English school curriculum provider My Online Schooling has celebrated two years of operations by opening a second office in Melbourne, Australia to expand its reach into the Asia Pacific market.
Replicating a traditional KS2 to A-Level school experience online, including assemblies, School Houses and after school clubs online, My Online Schooling said there was an increasing demand among students within the region for alternative education options.
“A lot of our pupils are young people who have special educational needs”
“Australia is a good base for us and it allows us to reach the Asia Pacific in general,” said Business Development Manager.
“Although we’re based here, we have a lot of people all over the globe in the Asia Pacific. Singapore is a big market for us at the moment, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, so it’s a really good base for us to reach these areas.”
Founded in 2017 by former teacher Tom Crombie, My Online Schooling currently enrols around 400 students, and Cooper said the provider was serving a niche cohort of students from non-traditional backgrounds.
“People are about to go back to school… and they are maybe thinking actually this isn’t for me,” she said.
“What we’re doing is helping young people access education when they’ve felt like there isn’t another option.”
Taught out of Edinburgh and Melbourne, My Online Schooling also offered a “brick-and-mortar” education for those with difficulties that prevented them from accessing traditional education, Cooper told The PIE News.
“A lot of our pupils are young people who have special educational needs, mental health difficulties, physical difficulties, and these learning difficulties could range from dyslexia to ADHD,” she said.
“For them, an online learning environment is a really good place for them to be able to focus, for them to feel comfortable and it seems to be an environment where they’re able to thrive.”
Cooper added the provider served a growing number of parents who were seeking a cost-effective alternative within the Asia Pacific.
According to a 2017 HSBC report, two-thirds of parents indicated they would consider an online degree for their child is it saved money.
