Educational Guardianship for International Students in the UK
Educational guardianship gives your child a trusted adult in the UK while you are overseas. We are AEGIS Gold accredited educational guardians, led by Hayley and Marc.
When your child is thousands of miles away, you need more than a compliance service. You need someone who will genuinely fight for them.
★ AEGIS Gold Accredited ★ Award Winning Guardianship ★ NHS-Led Named Guardians ★ On call 24/7
Guardianship Agency of the Year 2025/26
Judged on service excellence, quality and consistency. Southwest Prestige Awards.
Best International Student Educational Guardianship Provider 2026 – UK
Private Education Awards. Also awarded the Student Welfare & Safeguarding Excellence Award 2026.
Educational Guardian of the Year 2025
Southern Enterprise Awards.
Best Educational Guardianship Provider 2024 – UK
Private Education Awards. Voted by families and schools.
What is educational guardianship?
An educational guardian is a UK-based adult or AEGIS accredited organisation, appointed by overseas parents, who cares for and represents their child while the child studies at a UK boarding school, college or university.
Educational guardianship is that arrangement. The educational guardian is responsible for your child’s welfare, their accommodation during school holidays and exeats, and all communication with their school when you cannot be there yourself.
Educational guardianship is not the same as legal guardianship. A legal guardian has full parental responsibility in law. An educational guardian is your trusted UK representative: present, informed, and acting always in your child’s best interests.
At YES Guardians, educational guardianship means something specific. It means Hayley and Marc. Not a call centre, not a rotating team of coordinators, not a regional rep you have never met. Two people who know your child by name, know their school, know their houseparent, and are available to you directly at any hour.
“She is so lucky to have you as her guardian. It is clear how much she trusts you and the respect she has for you is incredible.”
Housemistress, Cheltenham College
Does my child need an educational guardian?
Yes, almost certainly. There is no single UK law that says every international pupil must have an educational guardian, but two things make it a requirement in practice.
1. Schools require it. Every reputable UK independent boarding school writes educational guardianship into its admissions policy as mandatory for international pupils. It is a condition of enrolment, not a suggestion. Since 2022, the National Minimum Standards for Boarding include a guardianship standard, Standard 22, and schools must check that each arrangement is suitable.
2. The Child Student visa rules require it. Since 29 May 2025, a Child Student visa application needs a nominated guardian, and the Home Office can refuse the visa if it is not satisfied with the care arrangements.
Going to university under 18? UK universities usually ask for a guardian until your child’s 18th birthday. See our university guardianship page.
In short, you need one. The only question is who.
Key requirements for an educational guardian
- Age: at least 18 under the visa rules; most schools ask for 25 or over.
- Status: a British citizen or a person with settled status in the UK.
- Residency: lives in the UK, within the distance the school sets.
- Availability: reachable 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
- Paperwork: signs a letter of undertaking for the Child Student visa application.
- Accreditation: schools prefer an AEGIS or BSA accredited guardianship organisation.
YES Guardians meets every one of these, and we provide the letter of undertaking for the students we look after.
What does an educational guardian do?
An educational guardian’s main responsibilities are accommodation, emergency support, school liaison and travel. From the first day of term to the last, here is what your guardian is responsible for.
24/7 Emergency Support
When something goes wrong at 2am, you call us. Not a helpline. Not an answering service. Hayley is a practising NHS Paediatric Nurse, so when your child is unwell, their guardian is clinically qualified to help.
School Liaison & Communication
We know your child’s houseparent, their form tutor, and their head of year by name, and they know us. When something needs to be said to the school, or from the school to you, it happens quickly and clearly.
Host Family Arrangement
Every host family we use has been personally vetted by us. Our standard is simple: we only place students in homes where we would be comfortable placing our own daughters.
Holiday & Exeat Cover
Exeats, half terms and school holidays are planned ahead, not scrambled for at the last minute. Your child and the school always know where they are going, who will collect them, and who will be there.
Transport Coordination
Airport transfers, end-of-term travel and emergency transport are arranged and confirmed in advance, coordinated with the school timetable so nothing falls through the gap between school closing and a flight home.
Acting in Loco Parentis
When your child needs medical consent, a parent at a school meeting, or a decision that cannot wait, you need genuine parental instinct and clinical authority. Hayley is an NHS Paediatric Nurse and a mother. Marc has a background in children’s social care.
Visa & CAS Documentation
Guardian confirmation letters, the letter of undertaking for the Child Student visa, and school paperwork, all handled correctly and promptly. Schools and universities trust us to get this right.
Pastoral Welfare Monitoring
We check in regularly, not just when something goes wrong. We notice when a child seems quieter than usual or grades start to slip. Hayley’s NHS background includes mental health training, so we act before it escalates.
Educational guardian vs legal guardian
Educational guardian
- Appointed directly by the parents, by agreement
- Manages day-to-day welfare, accommodation, travel and school contact
- Acts in loco parentis for everyday decisions
- Does not have full legal parental responsibility
- What UK boarding schools and the Child Student visa ask for
Legal guardian
- Appointed by a court, for example through a Special Guardianship Order
- Has full legal authority over major medical and life decisions
- Takes over parental responsibility until the child is 18
- Not needed for a child to study at a UK boarding school
In short: an educational guardian is your trusted representative in the UK. They support you as a parent; they do not replace you.
Why choose an AEGIS accredited guardian?
AEGIS (the Association for the Education and Guardianship of International Students) is the UK charity that inspects and accredits guardianship organisations. It was set up in 1994 because guardianship had no regulation. Many boarding schools ask parents to use an AEGIS or BSA accredited organisation, or to explain why they are not.
