Gap year ideas

[Wigeon]

DD, who is in year 13, has decided that she wants to do a gap year and apply for deferred entry for university when she submits her UCAS form this week.

She has been doing some research but doesn't know anyone who has done the kind of thing she wants to do, so is keen to get any recommendations for specific organisations.

Her thoughts are:

Live abroad for several months
Ideally not Western Europe but rest of Europe or the world (!) good.
Not Camp America
Work or volunteer, but not with animals

In terms of her skills and interests, she is a qualified swimming teacher. She is also very musical, can play the piano, another instrument and sing, and helps out with younger music students. She is planning on studying history and politics. She is open to the idea of TEFL.

I'm personally quite sceptical about "voluntourism" where privileged young white people land in a developing country and do something that isn't actually helpful or sustainable for local communities.

The rest of the year she'd plan to live at home and work locally to earn money to fund it all.

Any ideas, particularly of specific companies/organisations very welcome!

A lot of private schools have their own (closed) networks which is obviously a real shame for kids who aren’t already very privileged.

There are commercial providers like Letz Live that will charge a programme fee but accommodation and food will be provided by the school, as well as an allowance, so she’d probably get back what she was shelling out.

Thanks v much @DownThePubWithStevieNicks - have been having a look at Letz Live which does look really good. Have passed all this on to DD.

Just to add, with Mark Warner she might well be able to do a ski season followed by a summer season (in Turkey or one of the Greek islands). They don't pay much but you get decent accommodation (I'd say on a par with a university hall of residence) and good healthy food (the staff get the same as the guests) with enough left to fund a social life. And she could travel between the two seasons, potentially.

Has she looked at Workaway?

https://www.workaway.info/

She is entitled to a 'working holiday' visa for Australia and New Zealand, I'm not sure about other countries.

If she does make sure you read the insurance policy carefully. I had a friend do this and a lot of the policies excluded manual work, which is what a lot of people do on these trips. My friend had a policy that didn't cover much dental but did cover manual work. Day one in Sidney he broke a tooth!

If she likes the idea of Oz/NZ it can work out cheaper or about the same to book a round the world trip. So maybe South America on the way out and Asia on the way back.

She will have to pay in to 'superannuation' which is basically for your pension, when you leave you can claim it back.

I think Oz banks still charge for things like using an ATM, that can be a bit of a shock. She will need an Oz bank account to earn there but that can be set up from the UK.

My friend worked for a cleaning company. He also lived in a hostel, but if she wants to do something like Au Pair work she might get accommodation thrown in.

Thanks for all the further replies, really helpful. Workaway is coming up quite a bit - would be useful to know if it can be lonely, if you turn up at one of those opportunities by yourself?

Also, from browsing the website I'm not sure how I feel a lot essentially free labour, eg lots of ads from parents of young children where it sounds like they are basically looking for an au pair that they don't pay. Or is that massively unfair?

My DD had a gap year last year. She is a qualified life guard and worked at our local pool for 6 months. She then worked as an au pair in Australia for 6 months and had a fantastic time. She got the job through an agency and got offered several jobs. Before going she had limited child experience. The agency put her in touch with other au pairs in the area. She didn’t save much money but traveled hike out there.

@Doublethecuddles - great, thanks. DD isn't wild about the idea of au pairing, partly because she's worried about being isolated. Did your DD link up with the other au pairs and did she get on with them /did they all socialise?

@Wigeon my DD linked up with other au pairs, she was in a wealthy area in Sydney where lots of families had au pairs. The agency helped put her in touch with others in the area. She made friends and went travelling with them.