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Guardianship of
School Children

Guardianship of School Children

When choosing to provide a top British education for your child, you want to know that they are cared for and supported throughout their whole journey. For parents who remain overseas for the duration of their child’s education, we are there to provide a support system and address the day to day needs of your child.

College Guardians offer a range of packages designed to meet the needs of each individual, for school children from the age of eight, up to those in their twenties who are studying university or pathway courses. This page looks at our four packages for children studying at school in the UK.

What we provide

Young people studying at school in the UK who come from overseas typically need a certain level of welfare, wellbeing and academic support alongside that provided by their school pastoral system. This includes regular communication and visits to ensure that your child is happy, settled and are able to make the most out of the education opportunity that they have been given. This goes alongside the wider aspects of supporting your child while they are studying abroad; being a phone call away, arranging stays with a host family (where applicable), arranging transport, administering pocket money, sorting uniform and extra curricular needs all being prime examples.

As with all our packages, we put the needs of your child first. They will always be able to get in touch with us using our 24 hour on call number, during school term time, whilst your child is in the care of one of our host families and during the time they are travelling to and from the airport. Whatever the circumstances and whatever the needs of each individual child, you can be confident that they are being cared for.

Please read below for the four packages offered for school children and sixth formers. In addition to our Premium and Standard services, College Guardians offers a tailor-made option. If you wish to consider this service for your child, please get in touch so that we can discuss your individual needs and prices.

Guardianship Packages

College Guardians can offer the following packages:

Standard Service for School Children aged 14-16

Welfare, Wellbeing and Academic Support

  • Ensuring that your child settles into school, assisting with any issues that may arise.
  • Visiting your child at school once each term. Visits will be arranged through the houseparents at the school and where possible at a time that is not disruptive to your child’s school timetable.
  • Regular communication with feedback to parents and/or agent.
  • Additional visits can be arranged and will be charged according to our fee sheet. It should be noted that our staff will often visit schools more regularly than this on an ad hoc basis and will always take these opportunities to meet your child informally.
  • Support and guidance with subject choices, choice of senior school (where applicable) and university places.
  • Where required, help with arranging educational learning support needs.

Emergency Service

College Guardians operates a 24 hour on call emergency service during term time, including exeat/leave out weekends and half term holidays. If your child plans to stay in the UK during the longer school holidays, we request that you inform us of the full arrangements that have been made for your child.

Transport

Arranging transport between the airport and school at the beginning and end of each term, half term holidays and exeat/leaveout weekends when required. (The cost of transport will be deducted from your child’s expense account).

General Help, Guidance and Assistance

  • Assistance with any extra-curricular needs (within school) e.g music/dance/drama/sport.
  • Help with the purchase of a mobile telephone and a local “pay as you go” SIM card.
  • Assistance with purchasing school uniform.
  • Help with managing pocket money.
  • Passport and visa renewal – we are unable to apply for passports or visas on your child’s behalf but would be happy to provide general advice and offer details of agents that specialise and have experience in these matters. In these circumstances you would need to work directly with the agents.

Additional Services

  • Parents meeting. If required a College Guardians representative will attend parents meetings on your behalf and complete a written report. A fee of £75 plus travel expenses will be charged for this service.
  • Errands (e.g. visits to the doctors, dentist or shopping requests) will incur an additional cost, please see our fee sheet.
  • Host families. If a host family stay is requested an arrangement fee of £275 will be charged in addition to the host family costs.

Premium Service for School Children aged 8-16

Welfare, Wellbeing and Academic Support

  • Arrange an initial meeting between College Guardians, child/parents and host family where possible.
  • Ensuring that your child settles into school, assisting with any issues that may arise.
  • Regular communication with feedback to parents and/or agent.
  • Visiting your child at school twice each term. Visits will be arranged through the houseparents at the school and where possible at a time that is not disruptive to your child’s school timetable.
  • Additional visits can be arranged and will be charged according to our fee sheet. It should be noted that our staff will often visit schools more regularly than this on an ad hoc basis and will always take these opportunities to meet your child informally.
  • Attending parents meeting if requested with a written report sent to parents and or agent.
    Support and guidance with subject choices, choice of senior school (where applicable) and university places.
  • Where required, help with arranging educational learning support needs.

Host Families

  • Ensuring a suitable host family is found for your child. Once you have completed the student registration form, we will try to match the needs of your child as closely as possible to one of our hosts. Whenever possible we will give you a choice of families and can arrange for you to meet the host that your child will be staying with.
  • Arranging host family accommodation for exeat or leave-out weekends, half term and school holidays where required.
  • Contact with host families and children during overnight stays.
  • Arranging transport to and from host families (transport costs will be deducted from your child’s expense account).
  • Ensuring that your child’s stay with their host is happy and enjoyable.

