Open your home and expand your world

Hosting an international pupil is a rewarding experience. It provides a unique opportunity to learn about different cultures and make friends across the globe as you share your home and family life with a young person from another country.

All your expenses are covered, and an attractive daily rate is offered per student for the half term holidays and occasional weekends they spend with you.

What is Pippa’s Guardians?

Pippa’s Guardians is a family-run guardianship agency which has been looking after international students for more than twenty years. An accredited member of governing body AEGIS, we act in loco parentis for overseas boarding school pupils in the UK.

We ensure that the pupils under our guardianship are safe and happy, and that the families that host them are fully supported and enjoy the experience.

What does being a host family entail?

Simply put, host families provide a ‘home away from home’ for international pupils during occasional exeat weekends and half term holidays.

Our students come from Asia, Africa and Europe, and range from 7 to 18 years old. They will be attending a boarding school within a 15-mile radius of your home, and need:

  • A warm welcome
  • A comfortable, clean bedroom with a desk
  • Three meals a day

Pippa’s Guardians covers all your out-of-pocket expenses for the pupil, as well as an attractive daily rate.

What makes an ideal host family?

Aside from being welcoming and caring people able to provide a safe and happy household, there is no such thing as an ideal host family.

Some families have school-age children, who benefit greatly from lifelong friendships with a child whose background is very different from theirs. Other families’ children have grown up and left home, so hosting offers the chance to have young people in the home once again.

An ideal host family would be keen to become genuinely involved with their host child, perhaps watching them perform in a school concert, or making an extra fuss of them around their birthday.

What support would I have from Pippa’s Guardians?

Masses! Our host families are an absolutely crucial element of what we do, so we’ve developed a comprehensive support system.

One of our superb Area Managers, who lives locally, would be the point of contact for you, the pupil, his or her parents overseas, and his or her school. Having approved you and your home for hosting, your Area Manager remains in regular contact and is available 24/7.

All host families are given an extensive Handbook and can submit their expenses quickly and easily via our secure online log-in.

I’m interested, what should I do?

Great! We look forward to hearing from you.

For more information please contact:
hostfamilies@pippasguardians.co.uk
+44(0)1684 252757