Student exchange UK-Berlin

[SoniaH]

Hi, we live in Berlin, Germany, and my daughter (15) would like to spend 6 months in the UK (Feb.-July 2017) to improve her English. We are looking either for a family willing to host her (against payment) or a family with a child who would like to come to Berlin for the same period of time as an exchange. Anyone interested?
I would also be really thankful for any ideas on how to find a family for her.

I think you'll be unlikely to find a British child of that age to come to Germany for that length of time, as UK y10 and y11 is when children are preparing for GCSE exams. For the same reason you might have a problem finding a mainstream UK school to accept your daughter for 6 months, as schools will be focussing on exam preparation and wouldn't take casual vacancies even if they did have spaces (which many good schools won't).

There are agencies that place German kids in private boarding schools for various periods - they are more likely to have spaces and be flexible, although obviously it is an expensive option.

Otherwise you could try the forum on the Deutsche in London website, as there will be people on there familiar with the English and the German systems, who may be able to advise.

You could try the exchange facilitators En Famille. Agree that 15 might be a bit old though.

Agree with PP - you need the help of a specialist agency for this. You cannot do it ad hoc, for all sorts of reasons.

Bethany, a boarding school in Goudhurst, Kent, takes short-term overseas boarders.

Ah yes, I'd forgotten about En famille.

They only used to take primary age children, I see from their website that they now do up to 16ys, so might be worth talking to them.

I still think you'll have the problem that virtually all British children will be tied into exam preparation at age 15-16, and won't have the flexibility to take part in a radical exchange programme.

I'd have thought country boarding schools will be your best bet -many schools outside the top ranked ones have a significant intake of German pupils, and there are agencies in Germany who can set this up for you. Boarding fees are in the region of £30,000 a year though, so it's not a cheap option.

Thank you so much for your very useful replies and your wise advice which I will certainly follow!