June 28, 2022

Flexible online education fits around training commitments for young tennis athletes in London

In collaboration with Junior Elite Tennis (also known as ‘JET’), King’s InterHigh is proud to deliver an authentic British international education to young tennis athletes, completely online.

Located in North London, Junior Elite Tennis is home to budding tennis stars training to reach professional success. The tennis academy was established by two entrepreneurs and tennis enthusiasts with decades of experience: Alan Jones and Jo Durie. Jones is a former coach for the renowned Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), while Durie is a former a world No. 5 WTA player.

Together, the pair have created an environment where young athletes and realise their full sporting potential through training with some of the best professional coaches in the tennis world.

From the age of 10, children with professional sports aspirations can join JET for a bespoke training programme delivered by a team of outstanding coaches. Now, these students also receive a high-quality education programme that fits around their needs and lifestyle — all delivered by King’s InterHigh.

With King’s InterHigh, tennis trainees at Junior Elite Tennis enjoy a flexible world class education. All lessons are interactive and online, taught by highly qualified expert teachers who also understand and appreciate the unique needs of youth athletes.

Teachers deliver these classes live with innovative and collaborative learning elements, but they’re also recorded and made available for 24/7 viewing. With round-the-clock access to lesson recordings, materials, and resources, JET students never fall behind on their schoolwork — no matter how intensive their training or competition schedule becomes. If there’s a tournament or an away game coming up, these young tennis stars can simply follow along with recorded lessons while they’re busy or traveling.

Lessons aren’t the only way King’s InterHigh brings flexibility to Junior Elite Tennis students. These young athletes also have the freedom to choose which subjects (and how many subjects) they’d like to study and focus on. Timetables are built around each student’s interests, choices, and preferred way of studying. For example, one student is currently studying six IGCSE subjects with most live lessons taking place in the mornings, while another has chosen to focus on five IGCSEs primarily taught in the afternoon.

Alongside effective and engaging teaching in small class sizes, every JET student receives individualised support and guidance from tutors and health and wellbeing staff at King’s InterHigh. To round out academic and pastoral support, learners also have the guidance of an on-site education supervisor at JET. This structure ensures that every student can achieve their full academic potential without compromise.

Mr. Gareth Lucas-Howells, Head of Education Partnerships at King’s InterHigh, says: “We are extremely proud to work in partnership with JET to ensure athletes’ academic potential is fully supported and realised while they pursue their passions in tennis. The ability for athletes to access an education that is tailored to their unique circumstances is empowering and ensures that they can balance and blend an academic education while pursuing their dreams of becoming professional tennis stars!”

Jo Durie, Principal Coach at Junior Elite Tennis says: “We are delighted to have a partnership with King’s InterHigh that over the years proved to be an invaluable component of our tennis programme. Our young athletes have an extremely demanding training schedule and it is essential they have access to high quality flexible education to achieve their best potential.“