Every year Oxford Royale Academy provides a limited number of scholarships to cover a percentage of students' course fees. These scholarships are based on academic merit and future academic potential. If you would like to be considered for a scholarship in 2011, please check our website in the New Year for more information.

One of our 2010 Summer Scholars, Veronika from Belarus, writes about her experiences of Oxford Royale Academy's New Perspectives course:

"I’ve stayed in Oxford with ORA for four weeks. First what I can say, that it is not just a place where you come, stay and forget after the course. Just the opposite! You come, stay, make not only friends, but relationships like in a family, cry during the Graduation night and then find all your friends on facebook or e-mail. And I myself couldn’t realize that all this experience is now just a memory.

What can you do there?

Firstly: enjoy your holidays, as you have free time to go around the city, various activities. I did aerobics, punting and drumming, watched football and films in the Odeon cinema, saw live plays: The Tempest and Romeo and Juliet, and participated in a talent show at St. Catherine’s college, parties with games, Karaoke night at a club, fencing, a silent disco, a fancy dress party with disco and card games, drinking tea with cookies, and many more! 

Secondly: go to different places and excursions, including Oxford and its Botanic Gardens, where you can find rice, bananas and coffee; Windsor Castle (and having meal in this city in a restaurant); London (Hyde Park, Madame Tussauds, Natural History Museum, The White Tower, The Globe Theatre); Blenheim Palace, which became my favorite because of its gardens and being poetic; Hampton Court Palace; Stonehenge and Bath with its museums; the Ashmolean Museum, which was really worth going to, as it is the biggest in Britain; Science Museum.

Thirdly: study!!! But it is not like at school where you learn by heart. Here you analyze and learn really interesting things, which, I am sure, will help in future. So, during the first two weeks I took a course of Economics and Math, Leadership and Teambuilding. I did really love every lesson: economics was all new for me, but with our teacher I understood everything, Math course was a great review of the topics; on our workshop we had great fun, talking, discussing and playing. Next two weeks I had Politics and British History, Public Speaking and Debates. I realized that history and society are great themes to study, and probably in the future I will become a historian due to the inspiration, given to me by our first-class teacher Dr Stella Moss.

Fourthly: or, probably firstly also: make friends. You talk to new people, find out interesting things about their culture, you can not only improve your English, but also other languages by talking to native speakers. All the children are very talented, so I think I will see some of them being famous on TV, and then I will be proud that I was a friend of, for example, a future president of America. But there are not only people from all over Europe, but also from Asia, America, Africa, so if you are from these parts of the world, don’t be afraid: you won’t be alone!

And, by the way, you won’t be alone, as there are many counsellors, who are friendly and great to talk to. Some children said that there is too much control over them, but I don’t think so, as you are an individual, you do feel safe, protected and in the end you realize that the staff are like your parents or elder sisters and brothers who want you to have much fun.

I guess I will never forget this place, people and feelings in my life, and I am sure, when I grow old, I will tell stories about Oxford to my children and grandchildren!"