🎓 Asking the Right Question

I see the same rigid thinking suffocating schools across the UK right now.

We're seeing the same conversations recycled at BETT, GESS Dubai, Education Investor Summit - the same people, saying the same things, to the same audience. Nothing changes. Meanwhile, the families we serve are telling us loud and clear what they need, and traditional education keeps serving them what it's always served.

At Sophia High School, we've spent five years asking Jesse Cole's question in education: What do students and families actually care about?

💡 What Families Really Care About

The answer isn't what the sector expects:

They don't care about whether we look like a traditional school
They don't care about preserving education's sacred cows
They don't care about our beautiful Victorian building (we don't have one)
They care about being seen. They care about feeling valued. They care about genuine connection. They care about a future that's designed for them, not for the convenience of an outdated system.

So we eliminated everything that stood in the way.

⚡ Challenging the Norm

Jesse Cole's mantra is brilliant in its simplicity: "Whatever's normal, do the exact opposite."

So we did.

🏫 Reimagining School

Where traditional schools prioritise teacher convenience? We built a student-first model, top to bottom. Every decision runs through one filter: does this serve the young people and families who trust us?

Where traditional schools batch-process students in groups of 30? We capped our class sizes at 6-8. Every child is known. Every voice is heard. There's nowhere to hide, and more importantly, no reason to want to.

Where traditional schools see 'alternative provision' as a dumping ground? We're supporting high-performance athletes, gifted students, young people who've been excluded, and families who simply want something better. We work with 36 local authorities across the UK because we solve problems traditional schools can't or won't address.

🌍 Breaking Barriers

Where traditional schools say online learning is 'less than'? We've become the UK's first DfE-accredited online school, evaluated by Ofsted, a member of the Independent Schools Association, and COBIS-accredited. We've unlocked IGCSEs for girls in underserved areas who would never have had that opportunity otherwise.

Where traditional schools jealously guard their curriculum? We made 20% of ours focused on enrichment, delivered daily live synchronous learning, and built a global classroom that connects students across continents.

Just like the Bananas eliminated walks and stepping out of the box, we eliminated everything that created friction between students and genuine learning.

💥 Embracing Controversy

When Jesse Cole created Banana Ball, traditional baseball fans were livid. "This isn't baseball," they said.

When we built Sophia High School, we heard the same: "This isn't real education. You can't replicate what happens in a physical classroom."

They're right. We can't. And we wouldn't want to.

Because replicating traditional education online would be like the Savannah Bananas playing standard baseball in yellow uniforms. The uniform doesn't matter if the game is still broken.

The clash between innovation and tradition is inevitable. It's uncomfortable. It's exhausting. But it's also proof that you're challenging assumptions that desperately need challenging.

⭐ The Power of Experience

The Savannah Bananas have 3 million people on a waiting list because they've created something people are desperate to be part of. Not because of slick marketing. Not because of clever PR. Because they deliver an experience worth queuing for.

Education has forgotten how to create that kind of loyalty.

📈 Beyond Metrics

We measure ourselves by Ofsted ratings and exam results - the educational equivalent of baseball's batting averages and ERAs. Important? Yes. Enough? Absolutely not.

What creates loyalty is the experience itself:

The 13-year-old who logs on every day because, for the first time in her education, she feels genuinely seen
The elite athlete who can train at Olympic level without compromising her A-levels
The family who've tried four different schools and finally found one where their child isn't just tolerated, but celebrated
The parent who says, "This is the first time my son has actually wanted to talk about what happened at school"

That's loyalty. And you can't fake it with vanity metrics.

🔍 Seeing Through Their Eyes

Jesse Cole put himself in his fans' shoes - literally. He went undercover, walked in with the crowd, sat in their seats, ate their food, and watched where they looked away. Then he eliminated every friction point.

When was the last time you experienced your school as a student or parent does?

Not on a scheduled tour. Not during an inspection. Not when you're being performative.

Actually experienced it. The queues. The confusion. The moments where you're invisible. The times where the system grinds on, indifferent to whether you're engaged or not.

🧩 Continuous Reflection

At Sophia, we live this. We watch recordings of our lessons. We sit in as parents would. We track where students disengage and ask why. We survey families relentlessly. We fail fast, learn faster, and iterate constantly.

This isn't about being flashy. It's about being relentlessly focused on what matters to the people we serve.

💞 Education as a Love Story

Cole says the Savannah Bananas is ultimately a love story - about his relationship with his father, their shared love of baseball, and bringing that joy to millions of others.

Education should be a love story too.

Not in a saccharine, sentimental way. In the way that matters: bringing families together rather than driving them apart.

How many families are at war with their children's schools right now? How many parents feel ignored, dismissed, or gaslit when they raise concerns? How many students are simply enduring education rather than thriving within it?

We built Sophia to be different. To be the place where families say, "Finally, someone gets it." Where young people show up - not because they have to, but because they want to.

That's what Jesse Cole has created. That's what we're creating.

And if that makes us the education sector's equivalent of a man in a yellow tuxedo, I'll wear that badge with pride.

🚀 Leading the Change

The Savannah Bananas aren't asking for permission to reinvent baseball. They're doing it, proving it works, and inviting others along for the ride.

We're doing the same in education.

🤝 Building the Future

We're not waiting for the sector to catch up. We're not seeking approval from people who benefit from the status quo remaining unchanged. We're in the trenches, in the weeds, solving problems and sharing what we learn with anyone willing to listen.

We're not trying to create traditional education. We're not trying to be a traditional school "reimagined online."

We're evolving education into something bigger. Something that prioritises what students and families actually care about. Something worthy of their trust and their time.

The greatest experience in education isn't about replicating the past in shinier packaging.

It's about asking what people genuinely need, eliminating everything that stands in the way, and having the courage to do the exact opposite of what's always been done.

Jesse Cole proved it's possible in baseball.

We're proving it's possible in education.