For close to 100 years Gabbitas has been helping families living overseas find a ‘home from home’ for their children who are studying in the UK. An important service for both international students and for UK families domiciled abroad. The range of Guardianship services has been expanded over the years and now embraces both ‘Full Support’ and ‘Stand-By’ Services for boarding school students offering fully vetted (DBS checked) guardian families who have considerable experience in looking after international students. Now there is a new service for students over the age of 16 pioneered by Gabbitas – Day School Hosting.

New support service for Norwich School

Some five years ago Gabbitas created a new support service for international students wanting to study at Norwich School. Working with the school and the parents of international students they found local families, familiar with the school, happy to take students into their homes during term times and provide them with a normal home life that would match that of local day students. A great benefit for the students who not only receive a well-rounded British education but also learn about life in the UK away from school. There was also an improvement in both language and cultural development for the students.

The chosen Host Families are paid for their services and not only have the opportunity of helping international students learn about life in the UK, they sometimes still have children of their own at home who also benefit from learning about another child’s culture and experiences.  For the school itself, it has had the added benefit of being able to attract more international students into classes where there is capacity; and removed the need to create additional boarding houses which is a costly option. The scheme has worked extremely well for Norwich School and currently there are 28 international students on this scheme.

Day hosting for Ipswich School

In Ipswich School, there was a problem in accepting more international students as their small boarding house was full, Gabbitas was able to solve this with supporting them with a day hosting option. Other schools seeking to adopt a similar scheme include The Maynard School in Devon and Queen Elizabeth’s Hospital School in Bristol.

The advantages of being able to attract international students is not only good for the school itself, in having classes filled and fees paid, but it also brings a new dimension to the students already at the school giving them access to a variety of cultures both in the classroom and in the wider community.

With the proven and continued success of the Day School Hosting programme, Gabbitas is now in the process of finalising a new Consultancy Programme aimed at helping other schools attract more international students.

More British educational opportunities for international students

Gabbitas is able to provide a tested blueprint for their Day School Hosting programme and help schools establish the scheme using local families linked to the school in question, plus assistance with finding co-ordinators who will be fully trained and vetted by Gabbitas . The new Consultancy Programme will provide training and support in setting up the scheme and is designed to work for Day Schools as well as Boarding Schools with limited capacity for more boarders!

Having the opportunity to enable overseas students to study at Day Schools raises the school’s profile as the addition of international students is seen to be hugely beneficial not only financially but also culturally in the development and growth of the school. Evidence suggests that having this scheme suits certain international cultures far more than the traditional boarding school route. According to the ISC Census 2019, 50% of all international day pupils come from China. Suggesting that living in a British home, rather than in a traditional boarding environment, is a popular choice for Chinese families.

The demand for Day School Hosting is in line with the increase in the number of international students studying in British Schools – in 1990 it was just 13% and in 2020 is expected to rise to over 40% of all boarders in ISC-member schools (source: ISC Census 1990 and 2019)

Gabbitas is at the forefront in providing this important and unique service for international student families. It has been providing its traditional Guardianship services almost since the company’s inception– it was the second new service following tutoring that the company adopted. There are now fewer ex-pat families and more international families for whom Gabbitas now provides its Guardianship services. A founding member of AEGIS (the association for the Education and Guardianship of International Students) Gabbitas has had all its processes and procedures inspected by the NSPCC.

Please see our family services page on school guardianship for more information.

 

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This article from Vanessa Miner, Managing Director of London-based education consultant, Gabbitas, first appeared in the Spring 2020 edition of Independent Insight

Established nearly 150 years ago in 1873, Gabbitas, originally called Gabbitas and Thring, began life as a pioneering agency recruiting teachers for top schools both here in the UK and overseas. A few years later they added tutors to their range of activities. Amongst the more illustrious tutor alumni there are several well known authors and composers including Evelyn Waugh, HG Wells, CS Lewis and Edward Elgar plus many other outstanding figures from the arts and sciences. Over the years, Gabbitas has worked with crowned heads of Europe, celebrities from stage and screen together with families from all walks of life looking to find the best education solutions for their children, using the independent sector.

Today whilst no longer recruiting teachers, Gabbitas provides a full range of education services from nursery to higher education covering every stage of a child’s educational journey. With offices in the Middle East, China and a Russian language desk in our London office Gabbitas is uniquely positioned to help families in the UK and overseas find the right school for their children.

From finding the right school to preparing for it through tuition, assessment, the application process and pastoral care using our dedicated guardianship services. Help is available too for students applying to University, from selecting the right courses to completing the application process so that they can make the best choices to meet their potential.

