How do I choose my home stay family?

We take a great deal of care to match you with the most suitable family

When you fill in your Enrolment Form there is a separate section for accommodation. You can choose a single or shared room (shared with a student of a different nationality) and half board or full board.

Half board:

breakfast and evening meal from Monday to Friday and all meals at weekends.

Full board:

breakfast and evening meals with the family and lunches in the Clubroom Restaurant from Monday to Friday. All meals at weekends with the family.

You also have other choices including whether you want to stay in a family with or without children, with or without animals, and who do or do not smoke.

Based on your choices, we use a sophisticated computer matching programme and personal knowledge to select the most suitable family for you.  Our Accommodation Manager has been working for Churchill House for many years and she knows most of the families personally and she will take great care trying to find you the right family. Once we have found the ideal match using technology and personal knowledge we send details to both you and your English family so that, if you wish, you can contact them before you arrive.

Although we try very hard to choose the ideal family, if you are not happy with them we can always transfer you to another family.

We try very hard to match host and guest. Some students are looking for a lot of contact with their hosts, and for them we will choose a family that is often at home and happy to spend time with their guest.  Other students may intend to be out a lot and for them a family with a more independent lifestyle may be suitable. We can only find somewhere right for you if we know what you want, so please let us know when you book your course.

You can help us to place you in the best family for you if you are flexible. You should consider the following points :-

Distance from the school

We are fortunate that we are the only school of English in Ramsgate which means that much of our host family accommodation is located close to the school.  Most of our accommodation is a short walk from the school so no public transport is required. However it is important to consider all the factors that will make the homestay experience a positive one, and not just the distance from the school.

Smoking

Very few families allow smoking in the house. Some will allow a smoker to smoke outside, so if you do smoke, please understand that you will probably have to do this - and make sure to let us know if this is important to you when you book.

Internet access

Some of our homestay families can provide a wireless internet connection at no extra cost, so there is a good chance that it can be provided if requested. Others may ask for a small contribution for using it whilst staying there. You will need to bring your own laptop to access the internet.

For obvious reasons, most families do not like students to use the family PC, and we discourage this except in the case of emailing friends and family in an emergency.

If you would like internet access in your homestay, please make sure that you tell us at the time of booking so that we can try to place you in a homestay that has a wireless router.

Animals

Most British families have pets so there is a large chance that your host family will have pets (usually a cat or a small dog). Please only ask for a home without pets if this is really important for you, as it greatly reduces the families we can choose from. It could mean that you miss out on a great family just because they have a pet.