# UK & Ireland — Summer 2027 STEM/Maker/Engineering Programs **Target kid:** 11 yo (turning 12 in Oct 2026), fluent English, wants PHYSICAL hands-on building/experiments — not laptop coding. Travel from Oslo is fine. **Primary window:** Summer 2027 (Jul-Aug). **Secondary:** Oct 2026 half-term. **Currency note:** All GBP / EUR. Add ~£200-400 for return flights Oslo → London/Dublin/Manchester. **Research date:** 2026-05-26. Most providers publish next-year dates from late autumn, so 2027 confirmation will need to be revisited Sep–Nov 2026. --- ## Tier A — Directly age-appropriate for an 11-12yo with a building bias ### 1. PGL "Cool Science" — residential - **URL:** https://adventureholidays.pgl.co.uk/cool-science/ ; https://adventureholidays.pgl.co.uk/science-camps-in-wiltshire/ - **Age:** 8-11 group OR 11-13 group (PGL splits all camps into 8-11 / 11-13 / 13-16 age bands — for a kid born Jul 2014 the 11-13 group is the sweet spot in summer 2027) - **Residential:** Yes — 5 or 7 nights - **Sites:** Liddington (Wiltshire) and Marchants Hill (Surrey) - **Dates:** Summer (multi-activity at Liddington has Jul 18, Jul 25, Jul 27, Aug 22 2026 dates already live; Cool Science specialist 2026 dates not yet listed at time of writing — 2027 should drop Sep–Nov 2026). Also possible at October half-term (Oct 27 multi-activity confirmed at Liddington for 2026). - **Cost:** 3-night specialist from £399; 7-night ~£800-1000 range (typical PGL pricing) - **Hands-on factor:** ~50/50 — half is science workshops by partner Fun Science (experiments, builds), half adventure activities (climbing, aeroball, giant swing, etc.). NOT laptop-heavy. - **Reputation:** PGL is the UK's largest kids' adventure operator; high volume / lighter on academic depth, but very well-run, safe, internationally familiar. - **International:** Yes, takes solo overseas children, well-practised with unaccompanied minors. - **Verdict:** STRONG match. Easy entry point. Good for a first solo UK residential. ### 2. Camp Wilderness — residential bushcraft / outdoor engineering - **URL:** https://campwilderness.co.uk/ - **Age:** "3 Day Explorer" and "5 Day Explorer" ages 8-12; "Advanced Explorer" ages 10-14; "Thrill Seeker" 10-14; "Coastal Expert" 12-16 (this last one becomes available in summer 2027 once he turns 12 by date) - **Residential:** Yes — 3 or 5 nights - **Sites:** 7 UK locations including Snowdonia, Pembrokeshire, North Yorkshire, Kent, Hertfordshire - **Dates:** Throughout summer holidays. 2027 dates publish autumn 2026. - **Cost:** Not listed openly; expect ~£350-600 for 5-day - **Hands-on factor:** VERY high. Fire-lighting, shelter building, swimming in lakes, mine exploration, climbing. Not "STEM" per se, but heavy physical building/engineering of a different flavour. - **Reputation:** Strong word-of-mouth; small group sizes. - **Verdict:** STRONG match if outdoor/bushcraft counts as "making". The Coastal Expert in Pembrokeshire (12-16) is the standout 2027 option if he wants something a bit more grown-up by then. ### 3. Tech Camp UK - **URL:** https://www.techcamp.org.uk/ - **Age:** 9-17 - **Residential:** Yes (week-long) OR day camps - **Sites:** London (Fulham), Oxford (Abingdon), Winchester - **Cost:** Not listed on home page — expect £700-1000+ for residential week - **Hands-on factor:** Marketed as "the only camp for advanced DIY take-home engineering" — 3D printing, drone racing, robotics, electronics. Not pure laptop coding — they pitch hardware + code. Run by an actual engineer. - **Reputation:** 15+ years; partners with Science Museum London. Among the better STEM-camp brands in the UK. - **International:** Has an "Overseas Campers" page — accepts solo international children. - **Verdict:** STRONG match for the "I want to build stuff" brief. Probably the closest direct fit. ### 4. CTYI (Centre for Talented Youth Ireland, DCU Dublin) — Primary programme - **URL:** https://www.dcu.ie/ctyi/young-student-programmes - **Age:** 6-12 primary; secondary 12+ - **Residential:** NO for under-12s — commuter only (parent must accompany / arrange accommodation). Residential opens at 12+ on the secondary programme. - **Sites:** Dublin (DCU), Galway, Cork, Limerick - **Dates:** 5-week summer; weeks in July (Week 2 Jul 6, Week 3 Jul 13, Week 4 Jul 20, Week 5 Jul 27 — 2026 pattern) - **Cost:** Not on linked page; historically ~€350-450/week - **Hands-on factor:** Variable — STEM courses include forensic science, chemistry, robotics, engineering depending on year. Less hands-on than PGL/Tech Camp. - **Eligibility:** Must demonstrate "high academic ability" via Young Student Assessment or psychologist's report (CTYI's gating mechanism). Norwegian school grades + a maths/verbal assessment generally accepted. - **Reputation:** Top-tier in Ireland; the JHU CTY equivalent. - **Verdict:** Worthwhile IF you can attend with him (no residential for primary). Once he hits 12, the **CTYI secondary programme is residential at DCU** — that's the 2027 unlock. Apply early — places go fast (Jan opening typical). ### 5. SuperCamps Mad Science (day camp) - **URL:** https://www.supercamps.co.uk/mad-science-kids-holiday-camp - **Age:** 6-12 - **Residential:** Day camp only (5 days, 9-5) - **Sites:** 40+ UK venues incl. Cambridge, Oxford, London area; Kingswood School in Bath also runs SuperCamps Bushcraft - **Cost:** £315 for 5 days - **Hands-on factor:** Mixed — DNA decoding, crime scene investigation, "indoor firework display". Branded Mad Science content — fun but not deep engineering. - **Verdict:** Backup option, only viable if family is staying in the UK so a day camp works. Not a destination on its own. ### 6. Discovery Summer at Benenden (Kent) — Young Learners - **URL:** https://discoverysummer.com/benenden/ - **Age:** 8-12 (young learners), 13-16 (teens) - **Residential:** Yes — premium UK boarding-school setting - **Dates:** 10 Jul – 7 Aug 2026 (1-4 week stays); 2027 likely similar - **Cost:** Premium — typically £1,800-2,500/week - **Hands-on factor:** PRIMARILY an English language summer school (20 hr/week English), with sports, arts, and limited STEM electives. The 13-16 track adds Coding/AI/Engineering electives. The 8-12 track is mostly English + activities. - **Verdict:** SKIP for this kid — he's fluent in English and this is fundamentally an EAL camp. Becomes more interesting at 13+ if Discovery's STEM electives mature. --- ## Tier B — Worth contacting / on the borderline ### 7. Smallpeice Trust - **URL:** https://www.smallpeicetrust.org.uk/courses/ ; https://www.smallpeicetrust.org.uk/events-calendar/ - **Age:** Year 8+ (age 12-13 minimum) for residential. **No Year 7 courses.** - **2026 residential lineup confirmed:** - Engineering Experience Wales (Pontypridd) Y8-9, Jul 28-30, £200 - Engineering Experience Scotland (Stirling) S2-S3, Aug 4-6, £415 - Biomedical Engineering (Southampton) Y11-12, Aug 4-7, £465 - Girls into Engineering (Loughborough) Y8-9, Aug 11-13, £200 - Explore Engineering (Bath) Y10, Aug 11-13, £415 - Engineering Experience NI (Belfast) Y9-10, Aug 12-14, £200 - **Hands-on factor:** Genuine engineering content — Smallpeice is the gold standard for short UK engineering residentials. Real builds, university campuses. - **2027 booking:** Opens late autumn 2026 ("Summer of STEM" launches Q4). 73% of 2026 places gone by May. - **Reputation:** Best-in-class. Highly subsidised so cheap relative to depth. - **Verdict:** NOT this year. **Apply Aug 2027 for the £200 Engineering Experience courses** once he's finishing Year 7 (UK equiv) / age 12. THIS IS THE #1 PROGRAM TO REVISIT IN 2027 once minimum age clears. ### 8. Trinity Walton Club (Trinity College Dublin) - **URL:** https://www.tcd.ie/waltonclub/ ; https://www.tcd.ie/waltonclub/STEM-camps.php - **Age:** Saturday club & camps 13-17; International residential summer programme 14-17 - **2026 summer camps named:** CodeCrafter, Assemble, IGNITE (entrepreneurship), Eco-Neering, Data Detectives, REACT, COLLIDE, CONNECT2, Frontiers, Diagnosis, LAUNCH - **Residential:** Yes for the International summer programme (10-day) - **Verdict:** TOO YOUNG for 2027 at age 12. **Excellent target for age 13-14 (i.e. summer 2028-2029).