8 July 2026
Written by Activity Manager, Kat
7th July 2026
Thorpe Park
The week began with an excursion that needed no encouragement whatsoever: a full day at Thorpe Park, one of the UK’s best known theme parks. Students queued together, dared each other onto the bigger rides, and compared notes afterwards over lunch. Beyond the obvious fun, days like this do quiet but important work. Friendships that began tentatively in week one are now firmly established, and the shared experience of a rollercoaster (or the decision to watch from the ground) gives students plenty to talk about in English long after the day is over.
Exploring Oxford
Closer to home, students spent time getting to know Oxford itself. Living at St Hilda’s College places them at the heart of one of the world’s great university cities, and our walking exploration took in the honey-coloured colleges, the covered market and the views along the High Street. For many of our students, studying somewhere with this much history is a genuine source of pride, and it shows in the photographs they send home.
A Day in London
Midweek brought our Thames walking tour in London. Following the river on foot is one of the best ways to understand the city, and the route gave students two very different experiences of British culture. At the Tower of London they explored nearly a thousand years of history, from the Crown Jewels to the resident ravens, while the Tate Modern offered something entirely different: world-class contemporary art housed in a former power station. Watching students debate what counts as art on the walk back was a highlight in itself, and exactly the kind of confident, spontaneous English we hope to see.
The Board Game Challenge
Back at the college, the academic programme continued with one of the most popular projects of the summer so far. Students split into groups and were tasked with designing and building their own board game from scratch. This meant negotiating rules, writing instructions, testing gameplay and then presenting their creation to their peers, all in English. The results were inventive, occasionally chaotic and thoroughly impressive.
Presentations of this kind are a core part of what we do at Bucksmore. They ask students to collaborate, to persuade and to speak in front of an audience, skills that serve them well far beyond the summer. The winning team earned a much-celebrated pizza party, which was enjoyed with the good grace and mild gloating you would expect.
Thanks for reading, and see you next week with more news of what our students have been getting up to in sunny Oxford!
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