Cambridge Guardian Angels provides professional, parent focussed education guardianship services for international families. We provide a safe, happy environment to give your child the best possible opportunity to discover their full potential.
Any international student under the age of 18 years attending a school in the UK must have a UK-based responsible adult. Most of the finest UK boarding schools recommend the appointment of a qualified guardian to ensure that the care of the child outside school is fully covered, leaving the school free to focus on education.
At its simplest, a guardian would be someone to take responsibility for a child when the school is closed for exeat weekends and vacations, and a point of contact in an emergency.
There are many businesses providing guardianship. The degree of support and quality of service vary widely. Even professional guardians are not required to be qualified, registered or regulated. However it is advisable to use a guardian accredited by a recognized professional body to ensure that basic standards are met.
CGA is accredited and certified by both AEGIS (Association for the Education and Guardianship of International Students) and the BSA (Boarding Schools Association), which have some of the most stringent requirements in the business, but then we go further to add genuine care for each individual child.
A CGA guardian will:
+ Engage with parents and the student well ahead of the new school year, providing information, answering questions, making arrangements, and reassuring parents and students at what can be a stressful and confusing time.
+ Act like a parent, always putting the child’s welfare, happiness and success ahead of any other considerations, supporting the student’s school life, attending parent-teacher meetings and keeping the child’s parents informed of progress.
+ Be there in times of crisis – for example in February/March 2020 managing the urgent repatriation of international students ahead of the Covid-19 pandemic UK lock-down.
CGA believes in the value of developing personal relationships, particularly with parents, consultants and students, to develop trust and open communication. CGA has also developed a network of relationships with schools (house parents, heads), host families, tutors and other service providers, and can call upon this network to meet the needs of the student and their family in the most caring and professional way.
Host families provide accommodation for students when boarding is closed for exeat weekends, and vacations if the student is not travelling home. (and also for day students).
Apart from the school, the host family has perhaps the biggest influence on the safety and happiness of the child (while in the UK).
The option of staying with great host families really does represent the best experience for a student.
Hosts provide a supportive, safe and nurturing family environment, with complete language saturation.
Students are immersed in British culture, language and experiences to broaden and compliment their school world.
Within a family home students are able to interact with adults who are not part of their education experience and they learn to develop these relationships in the context of British culture.
This provides a valuable alternative to school life in terms of broadening perspective and developing the student’s outlook on life rather than just spending time online or with other students or in a residential camp.
Just as there are many types of guardianship business, so there are many different pricing structures. CGA tries to be as simple and transparent as possible, with an all-inclusive package and fixed price. Some other agencies have a competitive annual fee to act as a guardian, but have additional hidden charges for activities such as school visits, or even phone calls.