As the online schooling wave spreads across the globe, more and more parents are welcoming this model. For years, the conventional schooling system has been considered the most appropriate and effective model for students. However, following the pandemic, this notion is being challenged.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, most students were forced to switch to online learning. Hesitant at first, they quickly embraced the model owing to its flexibility, convenience, and student-friendliness. As we ease out of the pandemic, online learning is still quite popular across the globe.
The online schooling model is especially well-suited for gifted students who are already motivated, talented, and ready to do their best. These students must be equipped with the right tools, expertise, guidance, and support needed for academic success.
This blog will discuss how online schooling helps students provide these essentials. In comparison, do conventional schools offer the same resources? If not, why? And lastly, is online schooling right for your children?
Keep reading; we’ll cover all the bases to help you understand why online school is perfect for gifted, hardworking, and precocious students.
1. The Faculty
No matter how great an institution may be, it cannot help students succeed if it doesn’t boast an experienced, qualified, skilled, and detail-oriented faculty. As a parent, you can choose between hundreds of online schools. However, as you begin the research process, set your criteria. Instead of choosing a run-of-the-mill online school, find the most experienced, prestigious, and trusted institution in your country.
Talented students thrive when qualified teachers teach them. Your children should get the opportunity to study under the guidance of stellar teachers who provide individualised attention to each pupil. Today, the top online schools stand out for this approach.
At Cambridge Home School Online, we have a team of MA/MSc/PhD qualified subject specialist teachers on board. We believe that when the right teachers take students under their wings, the outcome is excellent in-class performance, top grades, and acceptance from top-rated universities.
Our teachers are assiduously trained to deliver effective, engaging, and retentive online lessons. They help students develop a genuine, sustained interest in their lessons and perform optimally in the classroom.
2. The Curriculum
If your child is wise beyond their years, you must be extremely proactive as a parent. Talented students must never be provided mediocre academic support and guidance. If this is the case, their academic strengths may never come to light.
At CHS Online, we strongly believe gifted students should be taught an independent curriculum, not a conventional one. Why? Our independent, interdisciplinary, and well-rounded curriculum covers a lot more ground than its conventional counterpart. We cover greater academic breadth and depth, which helps our students develop a nuanced understanding of their lessons. As a result, students learn more effectively.
Since we cover more subtopics, students develop mastery in their subjects. When they sit for their exams, their concepts are clear and expansive. They don’t just possess superficial knowledge. Instead, their knowledge extends across the breadth and depth of each subject. Students who study our independent curriculum are more knowledgeable, well-informed, and intelligent than the average student.
This approach has helped us yield excellent results. In June 2021, 86% of our IGCSE students secured A*s and As in their target subjects. 83% of our A Level students secured two As and a B or higher, as requested by top universities. Moreover, all students who applied received offers from some of the world’s best universities.
When gifted students are taught a masterfully developed curriculum by MA/MSc/PhD teachers, they learn and perform exceptionally well. This has always been our goal. The online schooling model helps us bring it to fruition.
Recommended Read: The Ideal Student
3. Personal, Social, and Extracurricular Growth
If your child is gifted, you may feel tempted to tap into the entirety of their academic talents. As you should. However, in doing so, you may go overboard. Many parents end up overwhelming their students. If you put too much pressure on your child, they’ll feel overburdened, overworked, and drained.
This can do more harm than good. When precocious students are pushed beyond their limits, they may lose their intrinsic interest in academics. Your child may become withdrawn, push studies away, and start performing poorly in school. At CHS Online, we believe that balance isn’t just important, but it’s necessary. It shouldn’t be perceived as an option. Instead, it should be considered an essential part of a student’s schooling journey.
Our teachers and school counsellors help students develop a healthy school-life balance. Yes, our pupils study hard and perform well in school. However, that’s not all. We also encourage them to explore a wide range of personal, social, and extracurricular interests.
Our students play competitive sports, socialise with their friends, spend time with their family, go on trips, explore new interests and hobbies, participate in competitions, and have diverse experiences. The learning process isn’t just academic; it’s also non-academic. When students focus on both aspects of their journey, they grow holistically.
The online schooling model stands out for helping students achieve this balance. Let’s understand why. At CHS Online, we maintain a low student-teacher ratio. Our classes comprise 8–10 students, no more. This helps us ensure that each student has a focused learning experience. Since the classroom isn’t crammed with students, the teacher can provide one-on-one attention to every child. As a result, students receive the support, attention, and guidance they need to succeed.
This approach is lacking in most conventional schools today. The large majority of conventional schools have a high student-teacher ratio. Each class comprises a minimum of 20 students and a maximum of 40 students.
At first glance, it may sound like a good approach. The more students in a classroom, the better, right? There will be greater interactivity and collaboration. Students will connect with their peers and have rich, insightful, stimulating class discussions. In actuality, this isn’t the case.
When a classroom comprises 20+ students, the teacher cannot focus on each student. There are simply too many pupils in the classroom for the teacher to pick up on each student’s academic strengths, weaknesses, preferences, and patterns. When this knowledge slips through the cracks, teachers struggle to understand how each student is performing on an individual level and which tools they need to improve their performance.
The classroom’s collective performance is tracked, but each student’s individual growth is sidelined. As a result, student performance declines.
The online schooling model tackles this problem by ensuring that each classroom comprises a very small number of students. This is extremely important for gifted students who require one-on-one guidance. At CHS, we provide that. Our classes are still interactive and stimulating. We encourage strong class participation among 8–10 students. The class never gets dull or boring at any point.
