About YES Guardians — Award-Winning Educational Guardianship for International Students
Hayley and Marc Harris are not a guardianship company. They are two people who have spent their entire careers caring for children — and who built YES Guardians because they wanted to do it properly.
HOW WE STARTED
Built from experience. Driven by purpose.
YES Guardians started the way the best things do. Not with a business plan, but with a genuine need.
For years, Hayley and Marc welcomed international students into their home in Cheltenham. Not as a service or a commercial arrangement. Simply because they loved getting to know young people from around the world, building relationships with their families, and giving students a real home away from home. Many of those students are still in touch today.
Then in 2020, everything changed. As COVID closed borders and grounded flights, students across the UK found themselves stranded. Unable to get home, frightened, and unsure who to turn to. Through word of mouth, families began reaching out to Hayley and Marc. They stepped up. They took students in. They kept them safe.
It was during that time they discovered educational guardianship as a formal profession. The timing was no coincidence. UKVI had just made guardianship mandatory for international students, and the need for people who genuinely understood child welfare, not just the paperwork, had never been greater.
Hayley and Marc pursued their AEGIS preliminary accreditation, then pushed themselves to Gold. The highest level in UK educational guardianship. In 2024, 2025 and 2026 they won Best UK Guardianship at the Private Education Awards. Not because they marketed themselves hardest. Because the families they worked with said so.
Today YES Guardians supports hundreds of students from dozens of countries. And every time a student from a new country joins them, Hayley and Marc quietly celebrate. They are, quite literally, trying to complete the map.
Hayley Harris
Hayley has spent 20 years as an NHS paediatric nurse. That background is not incidental to what YES Guardians does. It is foundational.
When a child is unwell, homesick, struggling with their mental health, or simply needs someone who understands what they are going through, Hayley knows how to respond. She holds Level 3 Safeguarding qualifications and has completed advanced training in children’s mental health through the NSPCC. She spots the early signs of distress that others miss. She knows when to step in and when to give space. She understands that being a guardian means being in loco parentis in the truest sense of the term.
Hayley and Marc are approved foster carers. They have raised two daughters of their own. They have hosted international students in their home for years, long before YES Guardians became a company. The students they have cared for are not just names on a client list. Many are still in touch. Some come back to visit. That is the kind of relationship Hayley builds.
When parents entrust their child to YES Guardians, they are entrusting them to Hayley. That is a responsibility she takes seriously.
Marc Harris
Marc’s background is in the systems that keep children safe. He worked as a case worker for vulnerable children in Gloucestershire and served on the Gloucestershire Children’s Safeguarding Board, the highest level of child protection governance in the county.
That experience shaped the way YES Guardians operates. Marc is not someone who assumes things are working. He checks. He documents. He follows up. His brain works meticulously with detail, with policies, with procedures. That might sound bureaucratic, but in guardianship it is exactly what parents need. It means that when Marc says your child is being looked after, you can trust that nothing has fallen through the cracks.
Marc holds Safeguarding Level 2 qualifications and has completed the FA Children Safeguarding course and NSPCC children’s mental health training. He understands risk, he understands duty of care, and he understands what can go wrong when the small details are overlooked. That is why he does not overlook them.
Like Hayley, Marc is an approved foster carer. He has raised two daughters. He has hosted students in his home for years. He knows what it means to be responsible for a child who is not your own. And he takes that responsibility as seriously as if they were.
A family built on care.
Hayley and Marc are approved foster carers. They have two daughters. Their home in Cheltenham has always been a place where young people are welcomed, looked after, and treated like family.
That is not something they started doing when they became guardians. It is how they have always lived. The students they have hosted over the years are not clients. They are young people they genuinely care about. Some of them still visit. Some of them send messages from university. Some of them stay in touch with their daughters. That is the kind of relationship YES Guardians is built on.
When parents choose YES Guardians, they are not choosing a service. They are choosing two people who have spent their entire professional lives caring for children, who understand what it means to stand in for a parent when a parent cannot be there, and who will treat your child the same way they would want someone to treat their own.
Every family that joins YES Guardians becomes part of the YES family. That is not a tagline. That is a description of what actually happens.
Independently assessed. Independently awarded.
YES Guardians holds the highest standards in UK educational guardianship.
AEGIS Gold Standard
The highest level of accreditation in UK educational guardianship.
Guardianship Company of the Year 2026
Judged on service excellence, quality, and consistency
Best UK Guardianship 2026
Private Education Awards. Three consecutive wins.
Best UK Guardianship 2025
Private Education Awards. Sustained excellence.
Best UK Guardianship 2024
Private Education Awards. Voted by families and schools.
Real words from real families.
“YES Guardians is an outstanding guardianship company. Our daughter spent two years with their hosts, including a year and a half living with Marc and Hayley’s family. The food is delicious, communication is outstanding, and they are kind and professional. Very glad that we chose YES Guardians to support our daughter during her time at school.”
“Having lived with Marc and Hayley for about six months, they are some of the kindest, funniest and caring people I have ever met. It always feels very homely. No homesickness guaranteed — I couldn’t recommend YES Guardians more.”
“They have made things so much easier for us and the genuine care they have for my daughter has helped immensely. They are proactive in their communications and they put our daughter’s wellbeing and safety at the top of the priority list. They’re the best.”
Ready to find out more?
Talk to Hayley or Marc directly. Tell us about your child, your school, your situation — and we’ll take it from there.