Interhigh

[Salalah]

Hi,

Can someone tell me about their experience at interhigh? Hesitating between them and myonlineschooling for our daughter who will be starting year 7.
Does it have a virtual library, is there a chat room, our daughter is very sociable so communication with other kids is really important
Thanks a bunch

[mincepieeater]

Hi parent of a year 8 my online schooler! (MOS for short). Been with MOS foe a whole school year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ask away..... There is some sort of chat room, but we don`t use it tbh. The kids chat in class quite a bit . Uses zoom (the secure one). Its fabulous.

[mincepieeater]

there isn`t a virtual libary. Theres no reason when we have the vast internet.

[Salalah]

Thank you mincepieeater for your answer. Great to hear you so motivated? Are all lessons recorded? We have a 4 hour difference with the UK in winter, so difficult to follow all of them live.
Can I ask how you chose between interhigh and MOS? On paper they look very similar, hence my hesitation. What made you say: " that's it, I'm going for MOS". Thank you so much

[mincepieeater]

interhigh you pay for a package of classes and theres a contract!
MOS not a contract, so if its not for you, 30 days notice. Yes all classes are recorded. MOS isn`t a package of classes, so you pay per subject. There is a booklist in August. Its all linked to amazon and last year , year 8 came to £30 total. We use the scanner/printer and laptop for classes and ds has a big lever archfile for his notes/work (like normal school). MOS classes are capped at 20 , although they are allowing up to 25 temporarily because of corona . Smaller classes than interhigh. kids in ds classes have been from all over! england, russia, bermuda, singapore, emirates......

[mincepieeater]

MOS do a free taster so your child can try a class out. Id reccomend that. interhigh does not. talking to the office in edinburgh is secure as when i call I have a parent PIN to discuss ds. The kids also have to sign in via their school zoom account (not a personal one) that MOS sets up, so its secure that way, no problems at all. homework every subject every week. end of term tests (nothing scary) and school reports. DS has thrived , were very happy to take him into year 9 with MOS.
I don`t miss ironing uniform and doing lunchboxes lol. homework isnt anything too demanding, its about cementing what they learned in class.

[mincepieeater]

theres a fb page as well for parents / potential sign ups. myonlineschooling. so you can get lots of answers there from parents not in the uk.

[mincepieeater]

there is a MOS teacher that lurks on the home ed board (i dont know her at all in real life). cant remember her username.....

[Salalah]

Thank you so much!!! You have been so helpful, really appreciate you taking the time to get so much into detail. Sounds like MOS is really a lovely school, exactly what we are looking for. Have a fantastic day

[mincepieeater]

thats ok! it is a lovely school. For ds who struggled with mainstream it was the best thing we have done for him. He has come on leaps and bounds academically and his mental health in general . I would say try it and see how it goes. It really took us till last oct 1/2 term (school calendar runs the same as mainstream) to really know if it was the right move. have not looked back.x

[SunshinedreamIng]

Not 30 days notice . It is a term notice

[SunshinedreamIng]

Sorry comment above is for MOS. The are quite misleading, saying 30 days but in reality t is a term

[SunshinedreamIng]

Was not happy with MOS at all. The quality of teaching is very low, massive classes, difficult staff at the office ( can never get through to them and everything is taking ages) .

Interhigh is absolutely amazing. Lead lessons are once a week 40 minutes, and a lecture type of lesson with the large number of participants. But managed beautifully by teachers, do no interruptions.

Followup lessons are 40 minutes twice a week with 4 to 7 children in the class. Absolutely amazing if you compare to MOS once a week lesson and 20 odd kids in it.

It does not even come close.

Interhigh all the way.

I signed up my DS for year 7 with MOS in Sep 2020. By new year's, I have moved half of his lessons to Interhigh and I do not getting it.

I will be moving completely to Interhigh fro Sep this year. Amazing school. Amazing teachers, great support. I can't fault them in any way.

[Itstartedinbarcelona]

@Salalah what did you choose in the end? We are currently looking at this for DD but have heard mixed reviews of both.

[Salalah]

Hi there,
We chose MyOnlineSchooling. My daughter has been with them since September, in year 7. She had the choice to rejoin the local school here, but she decided to stay online. It works really well for her. She loves breakout rooms, where they work in small groups during class, and get a chance to interact more with each other. She's made quite a few friends online.
We put our son there too, in January, in year 3 and it was a total disaster, because he's just not independant enough. He doesnt know how to screen share, and he's not outspoken enough to take part in class. So I would definitely recommend for kids in year 6 and above, but for younger kids, it is a bit tricky. Feel free to ask more questions @Itstartedinbarcelona

[Salalah]

By the way, it is 30 days notice for MOS, because we only informed them last week that our son would not stay for term 3, and we are not asked to pay anything. Our experience with admin has been great, always prompt and helpful. I guess it's the same as with every institution. It just depends on who you fall. You can have a great school and fall on a bad teacher, or a bad school and fall on the only amazing teacher there. We find MOS is doing a great job. Just our son was too young and not mature enough. But it works wonders with our daughter in year 7

[Itstartedinbarcelona]

That’s so helpful to hear. DD is 14 and has always been very organised and managed her own school work independently so I think it would be a good fit. It’s a relief to know you have had a good experience. Can I ask why you chose to move to online? DD has a physical disability and feels very self conscious and anxious at school. She struggles with lots of noise and distractions and really just hates physically going into school. It feels quite risky to pull her out of school when there are no significant issues, bullying, autism etc. Do you think it will impact on your DDs confidence when she has to physically go to college or uni? Also how labour intensive is it for you? DH and I work full time (but mostly wfh) so would struggle if we need to be involved lots.