Recommended Read: How Homeschooling Parents Can Give Their Kids Athletic Training Without the Public School
4. Academic Resources
The online learning model stands out for providing academic resources to students. At CHS Online, we’re extremely proud of our online repository. Up and running 24/7, our library is replete with tools like previous catch-up lessons, past papers, PowerPoint presentations, videos, activities, worksheets, exercises, study guides, and so much more. Students can access these whenever they want.
These resources particularly come in handy for gifted students who enjoy self-study. Once they’re done with their classes for the day, our students explore these resources and cover more ground. Our tools help sustain the learning process even when our teachers aren’t available.
We encourage students to utilise the online repository for homework, revision, and further study. Our teachers and education specialists update the resources each week. This helps us ensure that our repository is filled with the most relevant, appropriate material that helps students become better learners.
We’re always open to suggestions from parents. Over the years, several parents have submitted resources for our library. We carefully review them to determine whether they’re relevant, useful, and value-added enough for our library. If they make the cut, they’re added to our database.
Our library is closely monitored at all times to ensure comprehensiveness and completeness. By creating this tool for students, we help them sharpen their skills, traverse greater academic ground, and become life-long learners.
Recommended Read: 5 Resources Your Online School Should Offer
5. Ample Flexibility
The culture of overworking students is becoming increasingly rampant across the globe, especially in Asia. At CHS Online, we strongly believe that students should enjoy a flexible routine, not a rigid routine. Flexibility helps students prioritise other critical aspects of their life: sleep, diet, health, exercise, sports, socialisation, etc.
In many conventional schools, students attend protracted lessons and return home feeling drained, exhausted, and fatigued. Teachers often keep students in school for longer than the intended duration. As detention culture becomes more common in the UK, student mental health is affected. There are many ways to discipline students. Keeping them in an enclosed classroom for hours on end isn’t the right approach.
As an online school, we have developed a more empathetic and humane approach. We believe that students must not be infantilised. Instead, they should be treated like responsible, self-aware, and capable individuals who can make the right decisions for themselves. Of course, younger students require a different approach. However, we ensure that older students aren’t micromanaged.
All of our students enjoy a flexible routine. Their classes are well-structured and well-timed. They begin and end as planned. We ensure that students have ample time to enjoy other activities after school. Instead of forcing them to study for unnecessary long hours, we follow a balanced routine to keep students motivated and happy.
As highlighted above, our approach has already helped our students secure top grades. When students are given controlled freedom, they’re more likely to act responsibly. When students are micromanaged, controlled, and restricted, they become recalcitrant and find ways to “break the rules”, which lands them in trouble.
The online schooling model is also recognised for its strong focus on mental health. We provide each student with one-on-one success coaching and pastoral support as an institution. If a student is struggling at any time, they unhesitatingly reach out to our teachers or student counsellors. We ensure that students have a helping hand to reach out to at all times. Instead of sweeping their struggles under the rug, our students promptly ask for help, discuss their issues in a healthy, safe space, and come out stronger on the other side.
Our counselling sessions are private and confidential. If a student requests anonymity, we comply. Our counsellors are empathetic, supportive, and non-judgmental. This goes a long way in helping students feel comfortable opening up, sharing their concerns, and getting help.
By doubling down on academic growth, personal development, social enrichment, extracurricular growth, and mental health, the online schooling model helps students succeed and become responsible citizens who contribute to society. If you’re considering the switch to online learning, you’re on the right track.
At Cambridge Home School Online, we proudly teach the Cambridge homeschool curriculum to students across the globe. As one of the most prestigious online British schools in the UK, Europe, Central Asia, South Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, we’re trusted by thousands of parents.
Explore our four competitive homeschooling programs: Primary Prep/Key Stage 2 (ages 7 to 10), Lower School/Key Stage 3 (ages 11 to 13), Upper School/IGCSEs (ages 14 to 16), and Sixth Form/AS & A-Levels (ages 17 to 19).
For more information, explore the following resources:
Whether you’re interested in high school online learning, school options for working parents, secondary schools in the UK, or primary school programs, CHS Online is the right choice. Increase your chances of enrolment by submitting an early application. We look forward to equipping your students with the expertise and tools they need to succeed. Thank you for trusting us.
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FAQ
How does Cambridge Home School Online ensure academic success for its students?
Cambridge Home School Online ensures academic success by providing an experienced, qualified faculty, a comprehensive and independent curriculum, and a focus on personal, social, and extracurricular growth, all within a supportive and flexible online learning environment.
What should parents look for when choosing an online school for gifted students?
Parents should prioritize schools with an experienced faculty, an interdisciplinary curriculum, a focus on skill development, and a balanced approach to academic and personal growth, ensuring a well-rounded educational experience.
Why is an independent curriculum beneficial for gifted students?
An independent curriculum like the one at Cambridge Home School Online covers a broader academic scope, providing depth and mastery in subjects that encourage gifted students to perform optimally and excel in exams.
How does Cambridge Home School Online maintain a healthy school-life balance for students?
By maintaining a low student-teacher ratio and offering flexible scheduling, Cambridge Home School Online enables students to balance rigorous academic pursuits with personal interests and social activities.
What resources does Cambridge Home School Online provide to support its students’ learning?
Cambridge Home School Online offers an extensive online library with various academic resources like past papers, catch-up lessons, and study guides to supplement students’ learning and promote independent study habits.
