We understand that next year’s Marlborough College Summer School will not take place. An e-mail from the Estates Burser – Andrew Barnes – earlier today confirmed this but the aim is for this to be a ‘short break’ which will enable the College to ‘redesign’ the event to ensure its future.
Jackie Jordan, Director of Marketing and Communications for Marlborough College told Marlborough.news: “We are sorry to announce that the Marlborough College Summer School will not take place in 2025. A series of factors have come together which mean that it would be impossible for the College to run this event efficiently and to our expected high standards. The additional taxation measures announced in the October Budget, including increases to National Insurance and to the National Minimum Wage, as well as the imposition of VAT on the majority of courses, make our current pricing model untenable. Unfortunately, this has coincided with the loss of several experienced members of the Summer School team creating a resourcing shortfall which would impact on the effective delivery of the event.
“On the back of this decision, the College will take the opportunity to use the summer weeks outside of term-time to carry out some urgent and intrusive survey work on Norwood Hall, our main restaurant facility which is vital to the smooth running of both the College and of Summer School.
“Furthermore, we are already working with some providers of smaller courses that will take place in July 2025 and we may continue to run some specially selected events.
Summer School has enjoyed 50 wonderful years and we hope that, by taking this short break, we can redesign this special event to ensure it can return for many years to come.”