The China summer programme market is no longer the market it once was.
A slower economy has made families more cautious. At the same time, expectations have changed. The idea of sending a child to the UK simply to “see the world” is no longer enough to justify the time and investment. Supply has also grown faster than demand. In a crowded market, offering another British summer camp—and thinking about recruitment afterwards—is no longer a sustainable approach.
Over the past year, this has led us to rethink our model.
Rather than offering one general programme to individual families, we began developing bespoke programmes with schools: starting with the pupils involved, the outcomes their schools wanted, and the kind of experience that would be meaningful for each age group.
This summer was a real test of that approach.
In a particularly difficult market, we adjusted our direction several times—rethinking the audience, programme structure and partnership model as circumstances changed.
The final result was not one programme, but three running in parallel at Oundle. Each involved a different age group, different expectations from the participating schools and a different educational focus.
Delivering them successfully required far more than an itinerary. It required close coordination between teams, careful attention to the pupils’ experience and the flexibility to respond when the reality on the ground differed from the plan.
The pupils produced thoughtful work, embraced new experiences and returned with much more than photographs of a trip to the UK. The feedback from the schools was extremely positive, particularly about the care, organisation and quality of the experience their pupils received.
That outcome belonged to the whole team.
A special thank you to Toby Mitchell and Oliver Uffindall and to everyone whose effort, judgement and collaboration made the three programmes work as one coherent project.
For me, the wider lesson is that a summer programme should not be treated as an isolated product.
Done well, it can become part of a much longer relationship between schools. It allows partners to understand one another, creates meaningful educational experiences for pupils and builds the trust from which future collaboration can grow.
In a difficult market, the answer is rarely to offer more of the same.
It is to create something more relevant—and to build it with the right partners.
An exhausting two weeks, certainly—but an immensely worthwhile one.
Thank you to everyone who made it possible. ❤️