Sheena Trist - Schools Placement Manager talks about her recent trip to Windsor!

I recently attended the British Boarding Schools Workshop which was held at the Beaumont House Conference Centre in Windsor, Berkshire over the weekend of 7-9 November. The workshop was organised by Suzanne and Anthony Rowse of SR Events and, as always, their organisation was impeccable.

At the event were over forty boarding schools and colleges and I managed to have appointments with 21 of them. I got to meet a lot of new schools and so they have now been added to the Bright World portfolio and I hope to be able to suggest these new schools to prospective new students and to start a good working relationship with them.

I also had the opportunity to meet Registrars and Marketing Managers that normally I only deal with by e-mail. It is so much nicer when you can put a face to a name! Also I met several agents that, again, I normally only know via e-mail.

To cap off the weekend, my husband joined me and we went to Wembley Arena to see Queen and Paul Rodgers. A brilliant show and a great end to a very busy weekend.

Carol Gill blogs on about her week at work

The week started well although Lana had just come back from Thailand so it was quite busy. I was expecting a busy week as this weekend is an exeat weekend when lots of our students have to leave school just for two nights so we help them with arrangements and they stay with their host family.

All was sorted out a couple of weeks ago and I was just ready to put the finer points of the week in place when certain students starting to change their minds about what they were going to do! How annoying is that!! It is really embarrassing having to cancel our host families although we do have to pay them if it is that late, but they have all made special plans to host their students. It also takes ages to unravel the work I have already done.

I dont mind too much because I do understand young people - I have four children of my own! I do realise that youngsters have a much better social life than I do!

Anyway all is OK now, everyone is happy and sorted out in the end. I am just off to spend a weekend with my family and leave Lana with the emergency phone!

Jane Forester is off on holiday for a week so I had better gear myself for another busy week next week - I will let you know how it goes - watch this space!!

Carol

Bright World's new Website!!

Hello Lana here. I am so excited today that our new website has been launched. We really like it and we hope you do too. If you are a recognised Bright World Agent or a valued parent you will now have access to our secure zones which we hope you will find useful for reading news items and also referring to important documents.

Watch this space as we will soon have videos available to upload as well!!! I am just working on that!!!

Nearly Christmas - I can hardly wait!

Lanax

First Term News

The gap in our blogs shows just how busy the Bright World Team has been since the start of term. I can hardly believe that all students arrived well over a month ago and already they are on half term this week and next, all safely with their host families or going home to see their families back home.

We are already making plans for all of our students' return at Christmas. Sometimes I think that people don't think there is much to this guardianship job but I can tell you that Jane, Carol and I have been flat out here in the office taking care of our guardianship programme and students.

In addition to that our Local Coordinators have been busy visiting all the students and are now poised to visit them all at half term where they are in new host families.

We do, however, feel that what we do is worthwhile as we have had some lovely comments from our students, parents and our overseas agents as to what a great job we are doing so although it is a hard and challenging job it is a very rewarding one.

Brittany Wong - a budding artist of the future.

Brittany Wong is turned just 5 years old in June 2008 and lives and goes to school in Hong Kong. She is the daughter of Jimmy Wong, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong Overseas Studies Centre, Bright World's No 1 agent for several years running.

We are all very impressed with the art work that has been created by Brittany. This is a self portrait and shows remarkable talent for an artist of her very young age.

We are keeping our eye on Brittany - we think she has a lot of talent and could be a budding artist in the future.

Well done Brittany from the Bright World team.

Summer - what summer??????!!!!!!! Lana Foster blogs on about our weather

I cant believe the summer is practically over. Well actually it never really began here in the UK! The weather has been very disappointing here - rainy summer fetes, grass too long on our lawns because it is too wet too mow, tomatoes stay green in the greenhouse.

Jake, our dog won second prize in the Best Veteran Dog at the Small Dole Summer Fete. It didn't rain either! That was the highlight of the summer for us!

We are now looking forward to dark nights, log fires and sheepskin slippers - it will be Christmas before we know it!

Welcome back to all our students. We hope you had a great rest and are ready to start the new school year. We hope your exam results were what you wished for.

Lana Foster

Summer Sales begin at UK universities?

Department stores and shops have their summer sales to clear stock in preparation for their new winter wares, universities have what has been universally known for years as ‘clearing’. However, whereas the department store ‘summer sale’ is more often a cynical attempt to get rid of stock that no-one else wants, university clearing is a genuinely useful way for students who have not secured a place at university to get a good course at one of over 100 institutions in the UK who still have places available. Clearing is designed for students who have applied through UCAS and who have either been rejected from their choices, or who have not managed to get the required grades to meet the conditions of their offer.

