b'Guardianship firms These are businesses that charge fees of up to 1,000 a term for basic support that includes round-the-clock emergency help, at least in term time. Many rms also give families the option of paying more for a premium service.Some guardianship rms specialise in one particular nationality, others are cannily expanding into new areas such as day school packages, where children board with a host family in term time. All guardianship rms should recruit and vet host families, ensuring they lead blameless lives, have squeaky clean records and, importantly, live within easy travelling distance of your childs school. Unfortunately, membership of Aegis, which runs its own inspections, remains optional. The organisation is campaigning for safeguarding to be tightened and inspections made mandatory, but with only 10 per cent of schools currently working with Aegis members, it still has a lot of convincing to do. In the meantime, there are other ways of nding a guardian. Schools sometimes recruitvery sensiblythrough their own parents. Other families prefer to make their own arrangements, turning to friends or relations as stand-in, and stand-by, mums and dads. This will only work, however, if they live in easy reach of the school.For overseas pupils, a compatible guardian who cares about your childs well-being and happiness almost as much as you do can be an essential part of the educational experience. 73'