Lights, camera, A Levels: How Dan found a school that keeps up with his acting dreams

Back then, he attended mainstream school, and his acting dreams simply didn’t fit with his education. His grades slipped, and when he finished his GCSEs, his options for the future felt limited. Dan and his family knew they needed a sixth form that could accommodate both pursuits, but nobody seemed to have an answer.

That is, until they found King’s InterHigh. Now, Dan is studying for his A Levels online, giving him the freedom to balance his goals as a performer and a learner. We caught up with Dan and his dad Rob to hear their full story.

When ambitions outgrow school

Dan joined King’s InterHigh at the start of this academic year, but the path that led him to online learning started quite a while earlier. During his time at mainstream school, Dan’s stellar acting skills landed him a highly coveted role in the British television drama Hollyoaks.

But it wasn’t long before the demands of his blossoming career began to clash with the demands of the classroom. Keeping up with schoolwork alongside a professional acting job was truly difficult, and his results sadly began to reflect the struggles. “I went from getting quite high grades to just a ‘good pass’,” says Dan. “My grades dropped, and I just knew I needed a better solution.”

The question was: what would that solution look like? For Dan, giving up his dreams wasn’t on the table, but neither was giving up on school. “After I did my GCSEs, I wanted to pursue acting more,” he explains, “but I was also aware that I might not be able to get those opportunities, so I still wanted have an education.” He needed a pathway that could hold both ambitions at once.

Both Dan and his family threw themselves into finding one. They visited mainstream colleges, sat through open days, and spoke to tutors, but they came away with no luck each time. “No one seemed to have a solution,” Dan’s father Rob recalls. Thankfully, someone did: Dan’s acting agent, who pointed them towards King’s InterHigh as a school that could accommodate the reality of his unique schedule.

It wasn’t a quick decision for Rob. Like many parents new to online learning, he was uncertain about the social side of online school, and the idea of learning from home felt like uncharted territory. But “after a long chat,” says Rob, “we decided that we could support him in whatever he wanted to do.”

So Dan enrolled in Year 12 to begin his A Levels with us, and King’s InterHigh turned out to be everything they were looking for.

Why flexible learning works so well

When we asked Dan to share the biggest difference between mainstream school and King’s InterHigh, the answer came quickly: flexibility. As someone whose week can shift at a moment’s notice, having a school that flexes around him has been a gamechanger. “It’s really good being able to do my lessons anywhere, at any time,” says Dan, whether that’s at home, a café, or even his grandma’s house. “I can do it on set. I can do it after I finish filming. I love the flexibility.”

That flexible, tailored way to learn is built into the foundations of our school environment at King’s InterHigh. All lessons are taught live by experienced teachers, and students can access their classes from anywhere in the world with a computer and an internet connection. But crucially for students like Dan, every lesson is also recorded and available to watch at any time.

Dan joined King’s InterHigh as a Library Learner, which means he has full freedom to structure learning around his schedule but can still join lessons live whenever he chooses. It’s the ideal blend of interactive learning and flexibility, which makes it a great option for students with unpredictable schedules (including actors like Dan, athletes, and young people with health and wellbeing needs).

For Dan, the practical benefits are clearest on audition days. “If I get an audition and I have to go to London,” he explains, “it’s very easy to message my teachers that day and say I can’t attend the lessons, and it’s very easy to find the time to look back at the lessons later.”

Just recently, he was able to get some of his schoolwork done on the train to an audition, then catch up properly later that evening. His dad Rob puts it well: “We’ve got that reassurance that if he does have to go and do anything, then we can fit learning in over the weekend or in the evening.”

More than just high-quality education

While flexibility is one of the main draws of online learning for Dan and his family, it’s not the only thing they love about King’s InterHigh.

With no active acting projects on the go right now, Dan is settled into a steady routine, following his timetable and working hard on his A Level prep from the spare bedroom where he joins his lessons. Being able to learn with lesson recordings is still important when he has auditions, but his online school experience has been shaped just as much by the people around him.

In the classroom, for example, Dan says he was struck by how engaged and supportive his teachers are. “They’re very open to questions and they make learning as conversational as possible,” he says. From live Q&As to open discussions, our teachers make lessons truly interactive and collaborative, perfect for digging deep into those complex A Level topics. As Dan explains, he can email his teachers for help between classes, and they’ll even mark work he’s completed outside of his lessons for extra study.

Then, there’s the community beyond the screen. “I’ve really enjoyed the meetups at King’s InterHigh, and meeting different people,” shares Dan. “The bowling trip was the best one that I’ve done recently.”

For parents who worry that online school may mean learning in isolation, Dan’s experience reveals the reality. Between online clubs, school trips, community events, and more, there’s no shortage of ways for students to connect. Our bowling meetups are one of the most popular regular events on our school calendar, giving students and parents the chance to bond casually over delicious food and fun games — and Dan’s mum even came along to the last session.

While it may feel a bit different to chatting with classmates in the corridor, Dan says, “I wouldn’t say it was difficult in any way and I didn’t feel like I was missing out on any social activities.” Alongside his online social life, he’s also kept up regularly with his old friends outside of school. Plus, something unique about King’s InterHigh is that Dan has been able to meet other young people just like him, who are balancing school with unique passions and goals.

Lights, camera, A Levels (and beyond)

As his school life finds its rhythm, Dan hasn’t taken his eyes off the dreams that brought him to King’s InterHigh to begin with. His acting journey started with local productions, where he built his experience and found his feet. That work eventually landed him an agent, and the opportunities grew from there. A role in the film Speak No Evil followed, and then Hollyoaks. But what’s next?

Dan’s plan for now is to keep auditioning, in hopes of landing his next big project. And with the right support system in place for his education, that challenge feels far more manageable than it may have done at mainstream school. At the same time, he’s clear-eyed about the future. While acting is his dream, all young stars know that the industry doesn’t always follow a plan.

So, King’s InterHigh gives him the opportunity to pursue whichever path works out best for him. He’s currently studying A Levels in Psychology, Media Studies, and his favourite subject, English Language. After he graduates, his next academic goal is university. While Dan doesn’t know what he wants to study yet, he’s already planning to start visiting campuses with his mum, and King’s InterHigh has been helping him there too.

“The Sixth Form Launchpad gives you all the resources that you could want for A Levels,” says Dan, referring to our purpose-built resource hub for students. “It’s very, very good, and it’s what I go to if I’m ever stuck with anything. It gives me every bit of information that I need.”

As he approaches the halfway point of his A Level studies, Dan has everything under control. His advice to other sixth form students? Be international about how you learn. “You need to do more than just take notes — you need to make sure you engage with what the teachers are teaching you, as well as studying outside of lessons,” he says, as learning is an individual thing.

Rob’s advice, meanwhile, is to focus on your child’s mental health. It’s a priority that resonates widely with our school community, with many families joining us specifically because the pressure and pace of mainstream education have taken a toll on their wellbeing. Alongside the flexibility and wellbeing support we offer, Rob says parents need to make sure their children aren’t just focusing on academics: “Support them in seeing people, join the activities that King’s InterHigh run. Make sure they have the social side as well as the educational side.”

It’s all about balance, and for Dan, that’s been the key. He has a dream he loves, an education he’s thriving in, and the freedom to pursue the things that matter to him whatever comes next, on screen or off.