Homestay Accommodation 2024
Staying in local homes, carefully selected by the College, gives students a great opportunity to practice their English. Our students have been staying in homestay accommodation since the earliest days of the College. In fact, some of our families are the children of our original homestay providers!
As a guest in Homestay accommodation you will eat with the family and be able to join in with family life. At Melton College, we select and inspect our own homestay accommodation. Every home is visited every year and we have a member of staff dedicated to looking after our homestays and our students staying there.
How do I get to my Homestay? We have a Transfer Service which runs from Manchester and Leeds Airports. We can also arrange Taxi transfers from any UK airport. Older students (Gold Course) and families also travel to York by train or car.
What is homestay accommodation?
Homestay means living in a home. Many people still use the term ‘Host Family”. We place students with families, couples and single people.
The hosts treat the student as a full member of the household, eating together and sharing the common living areas; no more than four students will be accommodated in homestay accommodation and most of our homestays take a maximum of two.
No more than two students can share a bedroom. This is a rule of British Council Accreditation. The exception is when we have been asked to place in a triple room by the students’ parents (or their representative, for example, a school or travel agent).
What is included?
Our homestay includes dinner, bed and breakfast and a packed lunch. If you are aged 18 or older you will have a single room. If you are under 18 you may be expected to share with a student who speaks a different first language.
If the homestay we select is more than 25 mins walk (2kms) from the College, we will provide a bus pass.
Homestay costs £224 per week
What you can expect from a homestay
- A clean safe environment
- Adequate heat and light
- Space to hang/store clothes
- A reasonable amount of washing (but not ironing)
- A desk to work at in their bedroom or a table elsewhere in the house in a quiet area
- Reasonable access to toilet/washing facilities (bath or shower daily)
- Breakfast and a substantial, cooked evening meal.
- Reasonable mealtimes. Meals eaten with host(s)
- Lunch - often a packed lunch
- A change of towels and bed linen weekly
- The opportunity to chat and practice English, especially at meal-times
What your homestay host will expect from you
Your homestay host is inviting you into their home
It is expected that you will:
- Be punctual at agreed mealtimes
- Be polite
- Keep your bedroom in a reasonable state
- Only invite friends round with permission
- Only store and prepare food with their agreement
- Not to use the telephone without permission
- Obey College welfare regulations including, if you are under 18, the College curfew
- Observe any house rules, including those to protect young children (stair gates etc.)
- Keep any medicine or dangerous substances out of reach of young children
- Pay for any damage
Can homestays provide special diets?
Many are prepared to offer special diets.
Students who are vegetarian or do not eat pork can state this and will not be charged extra. Students whose diet requires the purchase of special foods will be charged a supplement of £42 per week.
Smoking in homestay
Smoking is illegal in public buildings but is permissible in a private home. However, almost no homestays will accept smokers.
When is your room available?
The room is available from 1200 on the arrival Sunday until 1200 on the departure Sunday.
Do homestay hosts provide transport to and from College?
Nearly all our Homestay Accommodation is within 3km of the College, and many are within walking distance. Students make their own way to and from College.
Students living in a homestay more than 2kms from the College receive a local bus pass. The parents of younger students (under the age of 14) may pay extra for a “school-run service”. This costs £24 per day.
For our younger students we do ask hosts to collect them after evening events.
Private bathrooms
The College has a limited number of homestays with private bathrooms for students. Private bathrooms (if available) will contain a shower or bath, WC and basin. They are not necessarily en-suite, but are for the sole use of the student.
Private bathrooms in homestay are only available for students aged 18 and over and for an additional fee of £224 per week.
For students who want a bit more privacy or their own bathroom, we recommend Melton Guest House, which is next to the College!
