Interhigh & other online schools - comments & experiences please

[beingamumgivesyougreyhair]

Hi everyone,
Have you had a bad experience with an online school?
Interhigh seems to be the most promoted online school on the internet, and here in these forums, especially among some regulars.
But having been caught out before I'm more interested in being forewarned and forearmed of things that you usually only find out the hard way or when it's too late.
We are definitely on board with the whole concept of online schooling and the obvious benefits that it provides over bricks n mortar traditional schooling but there are more online schools springing up all the time and it is getting harder read between the lines and make an informed choice when they all sound the same.
If you have / are attending any of the internet schools with live lessons, your comments and experiences will be much appreciated.

Does anyone have any up to date information for online schools? I've gone through all the recommendations given here and have arranged calls with MyOnlineSchool and NetSchool. I have also arranged to join a webinar with Interhigh, although I have perhaps already ruled them out based on reviews here.

My son is currently in Y8 at a mainstream high school. He has been bullied a lot since Y4 as he has Asperger's and I'm now at the end of my tether with his high school who are doing very little to protect him. He is a bright kid, but struggles socially and so we found that in Covid lock down, he seemed to respond better to the online learning from home.
I work full time, but from home, so I will now be able to facilitate online learning and be at hand.
Cost is obviously a factor as I'm a single parent, but I do have a reasonably well paid job, but I have looked at smaller private schools in my area and even with a significant discount, I would not be able to afford to send my son to private school. There is one in particular that has very small class sizes and I would love to send him there, but just can't.
So, Online learning, combined with some home learning from me is probably the next best steps.

Hi
We have used IH for a while, and I’ll start with the criticisms I see a lot for them

1. They let your LEA know that you are home schooling. For many people this is a big no. Personally I am ok with it. There are legit reasons for people not to like it.

1. They are not the cheapest ( or most expensive!) online offering. They have contracts and you can sign up for a year with a discount or half a term on a rolling basis. When you start an exam course things can get more complicated- read carefully before you sign, they expect you to stand by the agreement and this has caught many out and people get upset and angry.

1. They have 1 lead (lecture style) lesson plus follow up ( more interactive ) for the more academic subjects . The lecture style class sizes can get pretty big but the follow ups are much smaller ( can be as low as 10 kids in our experience for some classes)

These are the 3 main criticisms and they are true. It can also be difficult to contact them and at the start of term the it can be glitchy for a little while then settles down and becomes pretty reliable.

If these things are deal breakers then your decision is made regarding IH.

One the plus side - the teaching is good and the kids are nice and we’ve had lessons by the seaside from a caravan just because.

I would agree with @jebthesheep , DD is in year 13 at Interhigh so has done the old format, GCSES and the new format for A levels

DD has had some fantastic opportunities through Interhigh which as an autistic young person with ADHD and other conditions probably wouldn’t have been able to access in a standard school

DD actually prefers the new lesson set up, loves the follow groups which are much smaller even than her DB’s similar year 13 class in a bricks and mortar school

Our place is funded by an EHCP and Interhigh has always been very supportive of DDs disabilities, our LA really couldn’t care less and certainly don’t meddle

The only concern I have is that the school is getting too big, has been taken over twice and now seems more impersonal as an educator, back room staff are still lovely but for us it’s attraction was that it was a community and it’s lost that feel now for me

I've got one DD with ASD (Asperger's) who's enjoying Net School. So far, they've been outstanding. Not one single niggle. HTH

Hello everyone, just joining this thread. we are based in Malta and looking for accredited online school-
We looked at Interhigh school, and still awaiting response from their end , do they usually take long time to answer?
Today I found MOS, but apparently they are not Edexel accredited, so that didn't really push me forward, I want to be sure to get accredited education for the kids so that going back to mainstream education is no problem.

Please share your thoughts/ experience and would you recommend either Interhigh or MOS or another one?
as I said, looking for online school accredited. thank you !!

Forgot to say, before the brilliant Net School, we had a not so good experience with MOS. Not a patch on Net School, IMHO...

@EyeBallisticSquid can you elaborate?

I would also caution Interhigh at the moment, we’ve had a good experience and are at the end of our time there but in the last year it’s become far more impersonal and staff we’ve really valued have indicated they’re leaving

DC can’t even tell you the name of the head teacher anymore, people just disappear

Coupled with this international students are having real problems accessing exam centres, quite a few have nowhere to take A levels and GCSEs this year due to covid and the school are just shrugging their shoulders

It may settle back down but the personal touch seems to have gone and they seem overly obsessed with famous students not their core students (see instagram)

Hi any experience updates on online schools please? Seriously considering it for my DS who is 12.

I thought I’d come back and update our experience as we’re now at the end of the journey

in the end the Interhigh exam centre came up trumps, the staff in Wales true to original form were fantastic and provided highly individual exam centre conditions

Today DD had her first two A level results, a C in Eng Lit and an A* in Eng Lang. Final grade is next week but was predicted to be very high

Hopefully if you’ve read any of my posts and are looking for answers this at least shows that teaching standards are high enough to achieve decent grades even for kids with an EHCP and unconventional needs

Our honest experience with online schools: My DD has been with Net School for 5 years, she’ll begin year 13 in September 2022 with Net School. Net School has been outstanding in terms of pastoral care, DD’s happiness and wellbeing, high quality of teachers and teaching (50% Cambridge grads & PHD’s) and the superior level of service. Fantastic value for money, no long term contracts and very small class sizes. There are also some free clubs students can join. They really do care about your child/children. DD has also taken a couple of art courses (IGCSE Art & Design & A Level Photography) with the Online College of Art & Design, an outstanding online art school, delivering superior quality live taught courses. I highly recommend both Net School and the Online College of Art & Design. As a parent I have been / am very impressed with their high standards. No niggles at all, which is refreshing. Let’s be honest these are businesses that want to make a profit, at no time have I thought this has been at the expense of my DD. At the end of the day, my DD completed her IGCSE’s without any stress and gained 9’s & 7’s, very proud of her. She still had time and energy to continue her hobbies. She will be sitting A level exams in summer 2023, Net School provide year 12 & 13 with UCAS help and support with writing statements.

I hear many complaints from parents who’s children are enrolled at Interhigh and MOS. To be honest I cannot comment on their issues, however when I was looking at online schools, 5 years ago, both Interhigh (now Kings Interhigh) & MOS’ business models, lack of adequate pastoral care, outrageously high class sizes (bad enough in a bricks and mortar school) and Trustpilot reviews put me off.

I have recommended Net School to 3 families, who have also been very happy, as we are.

I’ve had a terrible experience with KIH. They’ve billed me incorrect invoice and demanding I pay for something I didn’t sign contract for. They restricted access to the classes and still demand I pay for the service I’m not receiving. They don’t respond to email either at all or it takes 2-3 weeks to get a response. Admin refuse to have phone call conversations but as already said take long time to respond even when you state subject of email as urgent. Customer service is terrible and end the call mid conversation, teaching is terrible, if you can call reading word for word of a slide as teaching. For my child to learn anything I have to find free YouTube videos on the topic rather than learning anything from the class. Teaching isn’t engaging, they lied about the progress. There are plenty of negative feedback can be found about this school, after my personal experience with this school, I believe that feedback 100%. Be very careful if you consider signing up with this school.

Not surprised at this at all. Communication is impossible. We are still on the incorrect time zone for some subjects six months in because they simply do not listen or reply! We had zero choice other than to join KIH because my DD had to transfer from MOS (which we never had any problems with) at the end of Y10. Luckily, she thinks the teaching is good and enjoys her lessons. I’m just hoping she is right and sitting it out until she finishes her exams.