Minerva Virtual Academy or Kings Interhigh

BonWill · 2025-05-10T11:07:43+00:00

Hi, I wonder if those who have had recent experiences of Minerva or Kings Interhigh, or any online school - would be happy to share? We are looking at our options for our 13 year old son, he is autistic and suffers with anxiety

ErnestClementine · 10/05/2025 16:20

My son enjoys Kings (as much as any teen boy enjoys school). He is also autistic and left mainstream school due to anxiety.

Goodgoings · 10/05/2025 16:37

I have experience of both. One DC was at Kings Interhigh from y7-8, and another DC is now studying A-levels at Minerva's.

I think the teaching style is pretty similar in both, but I prefer Minerva's because they have a mentoring system. Each child is allotted a mentor they meet with weekly who really takes the time to get to know them and support them. My DC's mentor basically makes sure she is keeping up with her homework and helps her with organisation and planning. The mentor is also a point of contact for parents.

IAmUsingTheApplauseReactionSarcastically · 11/05/2025 14:55

We have been very happy with Minerva - likewise chose it because of the mentor option, although DD has turned out to be surprisingly self-sufficient. They were putting together a list of parents who were willing to speak to prospective students’ families - you could ask if you could have a chat with someone?

Pippisox · 04/07/2025 18:00

Beware of the class sizes at Minerva they are not as they seem. Most students have their cameras off so sometimes there is little engagement. It is not ideal unless you are home with the child and the student needs to be highly motivated.

OneDeepDeer · 18/07/2025 10:09

Pippisox · 04/07/2025 18:00

Beware of the class sizes at Minerva they are not as they seem. Most students have their cameras off so sometimes there is little engagement. It is not ideal unless you are home with the child and the student needs to be highly motivated.

That’s curious. A certain founder, well known for self promotion and repeatedly criticising the competition on Mumsnet (especially Minerva), has recently been pushing the line that online schools only work for highly motivated learners. Now here you are, popping up on several threads repeating exactly the same message. It really does make you think…

Robotindisguise · 18/07/2025 11:16

We are very happy with Minerva. The mentor system is good for pastoral stuff but also keeping a remote eye on how DD is going - there is a fortnightly report on whether all expected work is completed.

DD is AuDHD, and while MVA hasn’t been a silver bullet on that front, we have been surprised by how much more the medication seems to work in an online setting. Taking the overwhelm element away has been very important. DD had about 98% attendance this year, as opposed to high 80s last year with a lot of cajoling.

The online learning platform helps you to keep an eye on work - parents can have a login if necessary, but actually I am just logged in as DD on my laptop so I can just keep track that way. There are school trips etc and the teachers get to know students pretty well - just had parents evening.

It’s true that some of the kids have their cameras off - the school gently push them to engage but are aware some of their pupils (many of whom are autistic, over half have SEN and some of whom are athletes who will access the recorded lessons later) are burned out and doing all they can. It does mean if your child can engage they have a lovely relationship with the teacher almost immediately!

Pippisox · 18/07/2025 13:33

OneDeepDeer that is a ridiculous accusation which is false. We have a grandchild who has been studying there. Just because someone has made constructive criticism to help others does not automatically mean they are from a competitor. One would hope people would find recent experiences helpful in this situation. Yes the mentor system is great but the 20 student cap has not been our experience and in fact far from it. Our grandchild is not self motivated so she is not the ideal person for online schooling and her mentor from MVA as much as said so themselves. Robotindisguise I am really happy it has worked for you. OneDeepDeer not sure why you are being so accusatory. I haven't been on Mumsnet for years but felt it would be beneficial to others to leave our experience of MVA and online schooling. No school is 100% perfect.

IAmUsingTheApplauseReactionSarcastically · 18/07/2025 15:56

FWIW I believe they are eliminating combined classes from September.

Chirps1987 · 18/07/2025 18:05

Pippisox · 04/07/2025 18:00

Beware of the class sizes at Minerva they are not as they seem. Most students have their cameras off so sometimes there is little engagement. It is not ideal unless you are home with the child and the student needs to be highly motivated.

What subjects did your child take? Are they still there? Would you recommend another school? Generally think Minerva looks quite good because they are ofsted inspected. I've just started looking at online schools as we might be travelling for a while.

bettyorange · 26/09/2025 20:01

We have just decided to take the leap and go for Minerva for our year 10 son.
We are just going through all the induction stuff as we missed the beginning of term so have only scratched the surface so far but i can see already that it is really useful to have all the information on all subjects on one platform.The multitudes of different learning platforms and a million passwords was always a stumbling block for our dyslexic son. Fingers crossed he can manage this, we feel sad and a bit desperate but needed a radical change and i think he is beginning to feel some sort of control and ownership over the learning instead of a thing being done to him.

Alan1984 · 04/11/2025 21:05

bettyorange · 26/09/2025 20:01

We have just decided to take the leap and go for Minerva for our year 10 son.
We are just going through all the induction stuff as we missed the beginning of term so have only scratched the surface so far but i can see already that it is really useful to have all the information on all subjects on one platform.The multitudes of different learning platforms and a million passwords was always a stumbling block for our dyslexic son. Fingers crossed he can manage this, we feel sad and a bit desperate but needed a radical change and i think he is beginning to feel some sort of control and ownership over the learning instead of a thing being done to him.

Just started considering MVA for our academic but autistic and anxious son. Wondering how you have got on. It looks like a good match for us from what I have read so far.