Emergency Service

College Guardians operates a 24 hour on call emergency service during term time, including exeat/ leave out weekends and half term holidays. If your child plans to stay in the UK during the longer school holidays, we request that you inform us of the full arrangements that have been made for your child.

Transport

Transport will be arranged between the airport and school at the beginning and end of term and to and from the host family where necessary. Should your child need additional transport during the period of time that they are in the UK, please let us know so that this can be arranged. (The cost of transport will be deducted from your child’s expense account).

General Help, Guidance and Assistance

  • Assistance with purchasing school uniform.
  • Help with managing pocket money.
  • Assistance with any extra-curricular needs (within school) e.g. music/dance/drama/sport.
  • Arranging holiday courses as required and where requested.
  • Help with the purchase of a mobile telephone and a local “pay as you go” SIM card.
  • Passport and visa renewal – we are unable to apply for passports or visas on your child’s behalf but would be happy to provide general advice and offer details of agents that specialise and have experience in these matters. In these circumstances, you would need to work directly with the agent.

Additional Services

  • Transport will be charged per journey and will vary according to the length of the journey. We will be happy to give individual quotes.
  • Cost of overnight stays with host families will incur additional charges. Please see our fee sheet for details of these costs.
  • Errands (e.g. visits to the doctors, dentist or shopping requests) will incur an additional cost, please see our fee sheet.

Standard Service for Sixth Form Students

Welfare, Wellbeing and Academic Support

  • Ensuring that your child settles into school, assisting with any issues that may arise.
  • Visiting your child at school once each term. Visits will be arranged through the houseparents at the school and where possible at a time that is not disruptive to your child’s school timetable.
  • Regular communication with feedback to parents and/or agent.
  • Additional visits can be arranged on request and will be charged according to our fee sheet. It should be noted that our staff will often visit schools more regularly than this on an ad hoc basis and will always take these opportunities to meet your child informally.
  • Support and guidance with subject choices and university application process.

Emergency Service

College Guardians operates a 24 hour on call emergency service during term time, including exeat/ leave out weekends and half term holidays. If your child plans to stay in the UK during the longer school holidays, we request that you inform us of the full arrangements that have been made for your child.

Transport

If you wish College Guardians to arrange transport at the beginning and end of term please advise us so that we can assist with your arrangements. (The cost of transport will be deducted from your child’s expense account).

General Help, Guidance and Assistance

  • Assistance with any extra-curricular needs (within school) e.g music/dance/drama/sport.
  • Help with the purchase of a mobile telephone and a local “pay as you go” SIM card
  • Passport and visa renewal – we are unable to apply for passports or visas on your child’s behalf but would be happy to provide general advice and offer details of agents that specialise and have experience in these matters. In these circumstances you would need to work directly with the agents.

Additional Services

  • Parents meeting. If required a College Guardians representative will attend parents meetings on your behalf and complete a written report. A fee of £75 plus travel expenses will be charged for this service.
  • Errands (e.g. visits to the doctors, dentist or shopping requests) will incur an additional cost, please see our fee sheet.
  • Host families. If a host family stay is requested an arrangement fee of £275 will be charged in addition to the host family costs.

Premium Service for Sixth Form Students

Welfare, Wellbeing and Academic Support

  • Arrange an initial meeting between College Guardians, your child / parents and host family where possible.
  • Ensuring that your child settles into school, assisting with any issues that may arise.
  • Regular communication with feedback to parents and/ or agent.
  • Visiting your child at school once each term. Visits will be arranged through the houseparents at the school and where possible at a time that is not disruptive to your child’s school timetable.
  • An additional visit can be arranged each term at the request of the parent or child. It should be noted that our staff will often visit schools more regularly than this on an ad hoc basis and will always take these opportunities to meet your child informally.
  • Attending parent’s meetings if requested with a written report sent to parents and or agent.
  • Support and guidance with subject choices and university application process.
  • Where required, help with arranging educational learning support needs.

Host Families

  • Ensuring a suitable host family is found for your child. Once you have completed the student registration form, we will try to match the needs of your child as closely as possible to one of our hosts. Whenever possible we will give you a choice of families and can arrange for you to meet the host that your child will be staying with.
  • Arranging host family accommodation for exeat or leave-out weekends, half term and school holidays where required.
  • Contact with host families and children during overnight stays.
  • Arranging transport to and from host families (transport costs will be deducted from your child’s expense account).
  • Ensuring that your child’s stay with their host is happy and enjoyable.

Emergency Service

College Guardians operates a 24 hour on call emergency service during term time, including exeat/ leave out weekends and half term holidays. If your child plans to stay in the UK during the longer school holidays, we request that you inform us of the full arrangements that have been made for your child.

