Schools can rest assured that AEGIS-accredited guardianship organisations will provide appropriate support for their international students in all key areas of guardianship, and we are here to help should any of our members fall short. However, in some cases, close friends or family may be the appropriate choice of guardian for a child, and in these situations there is no such assurance or accountability.
Schools can mitigate for this by ensuring that they have clear, robust guardianship policies and agreements in place. A guardianship policy needs to set out very clearly the specific expectations a school has for potential education guardians, and capture the agreement of the interested parties. This can be crucial not only in laying out key ‘ground rules’, but also in making sure that parents and agents are fully aware of the commitment that will be involved in supporting their child. Effective policy and agreement documents can prove invaluable when it comes to resolving any difficult situations with non-accredited guardians, serving as a reference should they fail to support a student appropriately.
The AEGIS team is here to help our school members shape and improve their policies, and we provide essential documentation for this as part of our ‘member portal’. Once the new Standards are in place, we will be helping members to make sure that their policies reflect the new requirements, with training, advice and updated documentation.
For further information please contact Sophie Lindsay, School Membership Manager via sophie@aegisuk.net
