Siân Mills Cambridge Home School Online Parent Testimonials

Speaker: Siân Mills(Bryn Mills Y11 2022/3)

Siân Mills(Bryn Mills Y11 2022/3) : Hi, my name is Sean Mills and I'm the mum of Bryn Mills who has just completed year 11 with the Cambridge Online School. Just to give you a little bit of background, Brynn and his family, myself and my husband and my sister and her son moved to North Wales after my twin sister lost her husband to cancer last year. So we could not or did not want to enroll them into the local school for year 11. So I found the Cambridge Online School and I enrolled Brynn into that instead. Um And I have to say I was really slightly reluctant at first worried, wondering what it would be like and obviously it's a critical year in year 11. Um and it needed to work and it needed to work immediately. Really. Um Bryn has always been a slightly reluctant school goer. Um never particularly been engaged by school or hugely enjoyed it. Um And this was completely the opposite case with the Cambridge online experience. I'm actually an ex head teacher myself and I was just so impressed with the attitude of the staff, how caring they were, how genuine they were, how they'd go above and beyond for the pupils and I think they treated them like adults. That was what I noticed the most and Bryn would come out of his lessons and it was quite an intense schedule. Um, but you'd be laughing and he'd be smiling and he genuinely seemed to want to please the teachers that were, that were teaching him. Um, and that is something that I hadn't seen before. So, as I said, I was reluctant at first wondered how it would work. Um Obviously, it's not the normal traditional approach to a classroom. But there is still that kind of sense of belonging, there's still that sense of family, there's still that sense of caring about the students. There's still interaction between the students even though it's online. And I think I just was really, really impressed by the way it was set up and how much they the teachers really did set out to build those genuine caring relationships with the students. And for me, that's what it's all about so much so that by the time that Bryn had finished his exams, he was coming to me to say, can I thank some of my teachers and there was one in particular and I said, yeah, of course, you can. Um like I say, we all do the job and it's lovely to be thanked, particularly by a student that is wanting to do it off his own back. So if you are a parent that is thinking about using Cambridge online. I completely recommend it. It couldn't be probably more critical a year than year 11 and it's worked really well. Not had the results yet, but hoping that he will get the grades, he needs to be able to go on and do his A levels. But most importantly, he was happy and I think that is the most important thing if you have students that are happy and feel, you know, genuinely sort of the attention is given to them. But as an, you know, as an adult, especially in year 11, then you're going to get students that, that want to work, that want to impress and that want to, you know, make their teachers happy and that's what I saw. So I don't know quite how it works. Um Brin won't be going on to do year, year 12, sorry, at Cambridge Online. So, I don't know. Um, he has just done year 11, but I still felt the sort of need to do this testimonial because I think there are so many people out there that might be going through different circumstances. Ours was really a very sad situation but actually they were really traumatic time has kind of come out of it with a really good schooling experience. Um, and the last thing I wanted to do was to sort of put him into year 11 in a, in a strange school, um, where we live and you know, it's relationships that matter and that's what really counted for Bryn and that extra attention, um, always having them at the end of an email. Um, if you had any questions or queries and I think the facility to be able to rewatch the lessons is amazing. Um, so they can go back and they can rewatch and, um, you know, go over things. Um, so, yeah, really, really impressed and if you are a parent thinking about it, then I say, absolutely, go for it. And like I say, as an ex head teacher, I was probably quite a tough critic, but I have been really impressed and um I wish the school the best of luck and um I'm looking forward to now seeing Bryn progress go on to his A levels and hopefully university if that's what he wants. All right then. Thank you very much and goodbye.

Siân Mills(Bryn Mills Y11 2022/3) : We chose to educate Bryn online um because we'd moved to North Wales after um quite a tragic circumstance, really um uh his uncle um after a five year battle with neuro endocrine cancer lost his battle. And so we bought a house with my twin sister and her son and supported them. So yeah, that's why we chose online learning. But I chose Cambridge particularly just because of the conversations I had with the deputy here, Mr Boylan. And he kind of really reassured us that um it would be something that would work for us. And yeah, I it has worked for us and I completely recommend it. And I think if you've got any doubts whatsoever, then I think these testimonials will really help you and also speaking to the staff as well and um realizing that they really do care about their students and want them to achieve.