** Bookmark. ### 9. Maynooth University CS / Robotics Summer Camps - **URL:** https://www.maynoothuniversity.ie/computer-science/summer-camps - **Age:** 13-18 (minimum 13) - **Format:** Day camp, 9:30-13:00 Mon-Fri, June-July - **Verdict:** TOO YOUNG for summer 2027. Bookmark for 2028+. ### 10. Bletchley Park - **URL:** https://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/learning/ - **Age:** All ages; child ticket 8-11, young person 12-17 - **Format:** Visits, school sessions, Enigma demos. Family activities on selected dates. **No standalone holiday camp for individual kids** as of May 2026. - **Verdict:** Worth a day trip if you're in London (50 min by train from Euston to Bletchley). Not a destination program. ### 11. Jodrell Bank — Astro Night: Kids - **URL:** https://www.jodrellbank.net/events/astro-night-kids/ - **Age:** Recommended 7-11 (perfect fit), accompanied by adult - **Format:** Evening events (~3 hours) — Space Dome show + outdoor stargazing + crafts + astronaut challenge - **Cost:** Single-event ticket (typically £15-25/head) - **Dates:** Jan 31 and Mar 7 2026 — BOTH SOLD OUT well in advance. Watch their events page for the 2026/2027 winter season. - **Verdict:** Great add-on, but tickets vanish. Set a calendar reminder for when each season's tickets drop. Doesn't justify a trip alone but excellent if combining with Manchester. ### 12. ISSET Mission Discovery (King's College London) - **URL:** https://www.isset.space/products/missiondiscoverykingscollegelondon - **Age:** 14-18 (Mission Discovery flagship). **Astro Space Camp London** (smaller spin-off) is ages 7-12, day-only, ~£200 for 4 days, Spring half-term only. - **Verdict:** Mission Discovery itself is bookmark for 14+. Astro Space Camp at King's is a viable May 2027 day-only option if you're in London then. ### 13. Imperial College London - **URL:** https://www.imperial.ac.uk/be-inspired/schools-outreach/secondary-schools/summer-schools/ - **Age:** Year 9+ minimum (age 13-14) for any outreach summer school - **Verdict:** Bookmark for age 14+ — Year 10 Insights, Year 9 Girls Engineering, etc. ### 14. UKMT Junior Mathematical Challenge / Olympiad - **URL:** https://ukmt.org.uk/junior-challenges/junior-mathematical-olympiad - **Age:** Year 8 and below (so eligible at 12) - **Format:** Competition, NOT a camp. JMC is multiple-choice; top 1,000-1,200 invited to Junior Olympiad in June. Sat via UK school registration. - **Hands-on factor:** None — pure paper math. - **Verdict:** Bookmark for pipeline tracking. If kid joins a UK school session via a partner (Norwegian schools can register for some UKMT challenges) it's worth pursuing. **No standalone residential maths camp exists for this age band in the UK** (UK Maths Trust camps start at age 14+ — the Summer School at Oxford is for Olympiad-qualified Year 9-10s). ### 15. Camp Beaumont — London day camp - **URL:** https://www.campbeaumont.co.uk/ - **Format:** Day camp only, London-based. Lego Robotics and Minecraft coding weeks added recently. - **Verdict:** Only relevant as a day option if staying in London. Skip for a Norway-based traveller. ### 16. Kingswood (PGL Education) - **URL:** https://www.kingswood.co.uk/ - **Note:** Kingswood is mostly schools/groups residential — they don't run open-enrolment individual children summer camps. Different entity from Kingswood Oxford (US camp) or Kingswood School in Bath (school where SuperCamps operates). - **Verdict:** Not applicable. ### 17. UK FIRST LEGO League (FLL) / VEX IQ - **URL:** https://education.theiet.org/first-lego-league-programmes ; https://www.firstlegoleague.org/ - **Age:** 9-16 (FLL Challenge), 8-14 (VEX IQ) - **Format:** Team competition through schools/clubs. Not a camp. Season runs autumn-spring. - **Important note:** Starting Aug 2026 there are two FLL versions (Founders Edition using SPIKE, Future Edition using new LEGO Education CS&AI hardware). Last LEGO/FIRST joint season is 2026-27. - **Verdict:** A YEAR-ROUND track — pursue via Norwegian club if available (FLL has strong Norwegian presence). Not a UK travel program. --- ## Tier C — Confirmed unsuitable (age cutoffs eliminate them for 2027) | Program | Min age | Earliest relevance | |---|---|---| | Royal Institution Masterclasses | 13-14 (also 9-10 primary, but UK-school nominated) | Bookmark age 13+ | | Villiers Park residentials | Year 10+ (age 14-15) — widening participation only | Not applicable (selection is UK schools) | | Mill Hill Summer School | 12 | Marginal — primarily EFL | | Oxford Royale Academy | 12 | Marginal — academic seminar style, not maker | | Immerse Education | 13 | Bookmark age 13+ | | Imperial Global Summer School | 16-17 | Bookmark age 16+ | | King's College London Pre-University | 16-17 | Bookmark age 16+ | | Mission Discovery (flagship) | 14 | Bookmark age 14+ | | Sevenoaks Summer Programme | 11-16 | Available but EFL-heavy; only worthwhile if interested