Ok, your child’s been accepted and everyone is excited. However there is still a way to go in terms of preparation before they arrive at the boarding school gates.

Securing the offer of a place

First of all you need to secure a place at the UK boarding school. Families must accept the offer by signing a formal acceptance form provided by the school. Along with this, a deposit is required to hold the place, which will be deducted from the final term’s fees or refunded after the student graduates. The deposit for international students whose families are not resident in the UK is higher than for a UK student, and can be a full term’s fees.

Visas

Next step, get your child’s visa organised. Fortunately most boarding schools use an immigration specialist to manage all their child student visas and to support parents during the process. However, here’s a quick overview.

If your child is between 4 – 17 years old and wants to go to a UK boarding school, you will need to apply for a Child Student visa costing £490 (2024 rate). This is what you’ll need in order to apply:

– An unconditional offer of a place at an independent school
– A CAS, or Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies, which is the official document issued by a UK boarding school that confirms a student’s acceptance and eligibility to study in the UK
– Financial proof that parents are able to pay for their child’s education
– The consent of a parent or guardian to study in the UK

Then, before applying, it’s important to sort out your child’s TB tests. If your child is going to live in the UK for more than six months and is resident in certain countries, they are required to submit a medical certificate confirming that they are free of TB.

Health and Wellbeing

While every school has a medical centre and medical staff on site to care for both day and boarding students, all international students on visas are required to pay the NHS Surcharge as part of the visa process. This is a healthcare fee paid upfront to ensure they can receive medical care without additional costs while at boarding school in the UK. The current fee (2024) is £776 for every year that the student is to be at school.

Also, good to know is the length of time that visa lasts. Up to 6 years and 4 months for under 16s and 3 years plus 4 months for 16 – 17s. More details can be found here.

Guardianship

Moving onto guardianship, which we touched on in Part 1. It’s another essential aspect in terms of preparation for a child going to boarding school in the UK. It might be that your family have relatives or friends close to the school of choice. More often than not though this is not the case and a guardian is needed for children whose parents reside in another country. And actually it is now a requirement, if no other options are available, by schools in case of any emergency.

A guardian is there for your child during half term holidays and exeat weekends, for transport and to be present at any parent meetings should it be needed. Most importantly though, the guardian and their home provides a familiar face and space outside of school. Some continuity when away from the family home. And definitely an opportunity to share and swap culinary tastes!

Academic Progress Service

In addition to a homestay guardian, at Panoba we also offer an Academic Progress Service if required. Where we correspond with the school on behalf of you the parents and solely focus on the academic progress of your child. We’ll work with your child’s school ensuring that a close eye is kept on termly progress and tracking grades and address any areas that your child is finding challenging. Also organising extra tuition to support your child with a particular subject or with their exams.

And finally…

Preparation, as with any life-changing decisions, is key. But it’s also about getting the timing right for many of the steps leading up to your child being happily settled in their new boarding school. If we can assist with any of the subjects summarised above or anything that’s not mentioned, don’t hesitate to get in touch. If you’re looking to secure a place for your child for the next school admissions date, it’s time to make a start.