Why ‘Adolescence’ actress Amelia Minto says online school is “so much better”

You may know Amelia Minto as one of the young actresses who recently starred in Netflix’s acclaimed drama, Adolescence. Behind the scenes, however, she’s also a diligent student working hard on her IGCSE studies.

In the past, balancing both lives was far from easy — both for Amelia and for her mum, Jay. Now, since joining our online school community, Amelia has all the flexibility and support she needs to excel as a student and a performer.

We caught up with the pair to learn more about Amelia’s exciting acting journey, how King’s InterHigh has transformed her learning experience, and what life looks like as a teenager balancing school with stardom.

From hobbyist to professional

Given Amelia’s skill in dancing, singing, and acting, it’s no surprise that her talent started showing at a young age. In fact, her career first began with local ballet lessons as a fun hobby at the age of three, with Amelia picking up more classes as her enjoyment grew. “She never really thought it was going to be a career,” says Jay. “She just did it for fun.”

But everything changed when Amelia tried her hand at open try-outs for a touring production of the popular musical Les Misérables — an audition that landed her a breakout role as Young Cosette at just eight years old!

From then on, Amelia’s career only grew bigger as she took on everything from musical productions to television to advertisements. “We never really say no to an opportunity. We just give everything a go,” Jay explains, and Amelia keeps up with training in dancing and singing as well as acting.

The result? A vast skillset and a sense of adaptability that helps Amelia switch her style so well for each role, even her mum isn’t sure how she does it. Jay puts it well: “In this industry, it’s very tough. You’ve got to be quite versatile and be able to turn your hand to lots of different things.”

For young people like Amelia, that need for versatility also extends to managing all the different sides of life, including education.

The struggle with school

Of course, as Amelia’s performing career gained momentum, the education balance became increasingly difficult. While her primary school years were relatively manageable, moving to secondary school created new hurdles.

From auditions in London to working on location, pursuing her dreams meant missing a lot of school. For example, Amelia recalls, “A few years ago, I did a tour where I had to be away from home every other week.” While her school did send her learning tasks to complete for most subjects, there were some weeks where work was missed. Even when she did have schoolwork to catch up on, it was difficult to stay on track. As great as tutors and chaperones on set were with study help, “they weren’t in the lessons that we weren’t in,” says Amelia. “So, they couldn’t tell us what we missed.”

As a result, each time Amelia did return to school, she’d find herself with gaps in her learning. On top of that, the stop-start pattern of leaving school for acting jobs meant her social life at school became fractured too.

While her mum, Jay, kept up well with emailing teachers, coordinating absences, and collating her schoolwork, it wasn’t easy for Amelia to catch up on whole lessons when she only had worksheets and PowerPoints to follow. Without all the benefit of the teaching and classroom discussions she’d usually get at school in person, Jay says, “she would have to do her best to get on with the work herself.” Unfortunately, as Amelia’s school wasn’t set up for online learning, they weren’t sure how they could support her.

The family initially assumed Amelia’s performing work would gradually taper off as she got older, but her talent kept her flourishing, with at least two to three jobs popping up every single year. Naturally, as amazing as it was to see her daughter’s success, Jay couldn’t help but worry about her education.

Reaching breaking point

Eventually, as Amelia approached her GCSE years, her family knew something had to change. The breaking point came in the form of a major six-week acting contract that was scheduled to start in September — the exact time Amelia was due to start her crucial studies in Year 10.

Given how important it was going to be for Amelia to keep up with her learning consistently, it was clear that the balancing act they’d been maintaining for years wouldn’t hold up any longer. Even Amelia’s secondary school recognised that they wouldn’t be able to accommodate her needs. “They’d always supported her,” says Jay, “But they were worrying themselves about how they could support her through the next two years.”

Thankfully, traditional education isn’t the only pathway for starlets like Amelia. In fact, the family first heard about King’s InterHigh from a co-star who’d already made the move to our online school in Year 9. Since it had worked really well for him, Jay spoke to his mum and decided to look into it. Amelia, meanwhile, was really keen to make the move after seeing how much it changed things for her colleague.

“There was anxiety on the first day of whether we were doing the right thing, and we questioned whether we had made the right decision,” Jay recalls. Now, however, those early worries have been completely dispelled, and Jay can’t picture things any other way.

