A new year signifies the stretch of fresh beginnings. It is symbolic to the world’s entire population. There are countdowns, New Year’s Eve parties, and family gatherings – a unified celebration despite the many different time zones that separate us. It’s a call to start anew. At least that’s the expectation the UKVS team had. But fate had a different path set for us. Almost immediately, the team’s morale had been tested when a number of our teaching and admin staff got ill the exact same week classes started back.

Aside from the flu season, COVID is still looming all over the world. But we won’t let this stop us. If anything, we are more motivated than ever! 2021 was a pivotal year for UK Virtual School. There were certainly ups and downs, but the journey had been priceless. It was a rewarding experience. And there are so many things that we’ve already been through together. Yet there is still so much to unravel and discover this year and the many years to come!

For starters, we’re introducing new subjects to our roster! In pursuit of changing the landscape of education, we want to continuously broaden the opportunities for our students. Our holistic approach meant going beyond core subjects, breaking the boundaries of what families expect for their children’s education. It’s a recognition that UK Virtual School and its students are equipped to be globally competitive. We have upcoming subjects that will surely excite families, so stay tuned on our channels as we roll out droplets of teasers starting this month!

But before moving forward, let’s also zoom out a bit and recap the past year!

Syd is the pillar behind UK Virtual School.

It was in 2021 that we first introduced our founder, Syd. As the founder of UK Virtual School, Syd was hands-on. She made sure that every step we took aligned with our vision to revolutionise education. It’s her determination and passion that continues to inspire the people around her, especially the teaching and admin staff at UK Virtual School. You’d think working in a virtual environment would be hard. But it works out so well when your values align with the people you work with. Of course, it wasn’t initially easy. We’ve had people come and go internally. There were some who didn’t align with the work that we do. There were a few whose schedules didn’t fit. It was trial and error but in the end, we found the right people. 2021 saw the company expanding. We now have over 20 staff employed, all working remotely!

Do you have favourite UKVS character?

We also launched our core values last year. With Syd’s guidance and vision, our team reimagined these core values and gave them a life of their own, becoming the mascot characters of the school. We thought, “How will our students connect with these core values?” We knew right then and there, we had to make it engaging. And from there, we started to work on building our brand centred on our new friends: Growth Mindset, Curiosity, Innovation, and Diversity & Inclusion. Now, they’re everywhere! Our teachers incorporated them into lessons and our coaching tutorials are focused on branching these core values into fruition. We even launched a storybook, watch out for the sequel this year!

We’re expanding!

UK Virtual School opened new subjects last year and became a catalyst of many learning opportunities. We introduced Worldviews, Languages, and Arts. The more we explored these subjects, the more we got to know the interests of our students. Our video bundles were also launched alongside, allowing other families to take advantage of this flexible option.

We have many more milestones together.

That’s a lot!

Our very own academic journal and storybook.

UK Virtual School was recognised as a finalist in multiple awards events.

We had successful monthly events and meetings and a lot of you dressed up!

We had over 7,200 classes resulting in more than 3,100 videos recorded. Imagine that!

Moreover, we embarked on new platforms through our podcast and our YouTube channel so make sure to subscribe if you haven’t yet!

It’s really surprising just how much we did in 2021 alone. We look forward to making more memories and achieving more milestones with you. 2022 has a lot in store for us and we already have loads of thrilling things planned ahead! The previous year was about building the brand, establishing connections with families, and improving the systems we have in place. This year is about expanding our world, opening new doors, and broadening opportunities.

And we want you to be there with us every step of the way. Cheers to a fruitful 2022!

Catch the year-end wrap-up video below!