Teenagers: Merrist Wood
• Supportive and promotes learning
• Entertaining educational activities
Campus Life
Merrist Wood Campus is set within 400 acres of beautiful Surrey countryside, offering a peaceful and spacious environment where students can enjoy both learning and outdoor leisure. The campus features a working farm, licensed zoo, landscaped gardens, sports fields, and ancient woodland, creating unique opportunities for a wide range of outdoor activities.
Located just outside Guildford, a lively town with shops, cafés, and cultural attractions, the campus is also only an hour from central London, making it the ideal setting to study and experience life in the UK.
Learning Experience
Learning extends beyond the classroom with topical weekly themes that connect lessons to real-world topics. English language classes are taken alongside a range of afternoon electives, while learning through project work and interactive activities that make lessons engaging and practical.
Themes of the Week
Week 1: Fast fashion
This week takes a closer look at the clothing industry and the hidden costs behind it, environmental, financial and more. From celebrity fashion trends to social media “hauls,” students will explore how consumer choices affect people and the planet. Using English to debate, design, and share ideas, they’ll consider what a more sustainable style could look like.
Week 2: Rewilding our world
From rewilding projects to the return of the English meadow, this week explores how bringing nature back (from the brink?) can transform landscapes and lives. Students will discuss the big questions — should humans step back, or step in to protect? — while using English to research, create, and present their own wild solutions.
Week 3: The future of cities
With smart technology, climate change, and housing crises in the news, what will the cities of tomorrow look like? This week, students explore trending ideas from vertical gardens to 15-minute cities. We’ll look to architecture and innovative city plans including The Line and other ambitious projects around the world. Working in English, they’ll design, debate, and present their own visions of sustainable urban life.
Week 4: Farm to fork
From viral food trends to conversations about food miles and fair trade, this week uncovers the journey from field to plate. Students will investigate what’s behind the food they eat, from farming practices to supermarket shelves, and use English to discuss, compare, and present ways to make our diets more sustainable.
Activities and Excursions
A key highlight of the summer school is its varied weekly sports and activities programme, offering something for everyone. Students can enjoy football, badminton, volleyball, table tennis, tennis, and basketball, as well as arts and crafts, mini Olympics, karaoke, movie nights, afternoon tea, bushcraft, survival skills workshops, outdoor yoga, and nature crafts.
Up to three excursions are included each week (subject to availability). Destinations range from London – with highlights such as the London Eye, Tower of London, Westminster, and the British Museum – to Windsor Castle, Canterbury and Leeds Castle, Oxford, and Portsmouth.
Sample Timetable
View the sample activities timetable. Please note these are subject to change.
Accommodation
Students will stay in comfortable residence buildings on campus, designed to provide both independence and support. All rooms are single and include a wash basin, with bedrooms arranged in flats, each featuring a shared bathroom, communal kitchenette, and common area. Boys and girls live in separate flats, with overnight supervision and care provided by dedicated residential staff. All accommodation includes bedding, towels, access to laundry facilities, and free Wi-Fi.
Food
All meals are included and served in the dining hall, where students can enjoy delicious and nutritious options with all dietary requirements catered for. Snacks and drinks are also available between meals at the on-site café, Woody’s.
Student Welfare
Student welfare is prioritised with 24-hour support from a team of residential staff and a Welfare Manager, a high staff-to-student ratio, and a daily evening curfew to ensure a safe and supportive environment.
Fees and Dates
Students can choose to study for 2+ weeks, with start dates available in July.
The course fee includes tuition, full board accommodation, a full sports and activities programme, up to 3 excursions per week, insurance, and airport transfers to and from London Heathrow and Gatwick Airports.
Courses at Merrist Wood:
Project Eco-Innovation – in Oxford:
Where sustainability, creativity, and entrepreneurship come together! In this one-week, multi-disciplinary course, students from different courses across both Oxford and Merrist Wood programmes collaborate to develop bold ideas for a greener world. You’ll research, design, and present innovative, cost-effective eco-solutions to real-world challenges.
Summer and Short Courses brochure
Short courses available in the Spring & Summer
Study one of our short courses to develop new skills
Spring & Summer course enquiry
Please fill in this form to submit an enquiry on our teenager courses.
You may also wish to get in touch to arrange a campus tour or find out what it is like to live and study in the city of Oxford.
We look forward to hearing from you.
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