Academic Discovery Plus: STEM Summer School for Juniors (ages 10-12)

Why Study Academic Discovery Plus: STEM Summer School?

Do you want to develop your love of learning and academic exploration whilst making new friends from around the world? Our Academic Discovery Plus: STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) course will offer you just that. Through fascinating classes and practical workshops, you will study a key question from a STEM perspective and develop your skills of planning, conducting and evaluating fair scientific tests. Living and studying in a prestigious British boarding school will help you improve key life skills and you’re sure to make new friends in this safe and fun environment.

Join our Academic Discovery Plus: STEM Summer School at Oxford Royale Academy to help you get ahead of the curve.

Summer at a UK boarding school

Students on our Junior Summer School live and study in the superb and inspiring surroundings of either St Mary's School (Ascot) or Uppingham School (Uppingham), two of the UK's finest and most prestigious boarding schools. Both schools have state-of-the-art facilities for learning, sports, and relaxation, and offer a warm and safe environment in which to live and learn. Students are guaranteed a warm, welcoming, and comfortable stay in unparalleled grounds and buildings.

Friends from all over the world!

At the Oxford Royale Junior Summer School, we pride ourselves on our international community. Students on all of our programmes are encouraged to learn about each other’s cultures and backgrounds – both in lessons and while partaking in our rich and varied extracurricular programme. Many students make lifelong friends while partaking on our summer courses and often return year on year to catch up, try out new subjects, and most importantly, have fun. Those on our Junior English Programme also benefit from shared excursions and activities with native and fluent English speakers, boosting their conversational ability and confidence.

A head start to educational success

Be inspired by our Junior Summer School programmes which are tailored to the intellectually curious child. Our expert course development and teaching staff combine academic excellence with a real sense of fun – our aim is to send each student home with a renewed enthusiasm for their school subjects! Classes are interactive, with carefully crafted lesson plans and intellectually stimulating materials. Students have full academic freedom to explore subjects beyond the standard school curriculum under the expert guidance of leading teaching staff.

An action-packed timetable of activities

On our Junior Summer School, we never forget that you're on holiday! Students benefit from a number of age-appropriate exciting workshops, fascinating classroom projects, fun games, a wide range of sports activities, and thrilling trips around the UK's historic landmarks. We do our utmost to ensure that every child’s timetable is as action-packed and full of fun as possible. Make sure you buckle up for an unforgettable summer!

Inspiring Junior Summer School courses

Our Academic Discovery (ages 8-10) and Academic Discovery Plus (ages 11-12) programmes explore the Arts and Sciences through a different weekly ‘key question’. As well as our academic programmes, we offer a Junior Learn English course, enabling students aged 8-12 to develop their language skills in a fully immersive environment. This programme is differentiated by ability and integrates perfectly with our extra-curricular activities, giving non-native speakers a real head start in the language, perfect for if they decide to study in an English-speaking country in the future.

Any questions?

Check out our FAQs

Once you have decided which course you would like to attend, you can book online using our secure booking system. Once your application has been submitted, you will be sent an email confirming that it has been received.

If you prefer, you can download an Application Form by clicking here. You can return the Application Form to us by any of these methods:

Scan and email to [email protected]
Fax to +44 (0) 845 280 01 22
Post to Oxford Royale Academy, Yarnton Manor, Church Lane, Kidlington, Oxford, OX5 1PY, UNITED KINGDOM.

Once your booking has been processed by one of our members of staff, you will receive email confirmation of your place on the course of your choice. A Welcome Pack will be available to download from the ORA Portal from April. If at any time you would like to discuss your booking with a course advisor, please feel free to email [email protected] or call us on +44 (0) 1865 954 800.

All courses require a deposit payment to secure the booking. For Summer 2021, this is £995 GBP for all two-week courses for ages 13+, and £395 for one-week courses for 8-12 years. You may either pay the full course fee when you book your place, or pay the deposit amount and then the balance at a later date. The balance clearance is required at least 60 days before the start date of the course. Where the student is booking less than 60 days before the start date, the balance must be covered in full.

