “It’s about creating a safe space where children feel confident to have a go, discover their strengths, and build a lifelong love of learning.”
Melody’s path was shaped by more than a decade of classroom teaching across Australia and Singapore, working with young learners at the very ages when small interventions tend to matter most. That experience left her with a conviction she still leads with: no two children learn the same way, and the ones who look like they’re struggling are often just waiting for a different door in. “Every child learns differently,” she says. “We met so many bright, capable children who simply needed a different entry point — more encouragement, more connection, or space to learn at their own pace. We wanted to build a place where strong academic foundations sit alongside curiosity and joy, rather than treating them as separate goals.”
It was that shared instinct that led them to what they now call the biggest blind spot in early education: the stretch between play-based childcare and the structure of formal schooling. Parents tend to measure readiness for Prep in fairly narrow terms — can they count, do they know their letters — but the founders see something broader at stake. Emotional maturity. Fine motor skills. The ability to sit in a group, follow an instruction, and cope when something doesn’t go their way. Twinkle Academy was built to sit in that gap, holding onto the wonder of early childhood while intentionally building the skills a child will need the moment they walk through a school gate.
Twinkle Academy offers a calm learning environment for early learners
A pathway, not a patchwork
What distinguishes Twinkle Academy from a typical tutoring outfit is the sense of continuity: a single thread running from a toddler’s first sensory play session to a Year 10 student wrestling with algebra.
It starts with Little Explorer, a program for two- and three-year-old built around music, movement, and weekly themes — Colours & Shapes one fortnight, My Little Garden the next — that ease toddlers into language and social confidence without ever feeling like “lessons.” From there, children move through the Preschool Pathway: Curious Pilot Foundation for three- to four-year-old, then Confident Astronaut Readiness for four- to five-year-old, where play gradually gives way to the early literacy, numeracy, and emotional groundwork that makes the first day of Prep feel like a step forward rather than a shock.
Primary-aged students join small-group sessions mapped to the Australian Curriculum, with literacy instruction built on the Science of Reading rather than the rote-learning habits many parents remember from their own schooling — phonemic awareness, phonics, and decoding done properly, in sequence, before fluency and comprehension are asked to carry any weight. Mathematics follows a similar logic: less memorisation, more reasoning, so that classroom concepts actually stick rather than being crammed for a test and forgotten by Friday.
By high school, the focus shifts again. Years 7 to 10 bring subject specialists who work on the skills senior secondary school will demand without warning — analytical essay writing, algebraic reasoning, exam technique and the less glamorous but arguably more useful skill of managing time under pressure. The goal, as the founders put it, is turning exam anxiety into something closer to calm.
Tutor at Twinkle Academy Gold Coast tutoring centre giving students a high-five
Meeting neurodivergent learners where they are
Woven through every stage of that pathway is a deliberate focus on neurodivergent children — those navigating dyslexia, ADHD, or sensory processing differences, who often find that a fast-paced classroom simply isn’t built for how they think.
Bryant and Melody are firm on one point: a child who struggles in a conventional setting isn’t lacking ability. They’re usually lacking the right pace or an entry point that isn’t purely verbal or purely visual. “The starting point for us is recognising that every child absorbs information uniquely,” Melody says. “For children who need extra support, we look closely at their individual strengths, challenges, and emotional triggers. We use structured, explicit teaching, break larger tasks down into bite-sized steps, and offer consistent positive reinforcement.”
Small class sizes make that approach practical rather than aspirational — there’s room to slow down for one child without the rest of the group losing momentum. Over time, the founders say, this is where the real shift happens: not a sudden leap in test scores, but a quiet change in how a child talks about themselves, from “I can’t do this” to “I know how I learn.”
A classroom at Twinkle Academy Gold Coast
The next chapter: Robina
Twinkle Academy’s original centre in Sorrento built the model; a new site in Robina is where the academy is now testing its scale. The move follows sustained demand from families further south on the Gold Coast, and Robina — ringed by schools, parks, and young families — was, in the founders’ words, the natural next step.
“Opening in Robina is such an exciting milestone for our team,” Bryant says. “Our goal has always been to build long-term relationships with families. We want the Robina centre to be a welcoming environment where parents feel genuinely supported, and children look forward to visiting every week.”
To mark the opening, the academy is offering local families a complimentary trial class and learning assessment, with a free home learning pack for anyone who enrols during the launch period.
Whatever a family walks in needing — a gentle nudge before Prep, help closing a specific gap, targeted support for ADHD or dyslexia, or simply more room to stretch — the pitch is the same one the founders have been making since Sorrento. As Melody puts it: “Success isn’t just a test result or a report card. It’s seeing a child walk through our door feeling comfortable, leaving feeling proud of themselves, and gradually realising what they are capable of.”
Tutor at Twinkle Academy Gold Coast tutoring assists a student with study.
Twinkle Academy Gold Coast
Locations:
Sorrento
New centre now open in Robina
Programs:
· Ages 2–3 (Little Explorer)
- Ages 3–5 (Preschool Pathway)
- Prep–Year 6 (Primary Tutoring)
- Years 7–10 (High School Tutoring)
- Holiday Workshops
Special offer:
Book a complimentary trial class and learning assessment, and receive a free home learning pack upon enrolment.
Enquiries:
- Web: twinkleacademy.com.au
- Email:
- Phone: 0402 629 259
