Elaine Kitt, our Regional Manager for the South of England, was invited by the Boarding Schools’ Association to talk to their recent Tier 4 conference on Working with Guardians, Best Practice.
It was an excellent opportunity for Elaine to speak to Registrars and Headteachers as well as key pastoral staff, about the role of educational guardians and what they should expect and demand from a good guardianship company.
Out of 29000 international students in the UK, only 5700 are registered with AEGIS-accredited guardianship companies like Pippa’s Guardians. The lack of regulation in the guardianship sector means that some 23,000 students are not looked after by accredited companies and might therefore be staying with host families which have not been properly vetted.
Elaine said: “International students are some of the most vulnerable young people in the UK – they are far away from their usual support network of family and friends. Along with AEGIS, we are pushing for legislation in the guardianship industry to be introduced to ensure all students have the same protection as AEGIS students.”
Elaine was also delighted to have been given the opportunity to explain the close partnership between Pippa’s Guardians and the schools it works with, giving students the best possible experience of a boarding school education in the UK.