Accreditation means an independent inspector has checked our safeguarding, our host family vetting, our policies and how we care for students. Gold Standard is the highest level of AEGIS accreditation, and YES Guardians holds it.
The YES Guardians difference.
Direct access, always.
When your child has a delayed flight, loses their phone, or feels unwell at midnight, you need someone who picks up. We are available around the clock via our dedicated on-call line, phone, WhatsApp, WeChat and email. Having a calm, experienced person at the end of the line is not a luxury. It is the whole point.
Expertise that goes beyond education.
Most guardians understand schools. We do too, in depth, across the full UK education system. But we also bring NHS paediatric nursing, children’s social care, foster care experience and formal safeguarding qualifications: the complete picture of child welfare.
The same faces, all the time.
We get to know every student properly at registration: their likes, dislikes, the subjects they love, what makes them homesick. From there, they have the same guardians, the same host family where possible, and the same trusted contact for parents and schools, every year.
Hayley is a practising NHS Paediatric Nurse with 15 years of clinical experience and Level 3 Safeguarding certification. Marc has a background in children’s social care and NHS clinical systems. Between them they have fostered children, raised their own daughters, and built a guardianship company that has won national guardianship awards three years running. When you choose YES Guardians, you are not choosing a service. You are choosing two people who have dedicated their professional lives to the welfare of children, and who will treat yours the same way.
A home away from home. How we choose our host families.
Every host family we work with has been personally vetted by Hayley and Marc. That process goes well beyond the AEGIS minimum requirements. It includes a home visit, DBS checks, reference checks, and a conversation about how they would handle the specific needs of an international student far from home.
Our standard is not a checklist. It is a question we ask ourselves about every family before we place a student with them: would we be comfortable leaving our own daughters there? If the answer is anything other than yes, we do not use them.
Host families are matched to students individually by location, personality, dietary requirements, age and background. When the match is right, students settle faster, perform better at school, and worry less. What is a host family?
“Our daughter spent two years with their hosts. The food is delicious, communication is outstanding, and they are kind and professional. Very glad that we chose YES Guardians. It was one of the best decisions we made.”
TC, Hong Kong
How to choose the right educational guardians for your child
Before you sign up, ask any guardianship organisation these questions:
- Who will actually be my child’s guardian, and will it be the same person every year?
- Are you AEGIS or BSA accredited, and at what level?
- Can you meet the Child Student visa rules and provide a letter of undertaking?
- How do you vet host families, and will my child stay with the same family each time?
- Who answers the phone at 2am, and how quickly?
- How often will you visit my child or speak to the school?
At YES Guardians, the answer to the first question is always the same: Hayley and Marc.
Not sure which package is right for your child?
Use our Guardianship Package Chooser. Answer five quick questions and we will match your child to the right level of support. No obligation, no sales call.
Five questions · Under two minutes · Instant result
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.”
TC, Hong Kong
★★★★★
“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.”
Steve Dussek, United States
★★★★★
“Knowing he was being looked after so well put my mind at rest. Thank you for being so kind and helpful. Both you and Hayley are amazing and I’m just so grateful to have come across you both.”
Annie S, China, Parent
Educational guardianship: your questions answered
What is an educational guardian?
An educational guardian is a UK-based adult or accredited organisation appointed by overseas parents to care for and represent their child while the child studies at a UK boarding school, college or university. They handle welfare, accommodation during exeats and holidays, emergencies and school communication.
What is the difference between an educational guardian and a legal guardian?
A legal guardian is appointed by a court and has full parental responsibility in law. An educational guardian is your named UK representative while your child studies here. They act in loco parentis for day-to-day decisions, school communication and welfare, but do not replace you as a parent in any legal sense.
Do all UK boarding schools require a guardian?
Virtually every reputable UK independent boarding school requires international pupils to have a named educational guardian before they can enrol. It is a condition of the place, not a suggestion. For pupils on a Child Student visa, a nominated guardian is also part of the visa application.
Who can be a nominated guardian for a Child Student visa?
Since 29 May 2025, a nominated guardian must be aged 18 or over and be a British citizen or have settled status in the UK. They must sign a letter of undertaking for the visa application. Schools usually add their own rules, such as a minimum age of 25 and living within a set distance of the school.
Do university students under 18 need a guardian?
Usually, yes. Most UK universities ask students who start their course under 18 to have a UK guardian until their 18th birthday. YES Guardians provides university guardianship for this.
What happens to my child during school exeats and half terms?
Boarding schools close for exeat weekends, half terms and holidays. At YES Guardians we arrange vetted host family placements for all exeats and holidays, matched individually to your child. Every host family is personally approved by Hayley and Marc before we place any student with them.
Can a family friend or UK relative act as educational guardian?
Yes, in principle. They must meet the school’s requirements, usually being over 25, living in the UK, available 24 hours a day and able to reach the school within a reasonable time, and for a Child Student visa they must be a British citizen or have settled status. Schools check every arrangement under National Minimum Standards for Boarding Standard 22. In practice, many families find a friend or relative cannot reliably provide the host families, 24/7 emergency cover, school liaison and transport that a professional guardian offers.
How much does educational guardianship cost in the UK?
Every family’s circumstances are different. A young child at boarding school needs more support during exeats and holidays than an independent sixth former, so we offer a range of competitively priced packages around different levels of need. Our Guardianship Package Chooser gives a personalised recommendation in under two minutes, or get in touch and we will talk it through.
Ready to find out more?
Talk to Hayley or Marc directly. Tell us about your child, your school, your situation, and we will take it from there.