The student may not have met the conditions stipulated by their first choice university, or may have only just got around to even applying. It can often be a stressful time for students – the initial disappointment of not getting a place at their first choice is tempered by the knowledge that they will have to spend long hours on the telephone to international offices, faxing or emailing over grades - only to find out that the course of their choice is now full.

Attempts to make clearing easier for international students have alleviated this. International Offices spend busy months travelling to exhibitions throughout the world during July and August to make on the spot offers to students armed with their supporting documents and latest grade sheets.

Bright World works closely with their partner universities during this time of frenzied university placement activity. Students wishing to apply for a place are advised to get all their relevant documents ready. This means that as well as their transcripts, they will need to submit their academic references and a personal statement. If they are applying for a university placement in an art based subject, they would normally be expected to also send in their portfolio. For those students who have not applied through UCAS and who have sent in their documents for a place and meet all the conditions, a Record of Prior Acceptance form will be sent to them which they need to complete and send back to the university.

The important thing to realise during Clearing is that students need to meet the all the conditions for entry. If the university stipulates they need IELTS of 6.5 there is no point applying for a September place during August with an IELTS of 5.0 - your English won’t be up to scratch and there won’t be enough time to study for a presessional.

New areas for Guardianship for Bright World

Bright World Guardianships is soon to be 8 years' old and we have risen from just a handful of students in 2000 to approaching 150 in 2008. We have achieved this growth by basically doing a great job, growing slowly and carefully so that we can grow and still maintain and actually improve on our service year on year.

The key to our success is that we focus on keeping our students safe and happy. We also focus on providing their parents with a well thought out, organised service. We dont hide up anything or spend lots of money for no reason. With Bright World our clients always know where they stand and we are very open with them.

We are now ready to expand our areas which have historically been focussed in the South East. Now are are moving into Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Bedford, Cambridge, Hertfordshire, Berkshire, Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex. We are achieving this by working closely with our partner schools in those areas to help us to find great host families and also fantastic and caring Bright World Local Coordinators who take care of our students.

Contact the office to find out our complete list of areas and schools on +441273835745 or email lana@brightworld.co.uk

It's been a hard week's work for us all!!!

Well, all of us except one black and white hairy 'person' .........

What a busy week we have had this week at Bright World. Jane Forester is sunning herself on a beach in the South of France somewhere so extra work has been necessary for poor old Lana and Carol Gill in the office! Jane will be on holiday for yet another week but will return hopefully refreshed to carry on in the planning process for the guardianship students arriving in September.

A lot is going on at the moment. We are in full planning mode for next year for guardianship and as the bookings are coming in thick and fast we are busy visiting new host families and recruiting new Bright World Buddies to take care of them during the school year.

This week Lana Foster has visited about 8 families. Lovely people with huge and comfortable houses. Our students are so lucky!!!

Sheena will on holiday next week so we will all have to muck in on the boarding school placements. We do hope that Sheena has a good rest but we are already looking forward to her coming back as she has such a busy job that we know we will all have our work cut out to keep up with it all in her absence.

James is always busy with the finances and with university placements - august is his very busy month for placements with clearing and last minute bookings.

And during all this hard work our dog, Jake just lays asleep in his basket in the corner of the room, occasionally getting up to have a tickle under his chin or to ask for something to eat - it really is a dog's life!

Guardianship host hamilies - the key to our success

Good staff? - check

Good systems? - check

Good knowledge of students? - check

Good marketing department ?- check

Good host families ?- OH YES!!!

At Bright World it has taken us 8 years to really get to grips with what makes a good host family and to realise that this is the key to our success for our guardianship programme. With good, generous, educated, kind and giving families our students get the very best experience from their stay - yes they actually enjoy their exeat weekends and half terms and look forward to going.

Our families are not sourced through newspaper advertising but through the schools we work with and through word of mouth. This means that high quality is consistent. Plus you have go the fussiest person in the world checking them out - Lana Foster, MD of Bright World demands a very high standard from our families.

'if I would not happily stay there for a week then I would not expect my students to' says Lana who does most of the host family interviews and house inspections.

Our families really enjoy the experience of hosting international students. Many of them have been boarders before so they understand how important it is to have a home from home during holiday times and your parents are not around.

We are so proud of our host family network and realise that it is the key to our success now and in the future - so Bright World host families we salute you !

Lana Foster, Managing Director of Bright World, travels to Hong Kong July 2008

Hong Kong July 2008

I have just returned from a week's trip to Hong Kong. I attended an education exhibition organised by one of our very close partner agents, Hong Kong Overseas Study Centre based in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon. The event is always brilliantly organised and this year was no exception. The photo shows me in the middle with Jimmy Wong, CEO of HKOSC on my left.