The school that goes with you

Amelia joined us at King’s InterHigh in September, right when her next acting role was about to begin. In those six short weeks, Amelia says the impact was immediate. Instead of falling behind or struggling to keep up with a patchwork of emailed worksheets, she was suddenly able to balance both sides of her life with relative ease.

“It was incredible,” says Jay. “She went away, and she was able to do six weeks of her career but also a full six weeks of school without missing everything. She kept up.” For Amelia, the difference was equally profound, taking away all the stress of constantly needing to keep up.

Amelia adds that she knew there’d be “so many subjects and so much information” that she would’ve missed out on at the start of her IGCSEs if she’d still been in mainstream education. One of the biggest benefits came from having our centralised and accessible Student Hub at her fingertips. Now, all her work was there when she needed it, which made things “10 times easier.”

On top of that, the flexibility has been unmatched. Now, she can take part in her online lessons live when she’s not working or catch up with lesson recordings at any time when she’s on set. Towards the end of acting contracts, she’d sometimes lose motivation with her schoolwork. Now, she says, “I feel more in control.”

A day in Amelia’s life

It may sound hard to believe, but alongside the time she spends performing and training, Amelia has nine IGCSE subjects on her plate, including science, English, maths, art, photography, drama, and Spanish. However, Jay says, “it’s actually manageable now” thanks to the flexibility they get with online learning.

On a typical day, the family have a great rhythm in place. Amelia takes breaks during the day to walk her dog and get fresh air, and in the evenings, she gets to catch up with her long-time friends at drama classes. Without such a rigid school schedule in place, she’s also able to create a schedule that keeps the boundaries between learning and acting separate. After an online lesson, for example, she may spend a few extra hours studying before taking time out to film a self-tape audition.

For Jay, meanwhile, a huge amount of daily pressure has been lifted. There’s no need to email the school for work, scan and send homework, or coordinate absences with multiple teachers.

Our teachers, of course, play a crucial role in making sure Amelia is supported to succeed without sacrificing her goals. While she hasn’t needed much help yet, she likes having a direct line of communication whenever she needs it. Jay, meanwhile, loves that Amelia has the option to use the chat pot in class to ask questions. “The teachers are much more accessible than they were at her high school,” she notes.

Filming the Netflix hit

Premiering in March 2025, Netflix’s limited psychological crime series Adolescence has taken the world by storm. Alongside becoming the most-watch streaming show in the UK in a single week, the four-part drama has been widely critically acclaimed for its content, storytelling, and unique production style.

Unlike a typical television show, in which multiple scenes are edited together to form a full episode, each episode of Adolescence was filmed in one single, unbroken take: a technical marvel that required meticulous preparation and precision from both the crew and cast members like Amelia, who played schoolgirl Billie.

While Amelia says she can “never decide” between musical theatre and screen acting given how different they are, she has always had a particular passion for theatre — so it’s no wonder she found such a great fit in Adolescence. For Amelia, the nature of the production — in which the actors rehearsed each episode as a whole before it was filmed in one take — was quite similar to the theatre experience.

The intense, methodical production schedule required about one full week of rehearsals following by a week of technical preparation, all before the cast could film ten full takes of the episode across the final week. Even something as simple as a weather issue could ruin an entire take, but Jay says Amelia loved the whole experience.

A future in balance

With her education and career now co-existing in harmony, Amelia is looking forward to keeping up with learning over the next few years. While she wants to continue with acting, she also plans to go to university to study drama, though she’s still deciding on her exact path after GCSEs. It’s a balanced approach that’s sure to keep her options open as she progresses to life beyond school.

Looking back on the first few months of their online school journey, both Amelia and Jay are sure they made the right choice. “I think if you need to juggle a career at a young age, it’s perfect,” Jay says. “You get the best of both worlds.” Amelia, meanwhile, is keen for other young performers to enjoy the same benefits.

And her advice to fellow actors? “Always keep working hard and put in the effort to ensure every success is well deserved.” As Amelia continues to go on to bigger and better things, it’s clear her incredible hard work and dedication will always take her far — and we’re delighted to be able to support her on her way at King’s InterHigh.