Transport

If you wish College Guardians to arrange transport at the beginning and end of term and to and from your host family, please advise us so that we can assist with your arrangements (the cost of transport will be deducted from your child’s expense account).

General Help, Guidance and Assistance

  • Assistance with any extra-curricular needs (within school) e.g. music/dance/drama/sport.
    Help with the purchase of a mobile telephone and a local “pay as you go” SIM card.
  • Passport and visa renewal – we are unable to apply for passports or visas on your child’s behalf but would be happy to provide general advice and offer details of agents that specialise and have experience in these matters. In these circumstances, you would need to work directly with the agents.

Additional Services

  • Transport will be charged per journey and will vary according to the length of the journey. We will be happy to give individual quotes.
  • Cost of overnight stays with host families will incur addition charges. Please see our fee sheet for details of these costs.
  • Errands (e.g. visits to the doctors, dentist or shopping requests) will incur an additional cost, please see our fee sheet.

The main difference between the Premium and Standard service is that the Premium service includes the provision of a host family. We recognise that some children may not need a host family, however we require children aged 13 or under to be registered onto our Premium Service.

School ChildrenSchool
Children		Sixth FormSixth
Form
Summary of PackagesStandardSPremiumPStandardSPremiumP
Welfare, Wellbeing & Academic Support
School visits per term (1 minimum)
School visits per term (2 minimum)
Attendance of parent meetings
Subject choice guidance
University guidance
Educational learning support
Host Family
Provision of host family
Emergency Services
24 hour on-call service
Transport
Transport arrangements
General Help, Guidance & Assistance
Extra-curricular needs support
Assistance sorting communications systems
Assistance with school uniform
Pocket money provisions
Assistance with passport and visa renewal
Arrangement of holiday courses

Your Child
The most important
person in the world

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Start your registration online now. Our team look forward to hearing from you.
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“Dear Caroline, My goodness you are truely a magician. Thank you so much for all that you do. I can't imagine how I would have ever managed without your help!„

“Thank you very much for all you have done to make this a special birthday for our daughter. She is very happy which is all thanks to you.„

“I am very grateful and impressed. I feel safe and confident that my child is in the best possible care.„

“I would like to say thank you to you and Jane for looking after Pin while she was in Clifton.„

FAQs

We appreciate that when you are arranging for your child to come to study in the UK there are lots of questions that you will want answers to. Please see our frequently asked questions below.

If there is something that you are still unsure on, please contact us and we will be happy to help.

Why do I need a guardian?

To comply with visa regulations it is necessary that all students under the age of 18 attending boarding school, a pathway college or university appoint a guardian that is resident in the UK to care for them. Many schools insist that students have a guardian until they complete their education even once they are over the age of 18.

Can I choose my child’s host family?

We believe that it is important to involve parents and children in all areas of care and with this in mind, we actively encourage you to be involved in the selection of host families.

Who will be my child’s guardian?

College Guardians has a team covering the UK and depending on where your child is at school or college will determine who their local contact is.

Can you help my child apply for a visa?

We are unable to get directly involved in applying for visa, however we can suggest a number of agencies that you can work with.

How will my child get to and from the airport?

Firstly, to comply with visa regulations it is essential that we always know the whereabouts of your child.

Depending on where your child is studying, the school may arrange transport to and from the airport. We have an excellent relationship with a number of taxi companies and can either arrange individual cars or if you are happy for your child to share with other children that we look after, we can where possible arrange this.

Can you help my child get a mobile phone?

Yes – we suggest a pay as you go sim card and can help with the best coverage depending on where in the UK you are living.

Do I need a UK bank account?

To open a bank account in the UK, you will need a letter from the college or school where you are studying.

If you are studying at a pathway college or university, ask for this from the student services team. They will also be able to suggest which bank to contact, although they will not recommend one over another.

Many students choose not to open a UK account but use a card from their home country. If you are going to do this, make sure you know if there will be any costs involved.

Do I have to register with a doctor?

Yes – if you are at boarding school the staff at school should help you do this.
If you are at a pathway college or university, they will either give you a link to register or you will need to find a surgery close to your accommodation and go in person to register. You do not have to pay to register with an NHS doctor.

Am I allowed to travel by train in the UK?

This will depend on your age, where you are studying and the rules of your school. Please ask and we can help you on an individual basis. If you are thinking of using the train on a regular basis it may be wise to buy a railcard, details can be found here:

Railcards for 16-24 year olds:
https://www.16-25railcard.co.uk/

Other options for 16-17 year olds:
https://www.16-17saver.co.uk

How often will you visit my child?

This will depend on the level of service that you choose for your child, in the majority of cases your child will be visited at least once a term, but generally more often than this.

Get in Touch

To register your child for our service, to discuss the packages above, or enquire about our bespoke services, please contact us.
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