English
Local Coordinator Close to your School
Your local coordinator visits your child, attends parents' evenings on your behalf and stays in touch throughout your guardianship programme.
British Guardianship at Bede's Senior School
Nominated Guardian for Bede's Senior School. Boarding school guardianship for international students.
Are you looking for a Nominated Guardian for Bede's Senior School? UK boarding schools generally require international students under 18 to have an accredited UK guardian in place throughout their studies. British Guardianship provides a fully accredited boarding school guardianship service for Bede's Senior School students, including a dedicated local coordinator, safe accommodation with vetted host families during half terms, exeats and holidays, attendance at parents' evenings on your behalf, and 24-hour emergency support.
Guardianship Fees
Our UK boarding school guardianship services for Bede's Senior School start from £350 per term.
Dedicated Guardianship Manager
As soon as your application is received, a dedicated member of our guardianship team becomes your main contact, managing every aspect of your nominated guardian arrangements.
Local Vetted Host Family
We work with a network of vetted host families across the UK. For exeats and half terms, we aim to place your child with a local host family matched to your preferences, so weekends away from school feel settled and safe.
Our Services
UK Boarding School Guardianship
An accredited nominated guardian for international boarders at Bede's Senior School, with a dedicated local coordinator, vetted host families for half terms, exeats and holidays, and 24-hour emergency support.
Learn More →Boarding School Placement
Our admissions team supports international families through the application to Bede's Senior School, from choosing the right year of entry through to an offer and enrolment, with Child Student visa guidance and guardianship arranged alongside.
Learn More →Bede's Senior School Overview
Bede's Senior School is an independent, co-educational day and boarding school at Upper Dicker, near Hailsham in East Sussex. It is the senior part of Bede's, which educates pupils from 3 months to 18 years on two sites: the Prep School by the sea in Eastbourne, and the Senior School and Sixth Form at Upper Dicker.
Pupils at Upper Dicker follow GCSE courses before moving into a Sixth Form that offers a wide range of A Levels and BTECs alongside an enrichment programme. Overseas pupils aged 15 to 16 can take Pre Sixth, a one-year GCSE programme. The school is also home to the Legat Dance Academy.
Boarding at Bede's Senior School
The school has around 330 boarding places: about 200 for full boarders, most of them international, and 130 for weekly boarders. Pupils come from more than 30 nationalities each year, and the school limits any one nationality to 30 pupils. Alongside full boarding, families can choose weekly boarding, a small number of flexi places or day boarding.
Boarding Houses and Accommodation
There are five boarding houses: Crossways and Dorter for girls, and Stud, Camberlot and Dorms for boys. The four older houses each take around 65 pupils, while Dorms, opened in 2022, houses around 75 boys in single and double en-suite rooms. Room sharing reduces with age, from rooms of three to five in the first year to single or double study rooms in the Sixth Form. Each house team includes live-in boarding staff, matrons, house managers and personal tutors.
Boarding Life
Evening prep is supervised in each house's central atrium by tutors and prefects. Fridays have a social focus, with trips to the cinema or bowling, while Saturdays combine sport with academic, drama, music and art activities, mountain biking, paddle-boarding and shopping trips. Sundays begin with a lie-in and brunch.
Academic and Pastoral Support
Around a quarter of pupils are on the SEN register, most of them with dyslexia, and the Good Schools Guide records in-school provision for specific learning difficulties and autism. Pupils whose first language is not English receive EAL support, and the Health and Wellbeing Centre provides nurses and on-site counsellors.
Every international boarder at Bede's Senior School must have a UK guardian. British Guardianship provides AEGIS accredited boarding school guardianship for international students at UK boarding schools.
Facilities & Activities at Bede's Senior School
Every accredited UK boarding school offers a range of sport, arts and academic facilities for international students, together with an extended programme of activities in the evenings and at weekends. For full details of the facilities and activities available, please visit the official Bede's Senior School website.
Information for International Students and Parents
International pupils join the boarding community at Bede's Senior School from Year 9 (age 13), with entry also possible in Year 10, in Pre Sixth for overseas pupils aged 15 to 16, and in Year 12. Most pupils start in September, and mid-year transfers are considered when space allows. British Guardianship supports international families through every stage of the application with our boarding school admissions service.
