Acting stars Ellie-Mae and Jake Siame get the perfect balance at King’s InterHigh

Alongside their booming careers, the pair also share the same responsibility as any other tweens: doing well in their education. Of course, while most children were finishing homework and winding down for bed, Ellie-Mae and Jake were often just arriving home from auditions in London with missed lessons to catch up on — until they made the move to online school.

Here’s how daily life has been transformed for the siblings and their mum, Mary, since they joined King’s InterHigh.

Young stars on the rise

Given how many projects Ellie-Mae and Jake have in their filmographies, there’s a good chance you’ve seen them on screen before. Between them, they’ve appeared in popular films and TV shows likeBBC and HBO’s His Dark Materials, Channel 4’s Generation Z, Amazon Prime’s Modern Love, and Netflix’s Persuasion — plus short films, stage shows, and countless advertisements.

Ellie-Mae first caught the acting bug at the age of five, and it happened completely by chance. “She joined an agency after her dance school thought she’d be really good at modelling,” recalls Mary, “but it turned out they submitted her for an acting job.” Following auditions and callbacks, Ellie-Mae’s natural talent secured her a breakout film role in Sky Cinema’s Four Kids and It! Inspired by his sister’s experience, Jake soon followed suit when he was four.

Today, they’re represented by agencies for acting, voiceovers, and modelling, with parallel careers that only continue to grow. Of course, all that growth came with challenges, particularly when it came to school. Before they joined King’s InterHigh, Ellie-Mae and Jake had to work incredibly hard to juggle their acting commitments with traditional schooling.

“It was very stressful, especially for the kids,” says Mary, who explained that a typical day would start at 7:00 am when the children woke up for school. After spending an entire day in the classroom, she’d then have to pick them up and take them to auditions in London, over two hours of travel away. By the time they’d auditioned and travelled back home, it’d often be 9:00 or 10:00pm already. They’d then need to get enough sleep to get back up for school in the morning, “sometimes having to do all the self-tapes in between,” Mary says.

Things were sometimes difficult in the classroom too. “It was hard,” says Ellie-Mae, thinking back to the days when they’d have to leave school early or miss entire days to film. When they returned to school, their classmates had trouble understanding where they’d been. Plus, Ellie-Mae says, “We wouldn’t really understand what was happening in the lesson the day before.”

“They wouldn’t really recap,” adds Jake, “and there were no lesson recordings to look over.” Naturally, while Mary says that the school did love that the children were getting great acting opportunities, mainstream schools typically aren’t set up to support students who need to be away from class. According to Mary, this was particularly apparent for young actors.

The flexible online learning solution

The challenges of traditional schooling are a common reality for many young student-actors today. Thankfully, however, it’s not the only pathway for budding stars to get a great education without sacrificing their dreams.

As Mary watched her children rush from lessons to film sets day after day, she saw how stretched they had become.

Together, the family decided to seek out a solution “that was balanced, so they could do both.” That’s when Ellie-Mae and Jake joined King’s InterHigh. Since becoming part of our online school community this January, daily life has changed for the better. Almost immediately, both the siblings and their mum noticed the difference that came with a more flexible approach to learning.

For both Ellie-Mae and Jake, for example, one of the biggest improvements is their newfound ability to manage their time according to their needs — not just by a rigid timetable. Since all of our live, interactive lessons are recorded, the siblings can focus on acting without falling behind in school.

Whether they’re filming self-tape auditions or working on a big project, they have the freedom to fit their schoolwork around their busy schedules. For example, Ellie-Mae says, “Last week, we brought our laptops to set. We looked over our lessons and did homework when we weren’t filming.” Even travel time has become productive, says Mary, as the children can catch up on homework while they’re on the train to London for auditions.

Perhaps most importantly, the pressure that once loomed over them on busy days is now gone. If filming runs late, for example, Ellie-Mae explains that “we can still get our sleep and then watch our lesson recordings,” rather than sacrificing proper rest and wellbeing for early morning classes.

Education that really works

Plus, alongside being able to balance their acting schedules, Ellie-Mae and Jake have also been enjoying their experience as learners at King’s InterHigh.

Ellie-Mae, for example, used to struggle with maths in her previous school, but the comfort and flexibility of the online learning environment has completely changed her relationship with the subject. With lots of different ways to participate in lessons, she’s able to give answers and ask for help without feeling nervous.

The pair are also big fans of King’s InterHigh’s innovative online platforms. Ellie-Mae, for example, admits she used to lose her homework when it was on paper, but now everything’s in one place in her Student Hub. They both love Inspired AI too, our unique tool that brings each student content and activities specifically tailored to them, which they can complete outside of lessons to boost their learning. Both Ellie-Mae and Jake love the positive feedback, and having more support to improve on the areas they find challenging is perfect when catching up with learning after a busy week.

“Ellie-Mae can stay up all night reading,” says Mary. “I have to hide books from her because she’ll read all night.” At King’s InterHigh, she loves subjects like English, film studies, drama, and creative media. Jake, on the other hand, is a STEM buff who can’t wait to add geography to his timetable when he starts Year 7 in September. Both young stars have a wide range of educational interests alongside their creative talents, so getting an education that’s supportive and high-quality is just as important as having more flexibility.

Great for the whole family

At King’s InterHigh, we’re proud to be part of Ellie-Mae and Jake’s support system, but our students aren’t the only ones who benefit from switching to online school. Behind the pair’s success is the hard work of mum Mary, and we’re happy to see that our learning approach takes a load off her too.

At traditional school, for example, the children required a permission letter every time they had to miss lessons for acting — key for their attendance records, but also for getting their performance licences. The licensing process often moves quickly, explains Mary, “but with the school, sometimes it took a few days, and you could miss a job. They’d just book the next person who’s got their licence ready.” This often left Mary having to call the school or head there in person to expedite the process, “and then you feel like you’re burdening them,” she says.

At King’s InterHigh, that’s no longer a concern. With flexible timetables, lesson recordings, and teachers who understand how busy life can be for young performers, Mary is able to manage their schedules stress-free. From attendance to grades, everything is easy to handle through our Parent Hub — something Mary is making the most of.

Meanwhile, Ellie-Mae and Jake have got a great rhythm going as siblings studying and working together, which is great when mum Mary is busy with their younger sister. When they’re rehearsing for self-tapes, they often help each other out with reading scripts.

Setting the stage for future success

Even at their young ages, Ellie-Mae and Jake already have clear visions for their futures. Ellie-Mae wants to continue acting, but as an English and film studies enthusiast, she also has her sights set on scriptwriting and directing. Jake’s secondary ambition besides acting, meanwhile, is to become a police officer. “He’d love to do that in a film too,” says Mary, with supportive sister Ellie-Mae adding, “I’ll write his script.”

Thankfully, without all the pressure of mainstream school schedules, they’ve got all the opportunity they need to continue scoring those big roles. Self-tapes are easy to fit around the online school day, giving both tweens more time during the day to prepare for their roles and share their best sides with casting agents. Mary even says the pair have more downtime to work on improving their acting skills through online Masterclasses and after-school training.

For the whole family, the balance online school brings has been transformative, lifting a huge weight off their shoulders. With no need to choose between education and acting, we know Ellie-Mae and Jake are sure to go far in all areas of their young lives.