Siân Mills(Bryn Mills Y11 2022/3) : Hi. Sorry. I think I may have overloaded. You on question one, perhaps, didn't, um, read the question properly. So I've probably given lots of information anyway. Um, how has it changed my child? It has changed my child in terms of he has matured so much and I think the way that the teachers treated him, helped that situation, um, treating him like an adult and making him feel that his responses were valued, never making him feel like anything was wrong as in, oh, you've made a huge mistake or, um, you know, none of the situations that we had previously experienced, um, at a different school. Um, and like I say, schooling hadn't always been easy for Bryn. Um, but Crane Bridge online made it a really genuine, genuine, um, friendly experience where they really made the pupils feel that they mattered and that they had an opinion and they had, um, the right to an opinion and equally that it's ok to make mistakes and it's ok to get things wrong. Um, and that's how we learn. And, um, I think that's a brilliant approach to have and it's really, really helped my son

Siân Mills(Bryn Mills Y11 2022/3) : My son has only done year 11 with Cambridge Online. So he hasn't done um a huge number of years. But to other parents, I would just say, um don't be in any doubt to enroll your child at the school and they will have a really positive experience and they will genuinely benefit from it. It is a different approach to obviously being in a classroom. But for many Children, you know, regardless of various different circumstances, it can be a really, really empowering experience and one that um can possibly make schooling experience from something that maybe was slightly negative or um not always pleasant into one that is, is really, is a um a positive learning experience and that it helps them as a, as an all round pupil, I think, not just in their academic learning, but equally in their confidence in their self esteem and in their ability to speak to adults and to voice their opinions and their and explain their learning in a really safe, secure caring environment. And many Children unfortunately, don't always get that situation. So I absolutely recommend it. And um it has been really, really beneficial to my son.

Siân Mills(Bryn Mills Y11 2022/3) : Uh without a doubt. Absolutely yes, would recommend Cambridge Online. And um, yeah, I think it's because of all the things that I've probably already said. But most importantly, um, your child is made to feel like they matter. They are made to feel like they are listened to and they will form really good relationships with the teachers who I imagine have been very carefully selected for not only their um academic subject knowledge, but equally their personalities, their ability to make Children feel relaxed and, and want to learn. And I think that is really, really important. And as I said, I was probably a bit of a bit of a critic I've only ever worked in the educational sector in the normal traditional way, but I've been really, really impressed by what I've seen and that, yeah, it will suit so many different Children regardless. You don't have to be traveling around the world with your family or anything like that. It could simply be that your child is struggling in the normal traditional set up and that this would suit them much, much better. And I cannot thank them enough for the confidence that they've given my son, the ability to talk to, to adults confidently, um, and, and laugh with them and, and use humor and, and understand that teachers are just, they're just humans and they're there just to help them and support them. And, um, that some of the stuff that goes on in the traditional school setting is kind of stuff that isn't needed and can waste a bit of time and it's very, very kind of engineered to make the best use of your child's time. And that must equate then to a better learning experience. It certainly has in my situation. And like I say, I would completely recommend it to other parents. Um Don't be, you know, put off by the fact that it is a little bit of a different approach. Um Lots of the things that you think they're going to gain from the traditional school setting, they will get from this as well. And I think as well even just the fact that for some pupils just sitting somewhere familiar in their own home or with their family near them. Um then, you know, my office was literally underneath Brynn's room and I could quite often hear what was happening in the lessons and every time I was impressed, um it just made me feel good that my son was learning, but also also enjoying it and laughing and smiling and they were showing a genuine interest in him and he had some great conversations about his, our, um, our pet dog and, um, his life in Wales and they didn't know anything about why we moved here and the sad circumstances, but they made him, made him feel important. Um, and there's so much more to academic learning than just sitting and being taught, something you need to form those relationships and make Children feel comfortable. And that's what this school does.