Frequently Asked Questions

An educational guardian is a person appointed by a parent to be their representative while their child studies in the UK. This could be an adult friend or relative of the student, but this person must be resident in the UK and available at all times to help and support the student. Most parents prefer to pay an experienced educational guardian to carry out this key role.

Most UK boarding and day schools require students to have an educational guardian, usually AEGIS accredited. Students applying for a visa must also give the name and contact details of their educational guardian.  

No, a legal guardian is appointed by a court when there is no parent. An educational guardian is appointed by a parent to be their representative and act in their place (‘in loco parentis’) while their child studies in the UK.

Yes, we have Gold Standard accreditation from AEGIS, the highest possible level. We carry out rigorous checks to keep students safe, and train our teams to ensure they can cope properly with the demands of looking after international students studying in the UK.  

Educational guardianship: You can see our charges for different levels of guardianship, and what they offer you here. 

Homestay: For boarding school students, the cost of homestay for short breaks is charged to the student deposit. If you are attending a day school or college and need accommodation on a long-term basis, then we will invoice you at the same time as for your guardianship fees.

Expenses:  Parents remain responsible for other costs incurred, such as travel costs, sports equipment and uniform, and for activities and pocket money. We hold a deposit for each student to cover these additional expenses. Please get in touch if you would like more details on costs. 

Our team is on call 24/7 to help with emergencies. We have helped our students through medical emergencies during their stay with host families, unexpected school closures, the Covid-19 pandemic and more. Our experts are quick to respond and act calmly to ensure that our students are safe and cared for. 

We will keep in touch by email but also have WhatsApp groups with our students and parents so we can stay in contact easily.

Your child’s main contact will be with their educational guardian, and the management team will make sure that you are kept informed and get regular feedback on your child’s progress. Our management team is also here to support you and your child, for example making travel arrangements or arranging homestay when needed.

If you struggle to understand English, we also have educational guardians fluent in other languages on hand to translate or explain for you as part of our ‘Extra Care’ package.

We know that many of our parents, and indeed some of our students, can struggle to understand English. We are always ready to find a way to help – often members of our team can translate for you.

We have educational guardians fluent in other languages including Chinese, Farsi and Russian. Please let us know if you have any difficulties, we will be happy to help find a solution.

Your school will provide regular reports on your child’s academic progress, usually at the end of each term. They also hold Parents’ Evenings for personal feedback from the teachers. Parents’ Evenings are included as part of our guardianship offer, so our educational guardian will attend on your behalf if you are unable to do so, and give you full feedback. The educational guardian will also be in touch with the school to find out how things are going.

We know that students don’t always understand every subject. Our educational guardians are expert at finding out the reasons why your child might be having difficulties. We can then work with the school to help solve the problem. We can also arrange personal, online lessons for your child at a time that suits them through our partners at Wendover Online School. Please let us know any time you think your child needs help.

During school time, your school is responsible for the emotional and physical wellbeing of your child, but our local guardians get to know their students and are quick to flag up any concerns. We are always ready to help and make sure that our management team, host families and educational guardians do everything they can to support your child.

Our team is chosen for their friendly empathy as well as their experience, so we usually find that our educational guardians or host families can quickly tell when a child is struggling for any reason. We work hard to support our students through any difficulties, in the same way that a parent would. 

If you are worried, for any reason, about your child, you can always call our management team to let them know and ask for their help. We’re here for you.

We have a community of helpful host families who have been vetted and approved by us as homestays for our students. If you appoint Oxford Guardians to care for your child, we find the best host family for them, based on location and how well they match your child’s needs. We regularly check in with the host family, and with your child, to ensure that they are comfortable with the arrangements.

Yes, usually students will stay with the same host family, building up a good relationship with their ‘English family’. However, we can usually offer alternatives if needed: for example if your child wanted to stay in a different town or city.

We can arrange for an approved driver to meet your child at the airport. For boarding school students, the driver can take them to their school. A driver can also take them to the airport or to a host, if needed, during school breaks. 

Day school students who are going to be living with a homestay family will be taken to their host. The homestay will then explain the best route to take to get into and out of school each day.

We help as much as we can. We will do our best to amend our plans or make alternative arrangements to ensure we can still meet incoming flights. If outbound flights are delayed or cancelled, this is not a problem – we even arrange last-minute host families in some cases! We will always do our best to place your child’s needs first and keep them safe and happy.

Yes, of course! We love to hear from parents who are looking for educational guardianship and will be happy to arrange a video call to discuss things with you. If you are not confident speaking in English, you can still fill out our contact form and we will find someone who can help you understand what we offer – and why we consider ourselves the best educational guardianship business in the UK!

We’re delighted to hear that you share the same values we do and want every student to make the most of their stay in the UK. You can contact us [link] for an initial chat to find out whether we are looking for homestays in your area, and we’ll give you all the information you need. 

Our educational guardians are excellent. Many of them have experience in the education or care sectors and are parents themselves. They nurture each child both academically and emotionally, helping them to get the most out of their stay in the UK. If you’d like to join us, or have more questions, please get in touch.