Rolling applications · only 20 places per cohort

Summer 2026 programmes

Three programmes. One philosophy.

Every Gridless programme starts in the real world and ends in front of a real audience. Pick the one that fits, then explore the full week.

Pick a programme

The Investors Programme

Where pocket money becomes a portfolio.

Seven days. Students learn to read businesses the way investors do, score real pitches, commit a fund out loud, and track returns at a live market.

Ages
Ages 9–13
Dates
29 Jul – 4 Aug
Sessions
7 days · 24.5 hrs
Time
13:30 to 17:00
Duration
3.5 hours / day
Year groups
Years 5–8
Venues
UCL · King's College London · LSE
Apply by
Sun 26 Jul 2026

Parents invited Day 4 (Sat 1 Aug) and Day 7 (Tue 4 Aug)

Apply for InvestorsCapped at 20 students

The week, day by day

What students actually do, each day.

A snapshot of every day, the venue, and what students walk away with. For the full 15-minute-by-15-minute curriculum design, including learning objectives, tutor briefs and materials, get in touch and we will send it over.

  1. Day 1UCL

    Play a live investing game

    A continuous game in Gridless currency (₲). Read the field, back problems and businesses, react to news and constraints, then convert ₲ into the real fund they will commit later in the week.

  2. Day 2King's College London

    Find out what people actually buy

    A separate brief from the entrepreneurs. Live fieldwork on a working university campus: what do people actually pay for, and what do they walk past? Findings shape every later decision.

  3. Day 3Out · central London

    Interrogate a real business owner

    No case studies. Investors sit across from a working founder and put them under proper questioning across customer, numbers, team and risk.

  4. Day 4LSE · parents invited

    Sit on the pitch panel at LSE

    The only live crossover with the entrepreneur cohort. Investors sit in the audience, judge the pitches against a structured rubric, then shortlist who they would actually back.

  5. Day 5LSE

    Commit the fund out loud

    Each group commits its fund out loud, defends the call under challenge from the room, then locks the position with a one-page memo.

  6. Day 6Out · high street

    Read the high street under pressure

    Teams are sent into central London with a live brief: observe how price, placement and promotion shift under real market pressure. Who is buying, who is walking past, and what is changing hour by hour? Intelligence gathered here feeds directly into the portfolio memo they write that evening.

  7. Day 7Market venue TBC · parents invited

    Run the returns desk at market

    The entrepreneur cohort runs the stalls. This cohort runs the returns desk: real sales tracked live, turned into real returns on each position they backed.

What they leave with

Reading a market
Pricing risk
Interrogating a business
Scoring pitches
Defending a position out loud
Portfolio thinking
Reading high-street demand
Measuring returns

Fee

Years 5–6

£1,150£865

Years 7–8

£1,250£965

25% second-cohort fee reduction · per child · full programme

Apply for Investors · deadline Sun 26 Jul 2026

What's included

  • 7 days · 24.5 hours total
  • All materials included
  • Specialist tutors included
  • University venue access, UCL, KCL, LSE
  • Live market returns desk
  • Daily video recap for parents

More questions?

Leave your details and we'll be in touch.

Or email hello@gridless.org.uk.