Briteschool V Interhigh?

[bochead]

Has anyone attended either or researched both and come down in favour of one or other? If so why?

A bit of background in case it aids your advice.

DS is ASD so prefers the regular structure, routine etc, etc that comes with the set curriculum offered by formal online schooling.

Huge organisational changes in DS's current setting from 2013 mean we may be better off home edding from Year 5 rather than Year 6 onwards as I'd hoped. Change is a big deal for DS, so I'm trying to work out how best to smooth his path over the next few years.

My orginal plan was Interhigh from Year 7. However Briteschool starts at 9 - I'm just not sure whether what they offer is what we need iyswim.

[Expatforever]

Hi there, urgently in need of advice please. We are trying to make contact with Briteschool via e-mail as well as telephonically. Our e-mails remain unanswered and the phones are not being picked up either. Yesterday the website was not accessible but it is now. Has the school closed down or are they still active? I would appreciate feedback please as we need to enrol our child asap. Thanks!

[Annathecamel]

Expat - I hope someone from Briteschool has got back to you.

I taught there for a time a few years back and as a teacher loved it. It's very well structured and organised and in terms of content probably more intense and focused than a real classroom in a brick school. I could certainly see how some students in particularly flourished and thrived in the alternative educational environment it offered.

[zephyrcat]

Can I revive this thread and ask if anyone is currently using Briteschool?

[Schrodingersmum]

Hi,we are not using bright-school but Interhigh, DD was school phobic but loves Interhigh and has just had an excellent report

[SarahDiggins]

We have tried all 3 of the main online schools in the UK: Briteschool, Interhigh and NetSchool. Here is our experience:

Netschool - very good teaching with some unspiring teachers who drove my children to distraction with their boring monotone voices and unimaginative delivery. Expensive especially for iGSCE. Terrible administration system - they run 2 systems in parallel and all emails to parents to go their own online email server so you cannot integrate with your own emails. That means to communicate with the school you have to log in and have no record of your conversations on your laptop.

Interhigh: Excellent presentation, website, administration system and very well structured so pupils can easily see which homework they have finished, check their grades and monitor performance. However, the teaching is very variable - they have one or two superb teachers, but some absolutely dismal ones. I personally witnessed one of the Maths teachers Alan teaching his pupils that 8 x 5 = 32. He taught maths and science but did not understand the basics of biology (cells) and referred to the microchondria as 'blobs'. He was unable to pronounce 'fluorine'. One of their geography teachers told my 16 year old daughter that the field work part of their iGSCE course was optional and so she did not study it - it turns out this formed 25% of her iGSCE exam. Her Biology teacher (not Alan) missed out a whole crucial section of the structure of cellular life, fundamental to the basic understanding. Their French language slides were covered with basic grammar and spelling errors. These are just a few examples. When I raised these as issues, Interhigh ignored my emails, hoping I would go away. I did not go away and questioned why they employed a maths teacher who did not know his times tables and taught the children incorrect maths. They defended him saying he got 'good results for the lower year groups'. mmm..... Sadly I could go on with many more appalling incidences of dreadful teaching but you get the picture. We took our girls out of Interhigh after my eldest daughter's experience with her Geography Exam and Biology preparation. She did well in her exams despite the

Briteschool - This is an absolute gem of a school whose website belies their brilliant, inspirational teaching. The teachers absolutely love the children and are highly motivated. The children get so much attention and are encouraged to move up to a higher level if they are able to, irrespective of age. My 2 girls are now with Briteschool and are very much enthused to learn. Their administration systems are not as refined as Interhigh and communication can be slow, but the bottom line is that my girls look forward to their lessons now and love learning. I cannot recommend them more highly.

[SarahDiggins]

sorry didn't finish the last sentence with the Interhigh section: I meant to write 'She did well in her exams despite the poor teaching from many of her teachers, with the 2 notable exceptions of her Maths teacher Roger (a superb teacher who dedicated his time to helping Emily get an A grade for her Maths when she had come into the school a C grade student) and Marianne (a native French woman who taught French and was very good at maintaining discipline.)