What impresses me every year is the quality of students that I get to meet at these fairs. Overseas students looking for UK boarding schools can be as young as 10 when they come to see me on my exhibition stand. I try not to be scary but me sitting in front of them in my smart suit must be intimidating.

I was very impressed this year by a young boy called Eric. He is only 13 years old but so confident, so motivated to come and study in the UK. His English is also excellent and he has Grade 8 oboe to boot! What a great boy and would be a great asset to any school. We are now doing our best to find him the best boarding school possible for next year.

I enjoy my trips to Hong Kong. The families that I meet are so well educated, speak excellent English, are so well briefed on the British Education System and our schools. They really care about their children and their futures.

We have a lot of students for whom we are guardian who are from Hong Kong and so I enjoy following their progress. This year a couple of our students have gained places at top UK universities so we feel very proud to have helped them on their way through their boarding school life onto university.

We have a new testimonial booklet which includes quotations from some of our students. Just ask us and we will let you have a copy.

Anyway it was pouring with rain in the UK while I was there and believe it or not it was raining in Hong Kong too!

I am now back safe and sound and gearing up for a new academic year starting early September. We are now planning all the host families for all our new and returning students coming back after their summer holiday.

Is life in a UK boarding school like Harry Potter?

When J K Rowling sat down to write Harry Potter she chose to set the story in a type of boarding school. Hogwarts is of course full of mystery and magicians and paints a glamorous and fun picture of life in a UK boarding school. The Harry Potter films and books are famous worldwide and at Bright World we are often asked if UK boarding schools look like or are similar in any way to Hogwarts!

According to the Boarding Education Alliance, the Harry Potter books have helped to re-invent the image of UK boarding schools. "The books have probably done more for boarding than anything else we could have imagined," says Ann Williamson, campaign director of the BEA, which represents 170 boarding schools.

Attending a UK boarding school is no longer perceived as being sent away to school but as a wonderful life opportunity to live in a community with people from around the world. As well as receiving an excellent education in small classes, the opportunities for activities and learning new skills outside the classroom are endless. Admitedly, we at Bright World have never seen wizardry on the curriculum of any boarding school but students have the chance to do drama, film studies, music technology, outward bound persuits, climbing, golf - the list is endless.

Most UK boarding schools are also steeped in tradition with an interesting history. When we visit the many schools that Bright World works with we do sometimes compare the dining rooms, classrooms and corridors to Hogwarts because they do look similar!

So in answer the the question in the title of this blog? Yes - life is a bit like Harry Potter minus the wizards and demons but with all the camaraderie, learning and excitement.

Bright World - Trustworthy and Reliable UK Guardianship

Bright World Guardianship - Trustworthy and Reliable UK Guardianship
When parents make the important decision to invest in an overseas education for their child, they are offering them a unique opportunity and a life changing experience. It is vital, therefore, that the whole experience is a positive one and as trouble free as possible. It is important that the academic aims of the student are not impeded by day to day worries and problems. As well as school advice and placement, Bright World has a guardianship service offered by a select team of experienced and caring individuals.

Our Guardianship Programme is a service offered to students at UK boarding schools in the Sussex, Surrey and Kent areas.

Why choose our Guardianship Programme?
The majority of UK boarding schools require all overseas pupils to have a UK based guardian.
A Bright World guardian will ensure that all the needs of your child are met and offers parents peace of mind and security in the knowledge that there is always someone there to give a helping hand. Our Guardianship programme offers a total care package from day one of a student’s stay in the UK and throughout their study period. An important part of our job is to find a host family for your child during holiday times when they have to leave school. Our host families are all very carefully chosen, regularly visited and police checked.

What is included in the Bright World Guardianship Programme?
• Assistance with application to school or college
• Liaison with school to ensure safe transfer of student to and from airport
• Arrival report to parents including initial academic and welfare information
• 24 hour emergency telephone assistance
• One visit to the student in the first term followed by a full academic and welfare report
• Assistance with travel and accommodation arrangements for visiting parents
• Ongoing day to day liaison between the school, the student and the parents
• Half term and holiday arrangements

Additional guardianship services can be made available at an extra charge. These may include:
• Personal airport and holiday transfers arranged by Bright World
• Attendance at parents’ evenings and school events
• Arrangements of host families and language courses during holidays

“ We act as your personal representative and will speak on your behalf. Our guardian students can rely on us as an independent friend – someone they can go to for advice and help.”
Lana Sayer, Managing Director, Bright World

If you would like to speak with someone before you make a decision
phone us direct on +44(0)1273 835745