Student Welfare
Contact Accent who will investigate further. This may involve calling their parents and depending on the nature of the issue may result in the student being expelled from the programme and returned home with immediate effect.
No. Anyone who is a student on our language holiday programme is our responsibility for the duration of their stay here. In the rare instance you are hosting a student who is 18 please still do not offer them any alcohol.
Note: The consumption of alcohol by any underage student will result in Accent calling their parents and depending on the severity of the incident may result in the student being expelled from the summer school and returned home with immediate effect.
Call the Accent office and they will advise the best course of action. Unless it is a clear emergency please do not call a doctor directly. With regard to getting to work, depending on the age of the student, Accent will endeavour to get someone to be with them as soon as is possible so they are not left alone.
In the event that a student is not able to use their phone, if you decide to let them use yours for whatever reason, we regret that you will not be reimbursed. Therefore it is entirely up to you as to whether your student can call their family using your phone. If your student has come over with a group: their leader can contact the student’s family on their behalf. Alternatively, or if they’ve come over as a private student, Accent can contact their parents so please don’t feel you are obligated to give them use of your own phones.
Most students will undoubtedly want to speak to their family at some point during the evening. However, part of the whole experience is to spend time with their host family, so please encourage your student to join in with whatever family activities you do in the evening; whether it’s helping prepare the dinner, playing games or watching TV together. At the beginning of their stay, if you have Skype it could also be a good idea to have a Skype conversation with their family so they can see you and vice versa! If you have concerns though, please contact the Accent office.
This very much depends on how much others in the household are expected to help. If the host family children normally help laying the table, doing the washing up, making their own lunch etc., there is no reason why the student should not do the same. At the very least, students should be expected to keep their room tidy and in good order.
You can’t use them to run a cleaning company though, or send them up a chimney…!
The best thing is to ask them what they like to eat in advance and then get them to serve their own portion size. If you have any concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact us in the office to discuss.
Your student is a member of your family for the duration of their stay. Every family has a different arrangement: some of us might eat at 5pm, some 8pm. The English tend to eat earlier than our European cousins however. So please don’t be offended if your student finds your dinner time early. There are usually ways to get round the situation, so everyone is happy!
Additional Activities
Firstly, for host families who have children of their own, please consider at what age would you consider it reasonable for them to meet up with friends by themselves. For younger students an acceptable alternative to them going out during the day by themselves is to liaise with the other host families concerned to ensure that there is at least one responsible adult with the group who want to meet up, or within easy reach. Remember, part of the whole summer school experience is being with the host family and joining in with whatever activities they are doing. Therefore, even if the student wants to meet up with their friends from the course, this should only be for part of the day as when they are with their friends they are not speaking English!
Yes, provided the other host family agrees. This can be a reciprocal arrangement i.e. one week your student could go to another family for dinner and then the next time they could come to you.
As a rule students should stay with their host family in the evening. If this involves going out with the host family, that’s fine, but they should not be allowed out to meet up with other friends from the course after dinner time. An acceptable alternative, provided it is agreed with the host families in advance, is, if they want to spend time with their friends after
activities, to do so prior to getting the bus home. It must also be agreed the time they are expected back.
Example: There was one evening (after a planned activity for the whole group had been cancelled) that 4 of the older girls wanted to meet up for dinner by themselves. This was agreed between the host families concerned on the proviso that the girls were picked up by one of the host parents at an agreed time. It was also agreed how much of a contribution each host family would give the students towards their dinner.
Money
Yes, if you have decided to take your family on such an outing then as you would pay for your own children then it is expected that you would pay for your student too.
However, if you are going to an event such as the West Show or a Seafront Sunday for example, then students should take some of their own money to cover for any of the attractions or desired purchases once they are there.
No, the expectation is that the host family will provide all meals for their student.
Evening Activity – please provide them with sharing food (i.e. a pack of burgers/sausages and some rolls, not one item each, please!) OR, please give them £5 so we can buy the food.
External Scenario 1 – Harbour Carnival – one host family took 2 students to the carnival and they were each given an allowance of £5 to buy themselves whatever they wanted (they chose a burger so the host family got change!)
External Scenario 2 – Students going out for a meal together – each host family gave their respective student(s) £7.50 each to pay towards dinner.
We pay host families every Thursday. It doesn’t matter when they come or how long for; payments are always made on a Thursday. (for example, if your student comes on Sunday 1st July for one week, you will receive the whole £175 on Thursday 5th July).
Whilst payments are always made on a Thursday (unless something dire happens), we cannot guarantee the time in which the payment will be made, so please don’t expect the money to be sitting there at 12.01am… As much as we would love an automated system, all letters, payments, admin are done manually, by our fair fingers and as such, we make each payment individually as soon as we can, each Thursday via online banking.
The amount students want for lunch varies considerably. Therefore, it is best to simply ask the student what they would like to have from what you are able to offer i.e. two or four slices of bread for their sandwiches/choice of filling… ham, cheese, tomato……/fruit/crisps/chocolate bar/yoghurt etc.
Please be aware, however, you do not need to make everything, you can provide the various food items and let the student prepare their own lunch, but please, please, please – if this is the setup, make sure they understand this! Please also give them a nudge to make sure they remember to bring their lunches and not leave them on the kitchen counter!!
Note: Many of the students are used to having quite a lot to eat for lunch in their own country and do seem to be very hungry during the breaks so please make sure they have sufficient to allow for a snack during the break as well as their lunch. Students also need water bottles.
Additional Help
We have a private Facebook group, which we encourage all families to join – there will be no advertising or hassle in here, just a way for us to update the host families with important/relevant information and changes (e.g. bbq cancellation or delays), and for hosts to connect without having to share personal information to initial strangers.
You can email anytime you wish, which we will look at and respond to during office hours. Similarly, you can call the office phone and have a chat, or pop in to see us Monday – Friday.
Please feel free to comment on our Facebook Host Family Group posts, we love to see everyone communicating in there!
In the event of an emergency or issue of absolute urgency, please call Anna Lisa or Holly whenever necessary. As a gentle plea though, please leave all other questions/concerns to office hours.
Whilst we do run the Facebook Group and will update as necessary at any time/day, we do request that hosts do not send messages to our personal Facebook accounts via messenger.
In the first instance, has the time passed the point where the student definitely wouldn’t have been on the bus or back-up bus that you told them?
If the answer to this is yes, or if you student should have been walking home – please then go to the bus terminus to see if they are sat there, looking lost.
If they are not there, please call Accent who will endeavour to find out what has happened.
