General help

Any questions?

Have a little look to see if the answer you need is here. If it's not, don't worry you can have a look at the forum to see if anyone has answered it there or you can sent an email to [email protected]. We're happy to help.

Helpful stuff

What is School of Everything?

School of Everything helps you learn new things in your local area. It's this website, plus the people behind it. The site works by connecting people who are interested in similar subjects and live near each other, and helping you organise your own education. Think of a subject you want to learn or teach, create a profile, search for other people and message them. Then meet up, teach and learn. It's that simple - just people teaching and learning what they want, when they want, however they want.

How do I join School of Everything?

To join School of Everything all you need to do is fill in this little form. It's free, easy and only takes 30 seconds.

Do I have to pay to use School of Everything?

No you don't. School of Everything is completely free for all to join. Get involved.

Why is School of Everything free?

We're funded by a lovely group of organisations and individuals interested in education - including Channel 4 Learning, The Young Foundation (which carries on the work of Michael Young, founder of the Open University) and BECTA. We'll always keep it free for teachers and members to join and contact each other because School of Everything works better if loads of people are using it.

Is there an age limit for School of Everything members?

You must be over 18 to join School of Everything. If you are looking for private tuition for someone under 18, you'll need to use the site yourself and act on their behalf.

What languages does School of Everything support?

We're only in English at the moment, but we want to provide services in other languages at some point in the future. If you're interested in helping us translate and promote School of Everything in your language, please let us know. That would be very nice.

Will School of Everything share my email address and personal details with anyone?

No we won't. We hate spam as much as you do. You can trust us with your data. We do store your data overseas and share it with companies providing services to us though, but that's just so we can host the website abroad and use services like Google to run School of Everything. For more information, read our privacy policy outlining how we will and won't use your data.

Why are there duplicate subjects?

Sometimes you'll see that our subjects double up, like 'Japanese' and 'Japanese language', or 'driving school' and 'driving schools'. All the subjects on the site are created by users, meaning you can literally learn and teach everything you want. Choose the simplest way of explaining the subject you teach. When adding subjects to your teaching profile it is better to add them separately. i.e. 'French'; 'Spanish' rather than 'French and Spanish' We now automatically show related teachers and subjects (ask Russell from Team Everything about Matchy Matchy).

My location is wrong, how do I change it?

We use the nice thing that is the Geonames database to look up your location and find you on the map. When you enter your location when signing up it picks the first match but sometimes that's not where you live. To change it all you need to do is click on the 'Change' link underneath the map on your profile. Here are some little tips to help Geonames find where you are: Firstly, only enter the name of your actual neighbourhood, and don't use commas. If you put something like "Brooklyn, NY" the database gets a bit confused. Our system will find all the matching places and (hopefully) assign you to the right one. Secondly, your place may not be listed, but a nearby place might be. Try a few other options, in the simplest format possible, and one of them should work for you. If you can't find your location, let us know and we'll add you to the database.

How do people contact me through School of Everything?

School of Everything provides a free private messaging system that allows members to contact each other. When you receive a message it is kept in your School of Everything inbox until you next log in.

We will send you an (automatic) email to the email address you created your account with, telling you that someone has sent you a message through the site. All you have to do is click on the link in that email to be taken straight to the message. If you aren't receiving these notifications, check your junk mail folder and add [email protected] to your email address book and safe list.

When I message someone, how long will it take them to reply?

This varies from person to person. Some check their email regularly, others less frequently. Be patient, and if they don't respond it's okay to send them a gentle reminder - they might just be on holiday, or very busy...

What do I do if I don’t get a response from someone?

It's okay to send them a gentle reminder, but don't forget that they might be on holiday, very busy or simply not taking new students. Most people reply quickly, but if you get no response then maybe try someone else. We send out a reminder to members each month if they have unread messages in their School of Everything inbox. If you think someone's messaging isn't working or something's wrong, let us know.

How do I confirm my e-mail address?

You need to confirm your email address to get full access to School of Everything. When you signed up, we sent you an e-mail. Just click the link in the email to confirm your account. If you can't find the email we sent you, check your spam/junk mail folders, it may have ended up in there because some email providers think that automated messages are unwanted.

How can I change my name?

You have two names on School of Everything: your account username (e.g. 'jennym'), and your actual first name and last name (e.g. 'Jenny Morecombe'). You can't change your account username, but you can change the name that appears at the top of your teaching and learning profiles. All you need to do is click on the 'Edit' button and at the top of you learning profile. The names you enter in the first name and last name boxes will appear on your profiles. Enter the appropriate names, click the 'submit' button at the bottom of the page and your learning profile name will be updated.

There's a bit of quirk here - in order to make the new name show up on your teaching profile, you'll need to visit your teaching profile, then click on 'edit' and 'submit'. Your name will then automatically be updated on your teaching profile to match your learning profile. Your username also appears on your learning profile until the first time you edit it - then it will switch to first name/last name. (There's no good reason for this, it's just a glitch that we hope to fix one of these days.)

I can't upload a photo, what's wrong?

Well this is normally because the image file size is too big. Try saving your image at 72dpi and try uploading it again - if it still doesn't work, contact us and we'll have a little look at it for you.

If I have a teaching profile and a learning profile can I upload a different photo to each?

Yes, if you like. But if you just upload one photo to your learning profile it will automatically be used for your teaching profile too unless you upload another photo.

What should I do if I see inappropriate content on School of Everything?

Please click the 'report this' button at the top righthand corner of the page in question. This will alert School of Everything to that page so appropriate action can be taken. If there isn't a 'report this' button please contact us. Thank you for helping us to maintain a nice, safe community on School of Everything, it's very kind of you.

What should I do if I can't remember my password?

Firstly, go to http://schoolofeverything.com/user/password Type your email address or username and click the 'E-mail new password' button and we'll e-mail you a one time log in link. When you click on this it will log you into the site. The next step is to change your password. Click on your username in the top right hand corner of the page - this will take you to the settings page. Enter your new password and click 'Submit'.

Why should I use the messaging system?

The private messaging system ensures increased security for all School of Everything's members. Some members share their phone number and even address on their teacher page, but we don't recommend it and encourage you to protect your security by using the private messaging system until you've got to know someone a bit. It's better to be safe than sorry!

How do I change the email address my account is linked to?

All you need to do is log in and then click on your username in orange in the top right hand corner of the page - enter your new email address and click 'Submit'. It's done. Remember to use your new email address or username when you next log in.

How can I delete my School of Everything account?

If you're not happy with your profile you can edit it at any time, it's easy - just click on the little orange 'Edit' link while logged into the site and edit away. If you want to delete your account, we can do this for you, just send an email to [email protected] including the email address you created your account with and we'll sort the rest.