Lesson notes and reviews
From typed notes, uploaded materials or the lesson transcript itself, turned into organised notes, vocabulary, phrases, grammar and corrections.
Our journey
Ten years of teaching,
Ten years of teaching,
built into one tool
Classly Eli has been built in the open, one problem at a time, with tutors telling me what to fix next. Here is how far it has come.
£20,000
Regional Talent Engines award
Awarded in September 2026 to support Classly's development.
28 hours
Admin saved in one month
Measured on my own teaching, using the same tool I build.
50 to 75%
Less admin after a lesson
Reported by early tutors using Eli week to week.
The road so far
How it happened
Classly did not start as a business idea. It started in a classroom, then in a spare evening.
2015
Moved to China
Five years teaching in China, including as Head of English at a school in Wuhan. Full classes, endless marking, and the first real sense of how much time disappears around the lesson rather than in it.
2020
Into online tutoring
Teaching moved online, and so did the admin. Notes in one place, homework in another, progress mostly in my head.
2023
My own tutoring business
Running everything myself made the repetitive parts impossible to ignore. Every tool I tried solved one small piece of the week, never the whole thing.
January 2026
Started building Eli
Rather than another app to manage, one assistant that takes a lesson and turns it into notes, vocabulary, corrections and follow-up work. Built by the person who had to use it on Monday morning.
May 2026
28 hours back in a single month
The first month I measured it properly on my own teaching. That number is the reason I kept going.
August 2026
First pilot with a tutoring company
Five tutors in one team, teaching their own way. Early users were reporting somewhere between half and three quarters less admin after each lesson.
September 2026
A £20,000 award
Classly was awarded £20,000 through Regional Talent Engines to support its development. It goes straight back into building the platform.
Now
Onboarding tutors one at a time
Rather than opening the doors and hoping, every tutor gets set up on a call with me. It is slower, and it is the reason the right things keep getting fixed.
What is in it now
Built one problem at a time
Nearly every item here came from a tutor saying "I wish it could just...".
Homework that marks itself
Built from what came up in the lesson, at that student's level, marked the moment it is handed in.
The student side
A study journal of every lesson, flashcards from their own words, listening practice, and a Review Centre where mistakes come back until they stick.
Progress and reports
Scores gathered as you teach, turned into a progress report you can share with a parent by link.
Groups, families and teams
Group classes with their own level, families with more than one learner, and teaching teams where a leader can see how their tutors are getting on.
Planning and bookings
Lesson plans built from a topic or from your own file, with your calendar and lesson history sitting beside the student.
In the workshop
Being built right now
An honest look at what is on the bench. Some of it is already in tutors' hands for testing.
How it is built
Four rules I do not break
Tutors first
Every feature comes from a real teaching problem, not a roadmap meeting.
Fast or not at all
If it adds a step to your week instead of removing one, it does not ship.
Works everywhere
Built to run properly in mainland China as well as everywhere else.
You approve it
Nothing reaches a student until the tutor has looked at it.
Supported by
Royal Academy of Engineering
Selected for the Regional Talent Engines programme
Business Wales
Part of the Accelerated Growth Programme
CEMET
Supported through CEMET's innovation programme
Want a say in what comes next?
Tutors who join now help decide what gets built. Tell me what your week looks like and what keeps eating your evenings.
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