Interhigh parents, come this way. . .

[WhyHasAllTheRumGone]

Following on from a thread in chat, it was suggested we might like to get together over here.

I've one DS currently in year 10 at IH. We are based in Staffordshire. I guess I'd just like to chat with other parents in a similar situation.

There are actually several live online schools now, ie: real time interactive lessons over the internet with a teacher and other students, in a class environment.
American schools have been doing for a lot longer than us and even have government funding and support for some. If your child is years away from exams, then your options are plenty and u could even join an American online school.
However, in the Uk and for exam years (10 - 13 in the UK) you will have to choose a school carefully depending on things like what exam board you want to go with how much support and flexibility you need the school to have and the quality of teaching (which varies a lot!).

If there is availability IH (and other online schools) will usually allow you to choose which year your child attends, it doesn't have to be by age, this is one of the benefits of online schools. Your child doesn't have to mention his age to classmates or feel like he/she is different from peers as you can't see the students faces online.
The benefit of studying at the level that is right for your child and taking the exams when they are ready and not just because they are at "that" age has really benefited my kids confidence and subsequently improved their grades too. :)

Can I alert all of you to this - it's important!!

There's a discussion going on in the Interhigh Parents and Friends Facebook group this evening about some huge (and I would imagine unwelcome to all parents and students) changes being planned by Interhigh management. I thought I'd copy it here for anyone who isn't in that group.

I’ve been given some really worrying information about Interhigh by another parent. There are changes planned by the management which are being rushed through against the wishes of many of the teachers, who are worried that the quality of teaching is going to plummet.
Interhigh are planning to change the lesson formats so that instead of having lessons as they do now (in small classes with a maximum student number of 18), part of the teaching time will be in a ‘uni-style’ mass lecture. They’re called ‘lead lessons’, and will have one teacher lecturing to 7 classes (so over 100 students). They will then split into their original classes for the second half of the lesson, with one teacher per class.

So instead of having 1.5 hours of teaching time for a subject as they do now, there will be 1 hr of lecture, followed by 1 hr of class. It’s to try to increase the total teaching time, because the teachers can’t fit in the new EdExcel syllabi into the teaching time currently allotted, but Interhigh don’t want to pay the teachers for the extra time, so they’re planning to bung all the kids together in 100+ class sizes. All this whilst significantly increasing their fees!

They are planning to roll this out across the board – to KS3 as well as KS4. Management are aware that this will be difficult for a lot of students who are at Interhigh due to anxiety or SEN, and whose parents have signed up because they want small classes, but they’re planning to do it anyway, despite the objections of teachers.

Like many Interhigh parents, I chose Interhigh for the small class sizes and individualised tuition, the caring teachers who were not stressed to bits like state school teachers, and the nurturing, family feel to the school.

I do not see that place in Interhigh any more! If I wanted my child to be taught in a lecture factory of 100+ pupils listening to one teacher, with no interaction, I wouldn’t have put her into Interhigh.

What the hell is going on here?

I meant to put quotes around the post from 'I've been given some info...' onwards, btw - it wasn't me who posted it in the FB group.

I dont like the sound of that. Dont forget there are other online schools out there now. Id be tempted to check out the competition.
My dd does MyOnlineSchooling and there are generally only 6 or 7 kids in her classes

At present the only people who are causing my sen child anxiety are the ‘helpful ‘ people discussing this on the students forum days before important exams

School have as yet said nothing, I prefer facts not playground rumours

As stated above, ultimately we are paying consumers who can move if we’re not happy

Who knows, it may be fine and no different to tutor group which has been done in this way all year

But when I know facts not rumours then I can give it head space, right now I have to calm my anxious dc who has so far only heard concerned rumours

is it worth getting clarification from interhigh and seeing if it puts your minds at rest

Schroedinger it is true that they are planning it (although I understand why you feel it's a 'playground rumour'. Hopefully the outcry from parents will cause them to backtrack. It's an insane idea - most people come to Interhigh for the small classes, and many kids have anxiety or SEN. Being in a class of 100+ for half the lesson is not what most people signed up for! DD hates tutor group and common room because they're so big and 'busy'.

It's a shame the students know about it, though, when hopefully it won't happen. Having said that, they've already trialled it with a Y9 group, so the kids in that trial will know.

YY to getting clarification from Interhigh - the more people who make their feelings known, the more pressure will be on them.

