Highlights from Discovery Summer 2025: Our UK English Summer Schools
Summer 2025 was one of our most exciting years yet at Discovery Summer. We welcomed hundreds of students from 42+ nationalities to our English summer schools in London, Kent, Shropshire and Winchester, creating an unforgettable season full of learning, adventure, creativity and friendship.
1. New Courses at Benenden and Collingham
English Plus+ Summer School at Benenden, Kent
We were thrilled to launch our brand-new English Plus+ summer school at Benenden School. Set in the heart of the Kent countryside, Benenden offered the perfect setting for an immersive and inspiring learning experience.
Many of our experienced team joined us at this new centre, bringing the much-loved magic of our former Radley and Marymount programmes. From the moment students arrived, the campus was alive with laughter, new friendships and lively lessons. For 2026 we’ll be offering courses at Benenden for an even wider age range 8-12s and 13-16s.
Family Programme at Collingham, Kensington (London)
In London, we introduced a new programme at our Family Centre at Collingham, Kensington, combining morning English classes with an exciting afternoon activity and excursion schedule for students aged 8–12.
Students enjoyed baking, arts & crafts, games in the park, mini-golf and the zoo at Battersea Park – all in the heart of one of London’s most iconic neighbourhoods.
Good news: In 2026, we’re moving the full day junior programme back to Marymount – a lovely, green campus close to London. The course will be for a wider age range – 8-13 years – and include 16 hours’ English tuition, a full cooked lunch, indoor and outdoor sports, arts & crafts, weekly trips to Richmond Park, and a daily coach service to/from Kensington.
2. Helping Students Try Something New
A Discovery Summer course is the perfect chance to step outside your comfort zone. This year, our activity programme helped students try a wide variety of new sports and experiences.
Sports on offer included: slack-lining, tag rugby, bench ball and archery – as well as the ever-popular football, basketball, volleyball and athletics.
Adventure Sports students at Shrewsbury even had a go at obstacle courses and climbing walls whilst blind-folded!
Evening events encouraged students to be brave and creative too – from Scottish Ceilidh dancing to performing magic tricks in the Talent Show.
Some students even conquered Britain’s biggest rollercoaster. As one Winchester student put it:
“Now I’ve been on Hyperia, I can do anything!”
3. Building 21st Century Skills
Equipping young people for the future is a core part of our mission. Across all centres we incorporated critical thinking, collaboration, creativity and digital literacy into lessons and activities.
Coding & Tech Academy at Shrewsbury
Students learned the foundations of C++ and how to use Loops, Functions and Arrays to build a simple game and a calculator.
They also used turtle graphics in Python to create colourful animations and design a garden. Both projects were fun, interactive introductions to logic problems and coding challenges.
Pre-University AI Projects
Older teens explored projects designed to demystify Artificial Intelligence, helping them understand how AI works and how it may shape future study or careers.
Activities included:
- building a plant-classifier.
- learning how to train machines to recognise and store human language
- jailbreaking a Chatbot to make it release a password
- training an AI model for a self-driving car
Global Young Leaders at Winchester
Our Winchester students developed Entrepreneurship, STEM, Presentation and English skills through collaborative challenges, engineering tasks, and even creating their own election manifestos – always with plenty of laughter.
4. Our Commitment to Student Welfare
At Discovery Summer, student well-being always comes first. Parents frequently comment that our staff truly care and that their children feel safe and supported throughout their stay.
This year’s biggest welfare innovation was the “Community of Kindness”, which encouraged students to celebrate each other’s kindness. Watching students nominate classmates for “Star of the Day” was a highlight of the summer.
5. Growing Confidence in English
Many students arrive feeling shy or nervous – whether aged 5 at Collingham or 17 at Winchester. By the final day, students were confidently presenting, debating or performing on stage, often for the first time, and all in English.
Their progress is one of the most inspiring parts of every summer.
6. Exploring Britain on Excursions
Excursions are often one of the students’ favourite parts of Discovery Summer. In 2025 we visited:
- London landmarks
- Oxford and its famous colleges
- historic castles
- theme parks and wildlife parks
- beautiful countryside and traditional English villages
Scavenger hunts, local town visits and countryside walks – complete with rabbits, cows and sheep – helped students experience authentic British life.
7. Excellent English Exam Results
Many students at Benenden, Shrewsbury and Winchester prepared for Trinity GESE exams in spoken English, while older teens at Winchester trained for IELTS.
With support from our English Student Hosts (British students their own age), learners had plenty of opportunities to practise English both inside and outside the classroom.
Congratulations to all exam students for achieving outstanding results!
8. Experiencing British Summer Weather
Although 2025 was officially the hottest UK summer ever recorded, some of our students encountered classic British showers during excursions.
Still, they embraced the full British experience – an umbrella in one hand, an ice cream in the other!
9. Fun Activities and Evening Events
Thanks to our energetic Activity Leaders, students enjoyed a full programme of fun and creativity. Highlights included:
- Colour Wars
- Wacky Races
- Egg-Drop Live
- Photo Scavenger Hunts
New evening entertainments such as Traitors, TaskMaster, and “I’m a Student, Get Me Out of Here!” were huge hits. Even staff joined in the fun (especially during the ice-bucket challenge!).
10. Making International Friends
Our 2025 students represented 42 nationalities, with some travelling from as far as Argentina, Brazil, Côte d’Ivoire, Japan, Kazakhstan and Vietnam.
Having over 15% British children and teens at our residential centres (our English Student Hosts) gave international students the chance to practise English throughout the day – in classes, activities, excursions and free time.
Many students stay in touch for years afterwards. Discovery Summer friendships really do last a lifetime.
Join Discovery Summer in 2026
We’re already preparing an exciting programme for next summer.
Check our website for more photos of summer courses in action.
You can also find out more about what makes Discovery Summer special.
If you have any more questions check our FAQs or contact us today. Call us on +44 20 7937 1199, email info@discoverysummer.com or WhatsApp
Ready to book a course for you and your child? Book now
We’d love to welcome you in 2026!