English Language Requirements
Bede's does not publish fixed IELTS or CEFR levels. International applicants need a reasonable standard of English so that they can follow mainstream lessons, and English is assessed as part of the application, with a specific English test for Pre Sixth entry. Pupils whose first language is not English receive EAL support. British Guardianship confirms the level required for each year of entry during placement.
Child Student Visa
Students coming to the UK from overseas will usually need a Child Student visa. Bede's Senior School is a licensed Child Student sponsor on the UKVI register through St Bede's School Trust Sussex, and the school's visa and immigration team issues the Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies up to six months before the course start date. The visa application itself is submitted by parents. Our Child Student visa guide explains the requirements and process, and families holding a British National (Overseas) visa can contact us for guidance on the BN(O) route.
UK Guardian Requirement
Bede's requires parents of pupils living outside the UK to appoint a guardian who can oversee their child while in the country and collect the pupil at short notice in case of illness. The school refers families to AEGIS and does not appoint or arrange guardians or host families itself. Pupils may stay with their guardian during holidays such as half term instead of travelling home, and a travel coordinator arranges transfers to airports and stations at the start and end of each term.
British Guardianship is AEGIS accredited and a BSA Certified Guardian, and can act as the nominated UK guardian for Bede's Senior School boarders. Our boarding school guardianship service covers regular contact with the school, travel coordination and safe accommodation with vetted host families during half terms, exeats and holidays, giving parents a single, reliable educational guardian in the UK.
To discuss UK guardianship for Bede's Senior School, book a free online consultation or apply for a nominated guardian.
Frequently Asked Questions
UK boarding schools generally require international students under 18 to have a UK-based guardian, and British Guardianship confirms Bede's Senior School's specific requirements as part of your application. The guardian acts on behalf of parents in the UK, is the school's point of contact in an emergency and looks after the student whenever they cannot be at school. We provide this as an AEGIS accredited boarding school guardianship service.
Whenever your child cannot stay at Bede's Senior School, for example during half terms, exeats or holidays when boarding houses close, they stay with one of our vetted host families. Every host family is visited in their home, provides professional and personal references and holds an Enhanced DBS check for all household members aged 16 and over. British Guardianship remains your child's educational guardian throughout every stay.
We have guardians available and ready to be assigned. The overall timeframe depends on how quickly the required paperwork is completed and communication with Bede's Senior School is finalised. As every case is different, timelines can vary, but we aim to make the process as smooth and efficient as possible.
Boarding school guardianship is charged per term and starts from £350, with host family stays, travel arrangements and other services added as your child needs them. Full details are on our guardianship fees page.
A UK student guardian must be a responsible adult, usually aged 25 or over, who lives permanently in the UK, speaks fluent English and is close enough to the school to respond quickly in an emergency; many boarding schools set a maximum travel time. The guardian must be contactable 24 hours a day and hold an Enhanced DBS check where they or their household host the student. Bede's Senior School may also ask for the guardian's details before the start of term and set additional requirements of its own. As an AEGIS accredited guardianship provider, British Guardianship meets these requirements on your behalf, with vetted guardians, Enhanced DBS checked host families and 24-hour emergency support.
Yes. Our boarding school admissions service supports international families through the application to Bede's Senior School, from choosing the right year of entry through to an offer and enrolment, with Child Student visa guidance and guardianship arranged alongside.
Disclaimer: Logo, images and videos are shown courtesy of Bede's Senior School and remain the property of their respective owners. British Guardianship is an independent AEGIS-accredited guardianship provider, and this page is not published or endorsed by Bede's Senior School. School information is provided as a general guide and may change.
SEN Support Explained: SpLD: specific learning difficulties, such as dyslexia, dyspraxia and dyscalculia, affect particular areas of learning such as reading, spelling, coordination or working with numbers, without affecting overall ability. ASD: autism spectrum disorder affects how a student communicates, interacts with others and experiences the world around them.
