Quick Handy Guide

• Our Graduation Ceremony and Dinner is on the final Friday at 5.30-8pm at the Oxford University Saïd Business School
• Parents and family are warmly welcome, and we will be in touch to ask if parents would like to book tickets (£50), which includes a BBQ or buffet dinner
• Please note that tickets are limited and will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis, so we recommend booking early to avoid disappointment
• After dinner the students will get to enjoy a Ceilidh (a traditional Scottish dance) which finishes around 10.45pm. Most students stay the final night with us and depart on the Saturday, though some choose to go home on the Friday night if this is more convenient for their parents

• Departure date is Saturday (though some students choose to leave on the Friday after the Graduation Ceremony (8pm) or after the Ceilidh (10.45pm))
• Students have to vacate their room by 9am on the Saturday, but are welcome to stay with us any time until 12pm. Most students leave around 10am
• We recommend booking a flight from Heathrow between 10am and 4pm
• We will have staff at Heathrow airport to support the students on departure day
• We can arrange your airport transfer (see section below for more details)

• We ask that you take out comprehensive insurance for things like health, contents and travel insurance
• We also strongly recommend you take out insurance that will cover you if you have to cancel your place on the summer school for any reason. Please read further information about this below

• We have put together The Oxford Scholastica Guide to our Favourite Oxford Hotels, which you can find here

• You can quickly check here if you’ll need a visa
• If you do need a visa, please let us know after you have paid the balance. We’ll send you a stamped official confirmation letter which you can use to apply for your visa
• We strongly recommend applying for your visa in a timely manner!
• Please note: even if you don’t need a visa, you may require an Electronic Travel Authorisations (ETA) . You can check if you need an ETA (and apply for one) by clicking here

• The summer school dress code is casual, although many students will choose to dress up for the more formal occasions such as the graduation
• Here’s our handy list of what kinds of things to think about bringing:

• You’ll need to bring a little bit of spending money with you to cover your daily lunches. We suggest a budget of £15-20 per day
• A sit down meal in a restaurant is around £12, while a sandwich and drink from a cafe shouldn’t cost more than £5. You’ll also want to bring enough money for any shopping you may want to do
• We don’t recommend carrying a lot of money with you, so we recommend you bring a bank card with you so you can withdraw money
• There are branches of most of the major UK banks in the centre of the city as well. Transferring money to students under 18 via organisations like Western Union can be difficult, so we strongly recommend bringing a bank card as a backup
• Here’s a link to a handy currency converter

• We sent you a link to our Welcome Pack in your confirmation email, which contains all the handy information you’ll need to prepare for your time with us. You can find the link here, and you’ll need the password we emailed you in that email (if you can’t find the password just let us know and we’ll send it to you again)

• Our top priority is always the safety and wellbeing of our students. We will follow the most up-to-date guidance from the UK Government on COVID-19. We’ll ask you and your parents to follow our procedures carefully so that we can keep our community safe.

• We’ll be in contact to ask you if you would like to book onto our minibus which leaves from London Heathrow Terminal 3 between 9am and 4pm on arrival day, and leaves Oxford between 6am and 12pm on departure day to go to London Heathrow Terminal 3. Our minibus places cost £150
• In order for you to be able to join our minibus, your flight will need to arrive at Heathrow between 8am and 3pm, and depart from 10am on your departure day
• If your flight arrives at or leaves from a different terminal to Heathrow Terminal 3 you will need to walk between terminals to find our meeting place at Terminal 3 (we will give you clear instructions beforehand). If you prefer to be met at your terminal we will send you information on how you can book a chauffeured taxi via an external company whose driver will meet you at your terminal with your name on a board
• OSA staff members will be present at Heathrow between 9am and 4pm on arrival day, and between 8am and 2pm on departure day, and will be more than happy to help

Arrivals

• We will need to arrange for a staff member to meet your child and sign for them. You will be given our staff member’s phone number to pass on to the airline, who will need to call us when your child is ready for collection (we will be able to pick them up within 20-30 minutes of being called). Our staff member won’t accompany your child to the summer school, but will take them to our minibus to make sure they are safely on
• Please note, we have very limited numbers of staff members able to meet students, and we can only offer this between 9am and 3pm on the arrival Sunday on a first-come-first-served basis at Heathrow (£60)

Departures

• We have a limited number of staff who are available on a first-come-first-served basis to meet unaccompanied minors at Heathrow airport and hand them over to the airline (£85)
• Please note, this is only available for flights which depart between 10am and 2pm on your departure Saturday, and only for flights which leave from Heathrow
• We are sorry but we aren’t able to support unaccompanied minors outside of these times, or to an airport other than Heathrow, so we recommend booking a flight which departs Heathrow between 10am and 2pm and letting us know as soon as possible if you would like to be accompanied. Alternatively, we can happily suggest an organisation which arranges chaperones who would be happy to help if you book in advance

• While many of our students do not require visas to attend Oxford Scholastica, some do. Please check using this UK government tool (it takes a few seconds)
• If you need a visa, please ask us for an official confirmation letter (which we can provide you after you have paid the balance). You can then use this to apply for your visa
• Generally speaking, our students apply for a Standard Visitor visa. You can click here for the latest visa information from the UK government about visas, including how to apply for a visa, how long it takes and what it costs
• Last year a couple of students were unable to attend OSA because they left the process too late, so we really recommend applying with plenty of time
• Please note that we can only offer informal advice on visas, and that it is your responsibility to check the latest information and make sure you apply for the correct visa in a timely manner. If you have an existing visa, it is also important that you check that your visa allows you to study with us
• Please note: the UK government have recently introduced Electronic Travel Authorisations (ETAs) for visitors. If you’re travelling to the UK this summer, you’ll need either a UK passport, a valid visa or an ETA. This applies to everyone travelling into the country, including children, so if you are coming as a family please do check if you need ETAs. It’s a quick process, but it’s very important to arrange or you won’t be allowed into the country – you can check if you need an ETA (and apply for one) by clicking here

• Our terms and conditions ask that you take out comprehensive insurance for things like health, contents and travel insurance, to make sure you are covered and that your safety is assured
• We also strongly recommend you also purchase insurance which covers you in case you have to cancel your place on the summer school. This is sometimes known as “Cancel for Any Reason” insurance. Please make sure you check with your insurer that the cover you purchase will cover the cancellation of your place on the summer school
• Unfortunately, if you have to cancel we can’t offer a refund outside of the refund period (please see below for our cancellation policy). Last year we had a couple of students who had to cancel their place at the last minute for unexpected family reasons or because they had their visa turned down. Please make sure you are covered for this eventuality, even if you think you might not need to

• The deposit is refundable if you cancel within 14 days of payment (as long as the summer school doesn’t start within 14 days of your booking, in which case you will be refunded the deposit minus any charges OSA has incurred as a result of, for example, booking your rooms)
• The balance of funds is refundable in full any time up until 30th April. 50% of the balance is refundable if you cancel between 1st and 15th May, 10% is refundable if you cancel between 16th and 31st May, and 0% is refundable if you cancel after this date
• Wherever possible, we will try to accommodate any requests to change a student’s course or dates, depending on our availability, but we can’t guarantee we are able to do so and any late changes may incur additional charges

We’re always keen to be as helpful as possible, so if you have any questions on any of the above (or anything else) please do get in touch!