Kings Interhigh or Minerva Virtual Academy?

Heyy! King's Interhigh student here
Honestly that school is the best decision I've ever made. I have been here since Year 7 and I am now 2 terms into Year 9. I'm studying my GCSEs early so I know it's not a level but I can speak on behalf of my friends in higher years. Honestly, I've only heard good things from IB and A-level students here so I'm sure you'll love it!! Personally, I have never heard of Minerva Virtual Academy before!

Heyy! King's Interhigh student here
Honestly that school is the best decision I've ever made. I have been here since Year 7 and I am now 2 terms into Year 9. I'm studying my GCSEs early so I know it's not a level but I can speak on behalf of my friends in higher years. Honestly, I've only heard good things from IB and A-level students here so I'm sure you'll love it!! Personally, I have never heard of Minerva Virtual Academy before!

But is it okay if I ask how they teach languages at King's? And what the lessons are like because I heard that there are different types of lessons and stuff

AAA thanks for replying! Unfortunately, I already enrolled into Minerva but I will keep Kings Interhigh in mind if ever it doesn't work out. Good luck in your GCSEs!!

Hi there, I was just wondering how you’re getting on at Minerva?

Hi I am considering an online school for a levels. Kings Interhigh has mixed reviews (but a good rating on trust pilot) and subjects which I like the most. But I also like Minerva with their flipped learning, community feel and good customer service but they do not have the exact subjects I like the most (especially since I plan on transferring to a physical school afterwards with specific subjects in mind).
So if you guys can suggest what to do and what it's like to study there, I'd really appreciate it! Thank you so much

Hi I am considering an online school for a levels. Kings Interhigh has mixed reviews (but a good rating on trust pilot) and subjects which I like the most. But I also like Minerva with their flipped learning, community feel and good customer service but they do not have the exact subjects I like the most (especially since I plan on transferring to a physical school afterwards with specific subjects in mind).
So if you guys can suggest what to do and what it's like to study there, I'd really appreciate it! Thank you so much

Heya! MVA Year 12 student here ^^
I saw you've already applied with us, but I may as well drop this here for anyone else who comes across this thread...
I was learning online since ~year 10 or so, due to extremely poor mental health which made an in person school really difficult for me... I wanted to go to school, I wanted to have that social aspect, but it just wasn't possible for me, and my local authority recommended Kings Interhigh before, but I just wanted to have a look at other options, which was when I stumbled across an open day for MVA a while back, and I was like "so... where's the downside??"
I'm not really familiar with Kings Interhigh, so I can't give a fair comparison, but I was for years before doing 1-2-1 tutoring, which meant I had very little social interaction in a school setting or anything, so the whole community aspect of MVA seemed interesting, as well as offering the subjects I wanted to take (IA Levels in Bio and Chem, as well as a BTEC) to gave it a shot and I was really happy with it compared to pure 1 to 1 tuition.
There is quite a focus, especially in the sixth form about community and the flipped learning model; the sixth form is quite small compared to a lot of the lower school (i.e., GCSE students) which means you can quite easily start recognising people from here there and everywhere, which I quite liked!
More on the flipped learning, it's really nice to be able to have both live lessons (which I found to be more like a university lecture, lots of information at once, and then sometimes a few questions or worksheets) and then you take it away with you after to digest and understand. Its more like spending a while before getting ready, going more into the lesson, and then afterwards going back and doing more on it afterwards, which makes it really flexible; especially for me, who struggles sometimes to keep focused for hours on hours of classes etc.
If OP or anyone else has any other questions (yeah, I'm kind of late here, sorry...!!) I'll try to keep an eye on this space for a while, and best of luck starting next year !! ^^

Hello! I'm an A-Level student at MVA and it has worked out really well—especially as someone who suffers from chronic illness. The timetable works around you and you can re-take lessons whenever you need to, which i find super helpful!
Every topic is explained in detail, so all the gaps from earlier schools have filled in. (I used to miss a lot of school!) Teachers actually really care, and I get a mentor who checks in every week-ideal for short-term support and long-term (after A-Levels) planning.
If you want a subject that isn't offered, you do have to think twice, but the overall backing and quality here are really really good, and I'd recommend this school wholeheartedly to anyone. 😊

Hi! No worries about being late, any insights on Minerva is always welcomed here.
May I ask a few follow up questions please for my and others’ reference? Thank you.
1. Generally how many students are there in Sixth Form? And for the majority, out of curiosity, are they athletes, artists, academicians etc?
2. How’s the social aspect in your experience? E.g. the atmosphere, the chances to connect, the people, etc.
3. My unis are kinda looking for extracurricular stuffs for scholarships so I’m wondering if MVA has a lot of student initiated/extracurricular involvements in Sixth Form?

Hi!! Thank you for your insights. It feel like I made the right choice choosing MVA ) and I’m happy it’s been working out for you very well. Cheers and good luck to you! D

The sixth form is currently about ~100 or so? Each of my classes tend to be anywhere from 10 to 20 people for the STEM Subjects, but that's slowly rising over the course of the year. There's almost like three factions I'd put people into, a lot of us are UK based who struggled with mainstream education, but it's quite an international school. I know a few people from other parts of the world, such as a friend I got into contact with from Germany, a few from Spain, one from Norway; its really diverse in that regard ^^
There's quite a few athletes as well, from my experience other students have commitments like tennis or motorsports; they're working away in the background, and if I had to guess its because MVA is so flexible with every lesson being recorded and the flipped learning model... Of course, its encouraged that you make it to as many lessons as possible, but if you get in contact with your teacher or the attendance team beforehand, as long as everything is handed in and settled by the end of the two week blocks, it's not usually an issue.
The social aspect is quite a nice warm environment from my experience; I don't know if we still had it but at one point the head of year put out a google spreadsheet where we could all add things like what we're interested in, any email contact information, and it was open for anyone who wanted to network to find people with similar interests - I didn't really expect it to work out for me, but it did and with being in sixth form you're treated a lot more like adults, responsible for getting your work done and in time but also supported? It's a weird dynamic which is quite hard to explain, but on the whole the interactions with staff are friendly and professional, and I've not really ever had a problem with them. Of course, I can't speak for absolutely every teacher in the school, but if I had to summarise? Its really easy to approach staff and most other students which is welcome!!
3 - I've been in quite a few extracurricular things in my first year here, including helping run year 11 open days and getting involved with hosting games for the LGBTQ+ club which tends to be a good time, and I think they're currently trying to get sixth formers involved to help run or start clubs, so if you're looking for that type of thing, then there's quite a few opportunities
*Additional edit here, each student also gets a mentor, which you get a ~30 min slot with once a week to help check up on how you're doing. I was skeptical at first, to be completely honest, but I've found it can be really helpful if you have any concerns; almost like a friend to reach out to let them know if there's anything which they can do, such as let teachers know certain things and answer any questions
(also sorry for the wall of text...!!)
Hope you're doing alright!