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 Harrow School
Nominated Guardian for Harrow School. Boarding school guardianship for international students.
Are you looking for a Nominated Guardian for Harrow 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 Harrow 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 Harrow 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 Harrow 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 Harrow 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 →Harrow School Overview
Harrow School is an independent full boarding school for boys aged 13 to 18 in Harrow on the Hill, in the London Borough of Harrow in north-west London. Founded in 1572 under a Royal Charter granted by Elizabeth I, it educates around 830 boys, all of whom board in twelve houses on the Hill.
Boys join in the Shell (Year 9) and progress through the Remove and Fifth Form, the GCSE years, to the Sixth Form, taking a combination of GCSEs and IGCSEs followed by A Levels. A small number of new pupils join in the Lower Sixth.
Boarding at Harrow School
Every pupil at Harrow is a full boarder. Around a fifth of the boys have families living overseas. Lessons run on Saturday mornings, and half terms and formal exeats are supplemented by a few short floating exeats granted by the House Master.
Boarding Houses and Accommodation
Each of the twelve houses holds between 60 and 70 boys and has its own character, gardens and facilities. There are no dormitories: a new boy shares a room with another boy of the same age for his first three to six terms and then has a room of his own. Each house is run by a House Master with an Assistant House Master, a resident Matron with a sick room, House Tutors and a House Visitor.
Boarding Life
Saturday afternoons are given to school sport and other activities, and evenings may bring tutor outings, concerts or socials with girls' schools. Sunday mornings begin with Chapel or Thought for the Day, followed by house sport, drama or music rehearsals, and formal prep takes place on Sunday evening. Courts, the golf course and the art and design technology facilities stay open at weekends.
Academic and Pastoral Support
The Learning Skills department, led by the school's SENDCo, supports boys with dyslexia, dyspraxia, autism and attention difficulties through individual or small-group lessons, in-class differentiation and study skills help, and coordinates exam access arrangements; provision suits milder needs rather than intensive specialist support. Pastoral care combines the house team, the Chaplaincy, a 24-hour Medical Centre, a full-time clinical psychologist and two full-time counsellors.
International boarders at Harrow School are generally expected to have a UK guardian. British Guardianship provides AEGIS accredited boarding school guardianship for international students at UK boarding schools.
Facilities & Activities at Harrow 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 Harrow School website.
Information for International Students and Parents
Harrow School admits international boarders at two points: around 160 boys join the Shell (Year 9) in the September after their 13th birthday, and up to 20 boys, normally aged 16, enter the Lower Sixth (Year 12). The school publishes no other entry points and expects boys to stay until 18. About 20% of Harrovians live overseas, and roughly half of each Year 9 intake has attended a UK preparatory school, which helps with English and the curriculum. British Guardianship supports international families through every stage of the application with our boarding school admissions service.
English Language Requirements
Harrow School does not publish minimum CEFR or IELTS levels. Boys need English strong enough to take a full part in lessons from the start, and pupils with English as an additional language have their English assessed by the school free of charge, with extra English lessons available at additional cost. English is assessed as part of the application, and 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. Harrow School is a licensed Child Student sponsor on the UKVI register and gives guidance on the visa once a place has been offered, while 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
UK boarding schools generally require international boarders under 18 to have a UK guardian, and British Guardianship confirms each school's specific requirements as part of placement. At Harrow, a boy recovering from a long illness usually goes home or to his guardian, and the school does not provide accompanied travel for boys coming from abroad.
British Guardianship is AEGIS accredited and a BSA Certified Guardian, and can act as the nominated UK guardian for Harrow School boarders. Our boarding school guardianship service covers regular contact with the house team, coordination of travel to and from the London airports, 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 Harrow 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 Harrow 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 Harrow 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 Harrow 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. Harrow 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 Harrow 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 Harrow 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 Harrow 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. ADHD: attention deficit hyperactivity disorder affects concentration, attention, impulse control and activity levels.
