New Online British School Launched – But Not in the UAE… Yet…

A new online school is being launched in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic that aims to offer the best of British education, predominantly online. The school is different to purely digital ventures in offering access to real world schools for both sports and arts subjects.

In order to enable this the school, King’s College Online, has partnered with 60 of its mother company’s schools around the world. The new hybrid education offer is being launched by Inspired, a co-educational, non-denominational, independent school group that already educates 50,000 children in schools across five continents and 20 countries.

Note, the school is not connected to the Kings’ group of schools in the UAE, or King’s College London.

Students will be able to study for full-time international GCSE and A-levels online.

Initially, lessons are being launched in China and New Zealand for courses starting in January 2021. Rapid roll-out will then see courses available elsewhere from 2021. The group has schools in Oman and Bahrain, but not yet in the UAE.

The core King’s College Online programme will cost £6,380 (30,000 AED), for a full suite of five international GCSEs and/or four A-level courses. This is pricier than some physical schools in the UAE offering GCSEs and A’ Levels which would make the quality of its offering, the school it was partnering with in any location, and extra-curricula activities of key importance to its success.

King’s Online says winter and summer camps will be run with leading partners in their field, such as sport with the Real Madrid Football Foundation, fashion with Missoni and performing arts with the Berklee College of Music. Students will also be invited to opt for an experience in a physical school or school camp at preferential rates.

Teachers have already been recruited from Inspired’s current global network of schools. Students will learn through live keynote lessons, supported by personalised tutorial study groups and proactive weekly performance tracking, as well as co-curricular activities such as music, drama, art and coding. They will also have access to additional support, such as 24-hour pastoral care and university counsellors.

Nadim Nsouli, the founder and CEO of Inspired, said: “It is always a pleasure to launch a new school, and even more so to launch the first of its type in the world. Many parents have commented on the success of our digital offering during this pandemic, which motivated us to imagine an all-online school.

“King’s College Online will be unique in that it is the first online school launched by a premium global group of schools, enabling its students to access prestigious physical schools around the world to complement their online learning.

“This new project enables even more children to access the best of an international curriculum and allows them to open the doors to the world’s best universities.”

Inspired group schools currently enable 90 per cent of students to successfully obtain a place at their first-choice university, including those in the UK Russell Group and US Ivy League.

In line with the British curriculum being taught, students will be required to have appropriate proficiency in English. Entrance will be non–selective, but a number of scholarships will be on offer.

The Pearson Edexcel international GCSE and A-Level curriculum will be used, delivered via the leading Canvas learning platform, which incorporates the latest student and teacher dashboards, online assignments, and embedded artificial intelligence.