More Than a School: Hugh Viney's Full Statement from the 2026 Summer Festival
The below is a transcript of MVA CEO Hugh Viney's closing speech at the MVA 2026 Summer Festival.
"Five years ago, we launched MVA with 10 students at the school, in January 2021.
And, of the 10 students, there was an elite athlete, I think it was a tennis player. There was a family that were moving around a lot around the UK and around the world, so what we called internally a lifestyle family, and they chose MVA to be more flexible. There was a family whose child had a mental health need that was not met by their previous school, an emotional need. And there was a family whose daughter was neurodiverse, and her needs had not been met by her previous school.
Does that sound familiar?
And that was five years ago, our first 10 students. Fast-forward to today, we're nearly at 1,600 students across 60 countries. And the profile of our students remain the same. Amazing, elite, wonderfully talented athletes and performers who need a flexible education to fit around their schedule. Adventurous families that want something different, that want the freedom to do what they like and bring their school with them. And then families that have been through trauma, that have been through hell, who've been chewed up and spat out by the schooling system, and have found comfort in MVA after awful experiences because of a mental health need or a neurodivergent need.
There are other families here now as well. We've got kids who are super bright, super intelligent, who wanna take their GCSEs early, and a growing number of different kinds of profiles. But what we all are together is one thing: we are MVA.
And one thing I've learned in this last five years, in this experience, is we have somehow built something incredible together. We're not an online school. We're a school. And I think we're more than that. We're a community. I think more than that, we're a movement, and today, of all days, shows that.
This week summarizes what it's like to be at MVA. This week, we had a student in the quarterfinals of Wimbledon Juniors. Isn't that amazing? This week, we had 17 kids on The Duke of Edinburgh's Award lost somewhere in the Pennines or wherever you were with Jack Child, our assistant vice principal, and his crew of teachers. Isn't that amazing?
People think online school, that they don't do anything. Online school? You stay at home all day. No, you don't. You can do the Duke of Edinburgh Bronze if you're an MVA student, and that is incredible. That is incredible.
And this week we had a festival with 600 people in Battersea Park. Would you expect that of an online school? Yesterday, on Sky News, one of our parents, the amazing Victoria, who was here earlier, spoke live on Sky News about her experience with the education system in the UK, and the trauma that she'd been through, and the safety that she found with MVA. She spoke live on Sky News to a journalist that said: "Your child's a school refuser." Wrong word. Who would agree with that? That child was not refusing school. That child's unable to attend school, and it could be for a variety of reasons. So she put the journalist right. And she spoke about MVA live on Sky News yesterday. And guys, this is all in one week.
And she said: "MVA gave me my child back." And 10 parents today, 10 mothers have said the same thing to me. "Thank you for giving me my child back." And that doesn't get old. It's the most wonderful part of being at MVA. It's the most wonderful thing that...thank you.
(Hugh is briefly interrupted by his two children awarding him with a medal.)
So look, I'll round up, guys, 'cause my children are pulling me apart. Sound familiar? I'll round up by saying this. This is the theme of MVA every week, and it doesn't get old. Thank you for giving me my child back. Thank you for giving me my child back. And it's the most wonderful feeling. I've cried about five times today and sharing tears with, with moms and dads who've been through that experience, and MVA has made them feel complete again and made them feel whole again. And it is wonderful.
But really, as we celebrate our fifth birthday, this movement, this community. What I want to see on our tenth birthday, in five years' time, what I'm excited for is MVA, 4,000 students across 100 countries, whatever it might be, what I want to see is parents not having to say that to me, "Thank you for giving me my child back." I want to see a world where parents are choosing MVA because it's an amazing community, an amazing school, an amazing movement they want to be part of, not because they've been through a difficult time. And that is the change we wanna see.
MVA, in five years' time, is a place where everyone wants to come because it's awesome, it's amazing, and it makes, most importantly, it makes children feel happy and parents feel happy about themselves, rather than a parent who's been through hell having to find us online in a struggle, suffering their own trauma.
That's the world I wanna see. That's the vision I have for MVA in the next five years. And I can say that today with excitement. Recently, we secured some amazing new, new investment partners who are here today, Phoenix Equity Partners. Give them a clap, please, guys. Phoenix are somewhere here. And they chose MVA. They chose MVA. They chose to invest in MVA because of our past, our amazing successful past, because of our present, the kind of weeks we've just had with Wimbledon champions, Duke of Edinburgh bronze, 300 students taking their GCSEs.
Big up year 11s and year 13s, by the way, for GCSEs and A-levels. Well done.
Phoenix, our new investment partners, they chose us, like I said, because of our past, because of our present, but actually also because of our future, because of that vision we have, me and my amazing team have, for the future of education. That's why they backed us, and that's what I believe in, and that's what I know so many of you here believe in. And to get there, we're only gonna get there together as this movement, not as an online school, not as an alternative option, as a community and as a movement. And I know I'm not gonna have to drag you with me. I know you're all gonna come with me on that journey.
Before I end, there's someone really important I want to thank. I could obviously list off my incredible staff, who are wonderful, and actually, while they're here, give the faculty a round of applause. They've had another amazing year. Loads of amazing teachers here. Teachers, mentors. BI'm not gonna name every other member of staff here, 'cause there's about 100 of them here, but you're all amazing. But I'm gonna thank one person, without whom none of this would have been possible. Very much in the background. Someone that's shared 15 years of me being an entrepreneur, but particularly in the last four years with MVA, has really helped me on this journey as my effective co-founder, who's been there in the background supporting me. And that's my amazing wife, Rosie. So I'd love to give her a clap. She's called the MVA co-founder, and she doesn't get enough recognition for that]. And, ]finally, to my amazing daughters. Our chief happiness officer and our chief cheeky officer over there.
I wanna see my daughters grow up in a world, they are four and two right now, when they are secondary school age, which isn't that far away, I believe in a world, thanks to MVA and thanks to other people in our movement, that they're gonna grow up in a world where parents will have choice. Parents will have choice about the schools they can send their children to. Parents can choose the school that best suits the needs of their child. That's a world I believe in, and that's what I want my young children to grow up in, and I think we can get there. Would you all agree?
Well, lastly, once again, big thanks to Liz Parry. Amazing. Thank you to everyone to be here. My favorite part about today is the kids and thank you so much to all the MVA students for being here today and sharing your amazing stories with me. So a big applause for the MVA students here today. Because you really make this place special."
