This blog is from one of COBIS’ Supporting Associates.

Written by King's InterHigh.

Student achievement is one of the most powerful promotional tools any international school can have. Academic success isn’t just a validation of your tireless hard work, but also a major signal to prospective families — what you do works, and it’s more than worth the investment.

If you’re looking for more ways to unlock your students’ full potential and bolster exam results, a hybrid learning partnership could be your key.

Partnering with a trusted provider of online learning brings your students an unmatched academic combination: the outstanding education, facilities, and opportunities you provide, plus the unique strengths of online learning — all without the usual cost, effort, or risk of creating an in-house hybrid offering. You can utilise hybrid learning to bridge recruitment gaps, add new subjects to your curriculum, scale your school with additional year groups, and more.

But does online learning really work to support student achievement? To see the proof, you only need to look to examples like Katie Jones: a recent King’s InterHigh online school student who achieved the highest mark in the world in Cambridge A Level Psychology last year.

To find out how a hybrid learning partnership could complement your offering and help your students reach the same heights, read on.

Flexible, on-demand learning

It’s no secret that flexibility can offer significant benefits in education. From giving learners greater control over what they learn to allowing them more freedom in when they learn, more and more international schools are seeking to incorporate flexible learning into their classrooms.

Online learning, however, is uniquely placed to allow flexibility beyond what’s usually possible. A great hybrid learning partner can bring your school live, virtual teaching on your specific timetable, but students will also get to benefit from that teaching long after class is over with the power of lesson recordings.

Hybrid partners that offer both live lessons and lesson recordings give your students the best of both worlds. With the ability to rewatch past classes, you never have to worry about pupils falling behind, even when they’re unwell. Even more beneficial is the ability to rewatch those lessons when revising for exams — a (usually impossible) opportunity to revisit their expert teacher’s explanations and class discussions right when students need it most.

On-demand lesson recordings are something Katie Jones credits as instrumental to her A Level success, allowing her to “recap the lesson immediately if I needed to make sure I had understood a topic, or at a later date if I needed to double-check my notes or add any missing information.”

Expert teaching that fills gaps

There are few situations more catastrophic for a GCSE or A Level student than losing a teacher midway through a course. Unfortunately, teacher retention has become more difficult as the years go by. From illnesses and maternity leave to sudden moves abroad, there are so many reasons why your wonderful teachers may need to leave their posts unexpectedly.

What’s often worse is the difficulty of recruiting a new teacher to fill that post, with 9 in 10 British international schools facing trouble hiring teachers according to the most recent COBIS Teacher Supply Research report. This could potentially leave your students without consistent, high-quality teaching for weeks or months, which can have serious knock-on effects on their final grades.

Hybrid learning partnerships can eliminate this worry entirely, bringing you access to a pool of highly qualified and experienced expert teachers exactly when you need them. If a teacher does leave, your students will be able to transition seamlessly to continuing their subjects online until you find a replacement, or for the duration of their course.

“Every psychology teacher I had was incredible,” said Katie Jones of her online lessons. “They always ensured that every lesson was enjoyable and engaging and that everyone was following and understanding all the content.”

Hybrid learning success with King’s InterHigh

With live, interactive online teaching from outstanding UK and internationally qualified teachers, 2023 COBIS Supporting Associate of the Year Award-winner King’s InterHigh can be your trusted solution to boosting student success.

Backed by a proven track record of success bringing hybrid learning to schools around the world, King’s InterHigh offers tailored online learning in a wide arrange of subjects from Key Stage 2 to Key Stage 5 — plus the benefit of on-demand recordings and materials, exam preparation classes, and support every step of the way.

“There were so many features of King’s InterHigh that were highly beneficial to me when it came to studying,” said Katie Jones reflecting on her achievement of highest mark in the world, adding, “All my teachers went above and beyond in supporting me.”