School search services

Our school search services can best be broken down into three categories. There are clients for whom we provide a long-term plan to take their children through the whole journey, advising at every stage from pre-prep through to senior school and very often beyond to higher education choices. Our more tactical service helps families deal with the choices around specific stages in the journey such as prep, 11+, 13+, sixth form and HE choices. And, for those who need immediate help due to a change in family circumstances or a move, there is expert advice on hand from our very experienced consultants to fulfil that requirement.

The internationally recognised assessment product, Ukiset, delivered by Gabbitas, identifies not only a student’s potential but helps ensure that the choice of schools matches their abilities. The Ukiset test is used around the world helping to simplify the schools admissions process for overseas students. Our expert team of professional tutors can help students to reach the standards required if there are gaps that are identified following assessment.

The Gabbitas tutors also provide invaluable subject tuition for students and has provided tutoring to everyone from the young actors in the Harry Potter films to members of the Royal Family. We only work with tutors who have a passion for education and a strong academic background, often already qualified teachers or Oxbridge graduates.

In addition to our work with families Gabbitas also helps organisations deliver the best in education worldwide. We have consulted on projects in the UK and overseas to help investors, education companies, schools and senior management teams achieve success in establishing and improving schools. We have consulted on projects in the UAE, UK and further afield. We also work with a team of highly skilled and experienced school development and improvement advisers to enhance and improve educational provision in schools on a worldwide basis.

The importance of the British Independent Education

We are very aware of the importance of British Independent Education not only for the pupils it serves but also for the important part they play in the economy of this country. International students in our schools contribute £1.8 billion to GDP and support not only half a billion in tax revenues, their fees also support free bursaries for children across Britain. We work with families all over the world seeking British education for their children in our schools and Universities. For those who chose to keep their children closer to home there is a burgeoning growth of new international schools that primarily follow the British education template. Over 60% of international schools around the world are British curriculum or British backed and the British education system is revered around the world and for very good reason – it is considered as one of the best systems of education in the world and is the benchmark for measuring the standard of education practices.

A British Education is seen as a passport for life, our independent schools are some of the academically highest achieving schools in the world and their successful franchises overseas are reaching a new generation and providing revenue to support educating more children in their UK campuses.

Our British Independent sector remains the envy of the world. Gabbitas unsurprisingly is a strong supporter of the many merits that UK independent schools offer parents with students of wide-ranging interests and abilities. Great education is never achieved by sinking towards the lowest common denominator and we are confident as trusted education consultants that the British independent schools we work closely with will continue to not only survive but thrive, given the appetite that has never been stronger for our younger generations.

The Chairman of the Independent Schools Council in the UK, Barnaby Lenon, had this to say in a recent Times newspaper interview: “Independent schools provide excellence, capacity and innovation. They support science and arts subjects, which are vital to productivity; foreign languages as we enter a post-Brexit world; qualifications such as the International Baccalaureate, which provide a rounded curriculum; and through their focus on sport, 43 per cent of our new cricketing world champions.”

 

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This article from Vanessa Miner, Managing Director of London-based education consultant, Gabbitas, first appeared in the January 2020 edition of Conference & Common Room

Some the challenges that are facing Independent Schools currently revolve around the on-going political debates being discussed as possible future Government policy. Will a Labour Government close all private schools or will they impose punitive taxes that will price these schools out of the reach of middle class families looking for the best education for their children?

With no conclusions at hand it is hard to determine the future but it is probably safe to say that the reality will not be a bad as the diatribe and there is a long way to go before such dramatic actions are likely to be taken, if at all! The Independent sector, as far as we can see, remains resilient to such challenges and is aware of the very positive benefits it brings to the economy and to the communities in which the schools operate.

The other potential challenge is of course Brexit and although this has had an impact on many businesses it has not had a dramatic effect on our Independent schools who continue to attract students from overseas – both from within the EU and much further afield. The falling pound has made studying in the UK an even more attractive proposition with some overseas families even offering to pay 5 years’ fees up front!

Our British Independent sector remains the envy of the world. It is still the blueprint for schools setting up overseas.

Gabbitas has been placing children in this sector for close to 150 years and unsurprisingly is a strong supporter of the many merits that UK independent schools offer parents with students of wide-ranging interests and abilities. Great education is never achieved by sinking towards the lowest common denominator and we are confident as trusted education consultants that the British independent schools we work closely with will continue to not only survive but thrive, given the appetite that has never been stronger for our younger generations to enjoy the very best opportunities.

 

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This article from Vanessa Miner at London-based education consultant, Gabbitas, first appeared in the December 2019 edition of Independent Education Today