InterHigh, an online high school and sixth form college based in the UK, will begin teaching classes in a second time zone next year in order to attract more students based overseas.
The school is also currently expanding its course offering, particularly at A Level – the final qualification taken at school or a further education college in the UK – adding French, Spanish and Latin A Level courses, as well as Film Studies and Business Studies at the lower GCSE level.
“It’s so that students aren’t having to study late in the evening, or attend live classes later in the evening”
It has also added further student services including careers advice.
Student numbers have been rising since the school welcomed its inaugural cohort in 2005, with 440 enrolments last year. Around a third of these students were based overseas.
Classes, which are delivered live by tutors in virtual classrooms, are currently scheduled according to the UK working day.
Beginning in September next year, a second round of classes will begin three or four hours earlier in the day.
This will bring classes in line with the working day in some European and East African countries, but may also ease the time difference for students elsewhere, noted director of development, Jacqueline Daniell.
“It’s just to help those out that could be studying quite late in the day, so that students aren’t having to study late in the evening, or attend live classes later in the evening,” she explained.
“There’s no point in offering hundreds of different time zones, when clearly it works for most people,” she added
The school is also “in talks” with multiple schools in East Africa to help broaden their sixth form offerings.
“Rather than going to the expense of having to acquire buildings… they can expand their own schools quite easily by having a virtual element,” Daniell said.
From September 2016, the plan is that some schools will offer their own courses through the InterHigh platform, while others may allow students to take courses already offered by InterHigh.
“It’s a new way of learning for some of the countries that don’t have a lot of blended learning programmes,” added Daniell.