All You Need To Know about the Admissions Process: Interview with Emily and Laura
Are you thinking about switching from traditional to online schooling? Maybe that seems daunting — how does it work? What do you do next? Who do you talk to? How do admissions work — how do you enrol? How do you know what an online school will be like, what do you need to do to prepare, and how will it work once you’re all settled in?
In this interview with Emily Jensen and Laura Hallet, Minerva’s stellar admissions team, all these questions are answered. They discuss the process from start to finish, as well as frequently asked questions and bits of advice for any prospective parents who want to know a little more before they begin the admissions process.
What’s the admissions process like at MVA?
Laura: Most things start with scheduling a call. These calls will be our first points of contact with parents who’ve got in touch through the website. They can either immediately choose a call, or fill out an enquiry form. Most often, we’re able to just phone them straight away after their website enquiry, and then there’s usually a 40-minute call, right then and there, where we can chat through everything.
The bulk of our day is spent speaking to new parents, and then following up with them — giving them a trial of Minerva's Virtual Learning Platform, checking to see how they found that, and answering any questions along the way.
Emily: After a phone call, parents might want to set up a face-to-face meeting. Otherwise — or after that meeting — they’ll receive a full email, detailing everything we’ve spoken about. We totally acknowledge that some of it might seem different and new, and we don’t expect you to remember everything! Then, parents can have a look at timetables and maybe start a trial if they want. At that point we’ll send a link to the enrolment form, which they can fill in whenever they’re ready — there’s no rush. Maybe they want to do the trial first, or ask more questions. Once they’ve filled out the form, we pass them to our operations team, who get things rolling.
Parents and students can trial the school for as long as they want. For those more sceptical parents who might need to visualise, to see the platform, the trial is great. A lot of the pupil’s time will be spent on that platform, so it’s a good chance to get to grips with it ahead of enrolling.
Laura: The whole thing is a very hand-holding process. Emily or I stay with parents throughout the whole thing, right until they’re being onboarded. They can ask questions at any point — they ring us, email us — and our response rate is very quick. No question is too big or too small -— right down to helping with specific questions on the enrolment form.
What are the most commonly-asked questions parents bring to you? Why and where are they coming to you from?
Emily: ‘How does it work?’ is probably the most common question! — Because MVA is so different, parents just tend to start there: some might have already done some research, but others are acting quickly. So ‘how does it work —’
Laura: —and ‘What does a typical week look like at MVA?’ That’s another common one. It’s amazing: speaking to and hearing so many prospective parents every day, we get a distinct picture of the educational landscape right now. The people coming to us are usually led by the needs of the child, rather than the parent, (although sometimes students join us because their parents are travelling or relocating for work). Mostly though it’ll be the students: their mental health, or SEN requirements or medical, physical needs that traditional schools can’t fulfil — or due to balancing their careers as athletes or musicians or actors.
Emily: There’s also a prospective student’s academic needs: students who can’t, in mainstream education, progress to the next year group where they’d be more comfortable, for example. With MVA you can skip a year or go back a year if you’re struggling. Finally, some students join purely because they prefer working from home. A lot of this has come about since the experiences from lockdown.
How do prospective parents regard the online nature of the school if they’re used to a more traditional setting?
Laura: Some parents might be a little sceptical — those who haven’t done so much research, maybe: they’ll say things like ‘they’re not in lessons all day, every day — what do they do?’ and then you explain it to them and they understand and come around. On each call, we often find ourselves explaining the whole ethos of the school.
Lots of parents have also talked to other online schools, so — whilst acknowledging that they are also great — we often explain to them that we’re newer: we’ve taken on those positive aspects from other online schools and developed, re-built and synthesised those things to make something that’s the best version of everything out there.
Emily: One thing that’s really important is catering for each different family — understanding exactly what they need, where they’re coming from — and thus in turn how we can be flexible. For example, if a child has special educational needs, or suffers from anxiety, or they really hate school and maybe work better independently and that’s why they’re looking for something new, then we take care to explain what each family can get out of MVA personally. If they’re worried about the lack of social interaction, we can point them towards the wonderful social side of things at MVA. But if the child would prefer to be a little less social, we can emphasise the freedom from, and lack of obligation to, the social.
Laura: I think we’re unique in how caring we are with our approach to admissions. We’re smaller, we have the time to help individuals. We’re not rushing through hundreds of parents a day, entering them into a factory-like system.
Emily: I really wanted to work for a school that truly cared for students, and that’s what I’ve found at MVA. The admissions process is only the beginning of the care you receive at MVA. What the school does — the mentoring, the support — is amazing!
Is there anything you wish more parents knew before they start the admissions process?
Emily: Our school is expanding: the A Level course is starting, and we’ll have whole new year groups next year. This, as well as that we’re going to be able to offer to start at Year 7 or 8, too! We get a lot of inquiries about that, so I’ll be excited to answer with a ‘yes’, very soon!
I’d also love prospective parents to know just how flexible MVA can be. And how exciting the model is: this supplementing of learning with independent study, which encourages so many important life skills. They’re not just sitting in front of a screen all day every day. The freedom MVA’s model offers — from taking a walk, to joining a club to pursuing a career — leaves so much room for excitement in a child, and their sense of empowerment.
Laura: I’d love people to have that confidence and trust in us. Yes, it's different from what you’re used to. But you’re coming to us looking for something different, right? Embrace it and trust in the process. It might not click right away, but that’s the same with anything new, especially school. We’ve introduced a new grace period of six weeks, post-trial, so families have that extra buffer and then can have a refund back on the remaining fees if they’d like to stop.
So, keep an open mind is what I’d say. No, they’re not sitting in live lessons every day: but why is that a bad thing? Think of what that means in terms of everything else they can do! Lots of parents still ask: do I have to sit with the child all day? I’d love them to know that’s not the case. Just imagine they’re still at school, properly — there’s still that rigour, that community, that support, that discipline. They’re just doing it from home. So, more flexibility, more freedom — which is all better for learning.