If you join the FB group you'll see Jacqueline's refusal to address whether this is going ahead or not - she can't deny it (because it very much is planned to go ahead), so she's playing for time by focusing on 'how upset the other teachers are that they are being misrepresented as being unhappy about this'.

Outrageous that they've just rolled out the new contracts and fee increases without a whisper to parents that they're planning a huge change in how they deliver their teaching.

Hi everyone ,
I’m currently deciding whether or not i should send me dd to interhigh ( she’s currently year 9 in wolsey halls oxford ) are the igcse courses any good ? i’ve seen a few scandals and problems . would you recommend interhigh ? as the price of school is a little bit pricey so we hope everything would go well :)
thanks

hi @elicia414141 did you read the rest of the thread or some of the other threads?

Are you not finding wolsley halls as good ?

Hi @branleuse

Yes , I’ve scanned through a few threads , It seems like interhigh is a pretty popular school

Wolsey halls is good but compared to other online schools it doesn’t provide a lot of interactive programs , they send some books over and have modules with tasks written down :(
not much of a help other from marking assignments . I would much rather buy books and not spend around £2000-3000 a year for that :(

yeah, that was the reason we decided against wolsley hall. I wanted interactive real-time lessons.

Still think it's 'playground rumours' @Schroedingerscatagain ?

You should all have just received an email from Paul inviting you to hear about their new 'Teaching and Learning Pedagogy', to be rolled out in September.

Jacqui is still refusing to answer simple questions.

I just started a thread on this in education. www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondary/3288572-Interhigh-concerns-other-parents-around
Sorry, hadn't seen this one first.
I'm very concerned. DD was in the trial group for computing (not that anyone told us this) and it went from being her favourite subject to struggling to get her to attend. Now I know why!! I work that day and she finding it hard to explain how it had changed and why that made it tricky. Also my friend's son in y10 said the huge room for his exam yesterday was a nightmare and ended up having a meltdown. It's not fair on the kids!

Hi Somewhere, maybe it's better to keep things on your thread, then - keep it to that one issue and leave this as a general chat/support thread? I'll post on your thread.

Yes Y10 exams bit of a nightmare - DD had to mute the sound as so noisy and so many distractions / questions / teacher getting a bit cross, but then was worried about missing something important. Over 100 in every exam session so far.

I knew nothing about this and DS finishes tomorrow so won’t be relevant to us but before Xmas, before DS gave up co punter studies, they were trialling this very thing.
His tutor was doing first lesson as one big group....all very vague and basic lesson. Then, the following lesson with fewer kids in, was more specific.

DS just couldn’t cope having loads of other kids he didn’t ‘know’ in the class so gave up....IT was his best subject!

Such a shame they’re going down that route.

Is Interhigh suitable for joining in year 11 to complete GSCEs?

i dont see why it wouldnt be. Call them up to ask.
With my cousin, they allowed her to repeat a year too, as she is an august baby and had some time off, so she felt a bit behind and was able to repeat. Online schools are not usually strict on being the right age for the year and more keen to find the appropriate class, but i dont see why your child wouldnt be able to go straight into year 11

I am looking into internet schooling or home schooling my youngest DD who has been finding the social aspect of school incredibly difficult since secondary school. At first she loved it but as they get older and the 'drama' and 'cold shoulders' have started and she finds it upsetting and stressful, she's a simple soul and last term ended with her trying self harm. Luckily we talked and she knows this is not the way and thankfully she had summer to recuperate. Sadly, first week back and nothing has changed so I am doing some serious research into what options she has should she wish to leave. She is in year 8.

I was wondering with schools like interhigh, how are creative subjects covered and exactly how do kids socialise with each other. Do they have meet ups or regular activity weeks? Are your children happy they chose this route? Any insights gratefully received.

i dont know about all of them, but my daughter does myonlineschooling and they dont cover creative subjects, but because she only does 4 mornings a week, there is often time to do extra curricular or home ed activities. For instance, she does a circus skills home ed group one afternoon, and a home ed art class on fridays. She was also doing saxophone lessons last year
It depends on your area as to whats available of course, but it seems to me that a lot of home ed communities run by people if theyre interested in say an art group or music group or whatever, then if there isnt one, then you start one

Thanks for reply. Think I need to research my local area too for groups

Just came across this thread as we're looking for online schooling for DS14 who is waiting for an ASD assessment and hasn't been at school full time since January.

How is Interhigh now?

im also interested to know how people are finding the new lecture style classes and whether it works well or not

I’m also interested in hearing from any IH parents about how the changes have impacted their children as considering IH for my son. Thanks