Minerva... any recent experiences?

[LetMeJustCheckMyCitrusPocket]

Hi, does anyone have a child currently or recently using Minerva Virtual Academy for online schooling from home?

My daughter is currently in Year 10, not coping at school and basically now hardly attending at all.

She's also very depressed/low mood so we don't know how much withdrawing from school will help with this and if she'll still struggle if we start Minerva.

Any recent experiences good or bad would be most welcome, thank you.

Yes! My son joined a month ago in Year 9. We have been very impressed. Pastoral and mental health support has been excellent. Teachers are very understanding and children are encouraged to do what they can initially, and build on from that.
We are 4 weeks in and my son seems much happier and is getting a good quality education.

Thanks @Orangesandlemons82 I'm pleased it's working well for your son.

We're still deciding what best to do, it's a difficult decision.

Do you mind me asking how things are now? I am looking at this for my yr 10 daughter as she is really struggling with anxiety and attending school. What concerns me is that she says she enjoys school but she can't always go so I'm not sure if it would be the best thing for her.

@hopeidontforgetthisusername it has continued to go really well. My son has been incredibly well supported and teaching is of a high quality.
We had an appointment recently with the Consultant Psychiatrist and DS told her that his mood was now consistently 10/10 and had absolutely no anxiety anymore, now he is out of the mainstream school environment. His attendance to lessons is also 100% which has never happened before.

Thank you so much for taking the trouble to respond to me and it is so good to hear that your son is getting on so well.

i really do think that this would be better for my daughter. School have started to mark her absences as unauthorised now which is just so stressful. She recently has an autism and adhd diagnosis but they don’t seem to want to accept that. It’s all just horrible.

@hopeidontforgetthisusername the absences should be authorised - mental health concerns is an authorised reason. However, can completely understand why you probably don't want to battle that!
When my son joined MVA I would say the vast majority of the cohort who started with him were neurodivergent and/or had mental health issues. All the parents had very similar stories relating to mainstream secondary education.

I believe that they do a 6 week cooling off period if it isn't a good fit for your daughter?

Yes I agree it should be authorised.

Oh ok that is really worth knowing regarding the trial, thank you.

I will see what we can do.

@Orangesandlemons82
Sorry would you mind if I also asked how the day/week looks at MVA please? Is it all structured lessons. Has your son made any friends/socialised outside of the formal lessons with any peers.

@hopeidontforgetthisusername of course. So the school works on a week A and Week B structure. Before each live lesson there is pre learning (this might be reading, or watching a video), then you have the live lesson and then after there are quizzes/work to consolidate the learning. Assessments are usually submitted at the end of week B. There are 2 assemblies a week - whole school and year group. In addition to the subjects they have chosen they have a lesson on personal development, and one on wellbeing. They also have 30 mins 1:1 with a mentor each week.

There are clubs and activities after school online, and during the day social rooms for the year group - a member of staff supports these sessions. Next month my son is going on a trip to London with them (first one he will have been on).

I think the busiest day my son has is a Monday - he has an assembly that day and 4 live lessons. The other days are not so intense and he can get his assessments and pre learning completed.

Thank you @Orangesandlemons82 , all sounds very interesting.

Hope your son enjoys the trip ☺️

Yes we did Minerva. I thought the mentoring was good, and it felt supportive, but my dd15 couldn't cope with it for similar reasons she couldn't cope with school. Firstly, she couldn't keep up - the level was too high, and secondly some teachers spent much of the lesson talking, much as some do at school, and my dd can't learnt that way. Some teachers were better and their lessons had a more interactive format, but it was all too much. It was 5 hours a day online and then homework in every subject. They also have a system where if you have done a piece of work, a green tick shows, and if you haven't, it doesn't. Often this wouldn't work so even if my dd had done the work, the tick wasn't there. Due to her autism, this was difficult. Furthermore, she became very focussed on getting all the ticks and completing everything , which ultimately she couldn't do, and worked herself to the ground. So anyway, we had to withdraw.