New online enrolments will require a Debit or Credit Card payment of at least the deposit amount. If you would like to enrol and make your deposit payment via Bank Transfer, please contact our Admissions team, who will be happy to assist you in doing so. ([email protected])

Payments for existing enrolments can be made via a number of methods, including domestic and international bank transfer, credit or debit card, as well as local payment options; please log in to your ORA Portal and click on the ‘Pay Now’ button on your booking details.

All course fees include the following:

Classes and tuition (20 taught hours per week)
Study files/materials
Guest lectures by academic speakers
Personalised academic reports and graduation certificate
Accommodation in your chosen location (see our accommodation page for the specific locations)
All meals provided
Free WiFi (subject to availability)
Daily updates for parents and family on the ORA campus blogs
A wide selection of afternoon and evening activities
Coach excursions
Welcome and graduation events (parents invited)
A multitude of extras, including an ORA notebook and branded clothing

Yes, students will be awarded an Oxford Royale Academy Graduation Certificate in their chosen course upon satisfactory completion of the course. This will be presented in a graduation ceremony on the final evening of the course.

Our accommodation sites for junior students offer a mix of twin bedrooms and dormitory, with shared bathroom facilities between a small group of same-sex students. If you have a particular preference for a certain room type, you can make a request on booking, which may be granted subject to availability. If a particular room type is required for medical reasons, please contact our Admissions Team who will be able to check availability.

Sharing your room with fellow students is a great way of getting to know people and making friends.

All our programmes take place in a secure environment. Our students are supervised 24 hours a day by campus staff. All students must check-in regularly during the day: at roll-call at breakfast; at their morning classes; in the afternoon for lessons, workshops or activities; at dinner and in the evening before curfew. All campuses have a curfew.

Each campus office has its own safe where students may deposit items of value such as passports, travel documents, bank cards etc.

All campuses have residential staff who can be contacted 24 hours a day.

If your country is part of the EU or the European Economic Area you will not require a visa to enter the UK. It is always safest to check whether you need a visa with the relevant authorities.

If you wish to change your course or study options (including dates), please do not hesitate to contact us. However, changes to courses are always subject to availability. For this reason, it may be more difficult for us to accommodate any changes requested less than 60 days before the course start date.

Oxford Royale Academy’s terms and conditions for refunds are as follows:

Any cancellation must be received in writing and can only be on the following terms:

no refund of deposit will be made under any circumstances, once the two-week cooling-off period has concluded;
for cancellations before your course start date, the remainder of the course fees less the deposit amount will be proportionally refunded as per the table below:

Period Before Start Date Total refunded

120+ days 100%
90-119 days 50%
45-89 days 10%
0-44 days 0%

All students registered to attend our English Language courses will be required to take an English Language Placement Test, which will assess the relative abilities of each student. Students are then placed into ability groups based on the results of their assessment, and the material that they study is tailored to the level of the class.

Once you have booked your place on a course we will send you information on how to take our online Placement Test. This test should take approximately one hour and should be taken by the student at least one month prior to their arrival date.

Please note that Oxford Royale Academy English courses do not cater for beginners in English.

It is certainly possible to take more than one course and combine a variety of study programmes. This can be done in two ways:

Enrol on two different programmes. For example, you may wish to have two weeks on the Academic Discovery course and then two more weeks on the Junior English Programme.

Enrol on the same programme twice, but choose different subject options. For example, you may wish to have four weeks on the Academic Discovery Plus course, choosing the arts stream for the first two weeks, followed by the STEM stream for the second two weeks.

Students staying for two consecutive sessions will be provided with accommodation for the Saturday night, and their campus will provide supervised activities between their first session ending and second session starting. Should you have any queries about how to take more than one course please do not hesitate to contact us.