I am an international student and I have been admitted to SPS. I have a certain concern about holidays. Can I stay on campus if I can’t go back all the way to Russia during the breaks? Please advise!
Thank you
You can stay on campus during the long weekend type breaks but not during Thanksgiving, Christmas/Winter break and Spring break. Sometimes, students will stay with other students. The school can also help arrange a stay with an SPS student’s family, especially for Thanksgiving and SPring breaks. For the longer winter break, most students return home.
@doschicos Thank you. Do you happen to know how much should I pay for a stay with an SPS students family arranged by the school?
You wouldn’t need to pay. Families volunteer as part of the community. You would want to bring some spending money and its always nice to bring a hostess gift for the family as a way of saying thank you.
I would suggest that you and/or your parents contact either the Dean of Students’ office or the Director of Parent Resources for more info about having a family host you.
And one correction to my previous comments. Spring Break, students usually go home as it is a more lengthy 3 week break. For the long weekend breaks, plenty of students stay on campus, not just international students and it can be a lot of fun. The Dean of Students office usually will arrange a few activities and does things like giving out free movie tickets to the movie theater in town. It’s nice to have a little down time without academic deadlines.
Let me know if you have any other questions regarding SPS life. Congrats on your acceptance!
@doschico Thank you for your time and effort! I will contact the Dean of corse, but your comment is very helpful. My family was worried about additional payments and you comment solves everything:)
You may also find that you will have friends who are more local and will be happy to have you for holidays and such. We live close to my son’s school and had friends of his over for Easter, one was international. I know that most international kids will be matched with local host families. There is no fee involved. Families do this to stay connected with their child’s school, and are usually more than happy to care for kids whose families are far away. When we visit our son most weekends we always ask if any of his friends wants to come out for dinner with us.
My friend @boardingschoolx is an international at SPS (from Asia). She doesn’t come on CC much anymore, but if you have any more questions, I can ask her.
@victoria777: No paying is needed. I have a friend who is an international student at one of the HADES schools, and several times she has stayed with a good friend’s family (this was a day student family) during the holidays, when she can’t travel back to her country. A host family like doschicos suggested is also an excellent idea.
I wonder if most boarding schools have host families for international students. Wasn’t aware - and now am looking forward to our son having that extra support system.
@Calmpony The St. Andrew’s Admissions Office works to find host families for short vacations, like Thanksgiving, when international or other students cannot make it home. Our son asked a Shanghai boy to stay with us that particular week back in the III Form year, and Admissions double-checked on how it went. We kept up with the family afterward, seeing Mom and Son in the summer, etc.