New to home ed - looking at King's Interhigh and Queen's Online School

[NiaSWales]

Hello

Have had a good read through the forums but I'm looking for some up to date experiences with either of these schools (King's Interhigh and Queen's Online school) - we are currently looking at one or the other for my daughter who is 11 and is leaving secondary school after a bit of a traumatic time. Does anyone have any recent experiences or opinions?
Many thanks

I work for Kings so I am probably biased!

If you’ve read through the forums, you’ll probably have noticed that the owner of Queen’s Online School (who also owns Cambridge Home School Online) appears to have a long history of undisclosed self promotion. That alone should raise red flags. Any school relying on that kind of marketing deserves a level of scepticism, particularly given how persistent and aggressive he's been.

Thanks yes I had picked up that which is why I'm looking for experiences from people who have used the school, I like the look of what they offer so I'm not ready to write them off over some dubious self promotion but it has made me need to dig further!

This doesn’t answer your question but just in case you want to explore other options - I home edded my three children and from about 11 plus we used online lessons for various things but not one online school.
I didn’t want to commit to one resource and it was also really expensive. Mine all got through their GCSE’s while home ed and they also did quite a lot of sport and home ed social groups - especially when under 14.
We mixed and matched the providers but they were basically video lessons and live online lessons with work set and marked and resources provided or recommended to buy. I can put up details if you think you might be interested in the resources we used. They were mostly cost pretty reasonably priced and well designed.

I have been home ed for a few years and never heard of Queens! Kings gets very mixed reviews. MVA is used by a couple of friends for their daughters after a traumatic time at school and has worked well for them. There are smaller provisions out there. I would say just be cautious of signing up to something and being tied into a contract for a year.

I would also suggest looking at some individual tutors out there for provision - creative writing with Hannah is brilliant and she also has a science teacher working with her now and are small classes. The Learning Circle has a very different ethos and approach and is worth looking at.

It’s a shame really, because it means that even genuine positive experiences will now be rightfully viewed with suspicion and assumed to be fake.

I know and I'm nervous enough about making this leap as it is! We've had some good friends recommend Kings which is good enough for me but I think I prefer the offering at Queen's, really want to hear from someone first-hand though!

Have you looked at Minerva as another option?

I have one at MVA if helpful but not the two you mention.

Given the school has only just opened, which is probably why they seemingly resorted to fake reviews, I think it's unlikely you're going to get any first hand experiences posted here.

Any reviews you do see will be based on a single term too, which is of course a valid experience, but it’s not really long enough to judge something as important as a child’s education. Especially as no one will have gone through exams there yet.

That’s not to say it wouldn’t work for your child, but it is worth keeping in mind when weighing things up.

We went for MVA over Kings as liked the pastoral/tutor support. People seem to either love Kings or hate it - reviews are quite mixed.

I didn't realise they were that new! That makes more sense then!

No I hadn't found them - thank you!

Thank you for this, it sounds like you've done an amazing job. We're very much looking for a structured package online school as this is what will suit both my and my daughter's slightly chaotic and disorganised brains best I feel!

The OP should note that this website has been used by schools to criticize other schools and that OneDeepDeer has previously had posts deleted from this site presumably for this reason.

I know this isn’t what you asked but we use Wendover online school and they have been brilliant

Just to clarify, none of my individual posts have been deleted. What has been deleted are threads that were started as undisclosed self promotion, and naturally all replies disappear when a thread is removed. It's odd though because only someone following those threads would know that, and your account is brand new. It really makes you think....

I just don't think it's fair on parents for schools to use mumsnet in this way. It stops us from getting an objective and unbiased perspective which is the whole purpose of the site. The persistent and personal nature of your posts suggests that you are not a parent and therefore shouldn't be detracting from genuine parents' responses.

I’m not sure that is true! I work for Queen’s and he is brilliant leader. I don’t usually post in response to anyone criticising Queens- everyone is entitled to an opinion but if he promotes himself!? so he should- he has a number of successful schools that have helped many families 🤷‍♀️ the school is great and actually affordable unlike some of the others but again, I am biased so I will stay quiet!

You're proving you don't self post by self posting, and by also endorsing undisclosed self promotion?

Hi NiaSWales

I'm in the same position as you were at the beginning of the year, I'm looking at Kings inter high, queens online or MVA, just wondered if you ended up making a decision? I'm leaning towards Queens online but I haven't been able to speak to any other parents who's kids are enrolled there.

Thanks!

My DD is just about to take her A levels after attending Kings. She is autistic but academic and has so far done really well. The flexibility suited her and she is on track for A’s. I have only positive things to say about them.

At 11, I wouldn't be rushing in to committing to an online school before your DD has had chance to adjust from full time mainstream school.

There's no rush and there's plenty of online resources to use in the meantime.

(Home educator of 18 years, 2 children home educated from the beginning, both with full set of GCSEs and A levels, self taught).

You have to be referred to this one but I thought I'd mention it in case DD's still on roll. As it's accredited, it would make it easier to go back to a school if she wanted to later.

Does she have an EHCP?

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