Our Approach to Successful Online Learning

Learn about our Online Learning Student First Approach

Since we set up our online school in 2016, we have seen a significant change in how learning online is viewed across the world. In recent times especially, we have seen a quick move over to digital classrooms, due to the challenges presented by Covid-19 restrictions. In contrast to many other schools, Wendover Online School was ready, and well-equipped, to maintain consistency in our education.

We are a driving force in the provision of online learning and are far ahead of the curve. We say this with confidence, as our school was not launched as a contingency plan, but instead, designed from the ground up, to provide the best possible learning experience online, and to help children across the world achieve success.

Our programmes are devised to ensure that every individual can reach their potential and enjoy their learning process. Each student not only has their own learning needs catered for, but they can influence the direction their learning takes, by being fully involved in the choice of topics and themes studied.

Why our online approach works:

Individualisation

Topics, themes and areas covered in subjects are taught by making content relevant and directly applicable to students’ own experiences. Our teachers are subject specialists and get to know the students quickly so that they can ‘tap into’ what the children are interested in and teach their curriculum subjects through those areas of interest. Each child has a very real, collaborative, decision-making stake in their own educational journey.

Engagement

Our class sizes are small (3-6 students) or 1 to 1, depending on what students and their parents are looking for. A good rapport and a communicative relationship with teachers and classmates are two of our top priorities and we establish these at the very start of the programme. We know that the key to sustained engagement from our learners is education that is relevant and delivered by an enthusiastic specialist.

Communication

At the heart of our programmes is the relationship between teacher and student. By asking questions, encouraging students to re-examine, rephrase or reconsider their opinions or knowledge, teachers are not only able to evaluate the learning that is taking place in front of them but they can also offer the precious opportunity for students to answer and more importantly, ask their own questions. We know how empowering this is for students rather than remaining silent in a larger class of students. We can all appreciate the value of having this freedom to engage in discussions. Furthermore, this kind of questioning fosters critical thinking skills from an early stage and generates good learners.

Pace

Students are able to learn at a rate that suits them. The lesson pace can be increased or slowed down, depending on the topic, the time of year (for example exam season) or indeed how the student is feeling that hour of that day. We all know that the ebb and flow of concentration can be influenced by many factors. We believe that by speeding up when a teaching point is understood, or already known by the students and slowing down when a particular area of interest arises or when a topic gets particularly difficult, we offer the children an honest chance to investigate and discover new things at the pace that is right for them.

Education fits into life

Learning online is convenient and easy to adapt to even the busiest of lifestyles. We set timetables that reflect the parts of the day most conducive to learning, vary the structure of each day in terms of subjects in each lesson slot and students are taught, right from an early age, by a range of different teachers. One of the most positive and popular aspects of being able to access schooling online is that education fits into our lives with ease, rather than life being organised around education.