in academic English at a top boarding school | | Discovery Summer (Benenden) | 8-12 | Available but it's an EFL camp — not the right brief | | CCSS Cambridge | N/A — defunct as standalone since 2020 | — | | EDT Headstart | Year 12 (16-17) | Bookmark age 16+ | | The Brilliant Club Scholars Programme | Year 5+ but ONLY via UK state schools (non-selective) | Not applicable for international family | | Astrocamp Wales (gostargazing) | Adult-oriented star parties | Not applicable | | Royal Observatory Edinburgh | Talks 12+, refurbishment limits 2025-26 family programming | Bookmark age 14+ | | Goodenough College | London grad-student residence — no children's summer programs exist | Not applicable | --- ## TOP-5 SHORTLIST FOR SUMMER 2027 (kid will be 12) 1. **Smallpeice Trust — Engineering Experience (Wales OR NI)**, £200, 3 nights, Year 8 cohort. Best price-to-quality ratio in the entire list. Apply when bookings open Nov 2026. **Backup:** Engineering Experience Scotland (£415). 2. **Tech Camp UK** — week residential at Oxford (Abingdon) or Winchester. Closest direct match to the "physical maker" brief. ~£700-1000. 3. **PGL Cool Science** — 7-night residential at Liddington or Marchants Hill, in the 11-13 age band. Lower academic depth but great first solo UK camp and easy international logistics. ~£700-900. 4. **Camp Wilderness Coastal Expert (Pembrokeshire, age 12-16)** — 5 days bushcraft/coastal engineering. Different flavour (outdoor problem-solving) but heavily hands-on and physical. Available in summer 2027 once he hits 12. 5. **CTYI Secondary Programme (DCU Dublin)** — residential opens at age 12 on the secondary track. Three-week academic intensives, STEM courses included. Apply Jan–Feb 2027 (early — gating assessment required). ### Combination idea A two-week UK trip: one residential week (Tech Camp or PGL) + a few days in London hitting **Bletchley Park** (day trip) and **Astro Space Camp at King's** (if dates align) + Jodrell Bank's Astro Night: Kids (if Manchester is enroute). --- ## BOOKMARK FOR AGE 13-15 (summer 2028-2030) - **Smallpeice Trust** — graduates from Engineering Experience to Explore Engineering (Y10, £415, Bath) and discipline-specific courses (Aerospace, Biomedical, etc.) - **Trinity Walton Club International Summer Programme** (10-day residential at TCD Dublin, age 14-17) - **Royal Institution Engineering Masterclasses** (currently dormant 2010-2020 ran; Maths and CS active) — watch for revival - **Maynooth CS / Robotics summer camp** (13+, day camp) - **Imperial College Year 9 Girls Engineering** (if applicable) — 4-day non-residential - **Imperial College Year 10 Insights Summer School** — 4-night residential, free, competitive - **ISSET Mission Discovery at King's College London** — flagship 5-day space STEM camp with NASA astronauts, 14-18 - **Villiers Park** — only if attending a UK partner school via Brilliant Futures programme - **UKMT Junior → Intermediate Olympiad pipeline** - **CTYI Secondary Programme residential** (DCU) ## BOOKMARK FOR AGE 15-18 (summer 2030+) - **LIYSF (London International Youth Science Forum)** — 14-day residential at Imperial, July-Aug, ages 16-21, ~£2,500. Globally prestigious. - **Imperial Global Summer School** — Engineering / Robotics / AI streams, ages 16-17, 2 weeks residential - **Mission Discovery flagship** at King's — full residential - **EDT Headstart / Insight into University** — Year 12 STEM taster at UK universities - **UK STEM SMART** (Cambridge, free) — Year 12 STEM acceleration - **Sutton Trust Summer School at Imperial** — Year 12, free, highly competitive - **Oxford / Cambridge college-run subject schools** (UNIQ Oxford summer schools — UK students only via free route, otherwise Immerse / Oxford Royale at £6k) - **Royal Observatory Edinburgh Astronomy for All talks** (12+) --- ## Action items (Stian) 1. **Sep 2026:** Check Smallpeice 2027 calendar release; bookmark Engineering Experience Wales / NI. 2. **Sep–Nov 2026:** Watch PGL Cool Science and Tech Camp UK 2027 dates drop. 3. **Jan 2027:** Apply early to CTYI secondary programme — assessment required. 4. **Year-round:** Investigate Norwegian FLL teams (Hamar?) for season 2026-27 — that's the local equivalent of robotics competition pipeline. 5. **Watch:** Jodrell Bank Astro Night: Kids tickets for the Jan-Mar 2027 season (drop in Oct-Nov 2026 — sell out fast).