The UK’s first totally online secondary school, launched ten years ago from a table top in Glangwryney, is now part of a multi-million pound plc company listed on the London Stock Exchange.

InterHigh School, with its operational headquarters at Lewis Parry House in Crickhowell’s business park, opened its virtual doors to students from around the world in September 2005. The first teachers were mainly local and the first ‘intake’ was of 23 students whose parents had heard of the new venture by word of mouth.

For the coming academic year the school has registered more than 600 students, who come from all five continents, with a wide range of courses leading to GCSEs and A levels provided by around sixty teachers from across the UK and overseas.

It is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Wey Education which operates free schools across the UK. But, while the admin side has moved to London, to the delight of its founders Paul and Jacqueline Daniel, the operational headquarters remain in Crickhowell, where 12 dedicated staff using a bespoke computer system deal with matters such as the monitoring of online classes and all issues relevant to the curriculum.

“It’s a massive boost for us that a big London stock listed company has chosen to keep the headquarters here because they liked the local set-up and the high quality of staff,” said Jacqueline.

InterHigh School recently celebrated its first Cambridge alumni.

And it is soon to join the AiM - a sub-market of the London Stock Exchange, which allows smaller companies to float shares with a more flexible regulatory system than is applicable to the main market.