Students under 18

EF does courses in English here in Brisbane for students under 18 years of age.

They generally arrive here in groups from a single country or come for what is know as the Academic Year (AY). This means that they could be here for a set course with the same classmates that runs for 3,6 or 9 months, as opposed to the rolling starts each Monday where the students might change each Monday depending on who has arrived and who has left.

If you would like to host students that are under 18, you will need a blue card. This is the Queensland Government "working with children check". You can not register yourself for a blue card, only an organisation can do that. The school will send you the paper work and you fill it out and return it to them. In due course a "blue card" will appear in the mail and you are able to start hosting young people under 18 years.

These young people have a few special rules that don't apply to those over 18 who are considered adults and able to make their own decisions.

They have a "curfew" of 10pm on school nights and 11pm on the weekends. If the student is with you or a responsible adult that you would trust your own children with, and you know where they are and are happy with it, then it is fine for them to be out after these times.

If for some reason they are not in your care and you don't know where they are after 10/11pm - you need to call the schools emergency line and let them know.

Young people under 18 are not allowed to stay at Urbanest (Student accommodation near South Bank) overnight under any circumstances for many reasons including easy access to alcohol. It is a magnet for many students and there is a monetary fine for being caught there after hours for either the student if they are over 18 or to the parent if they are under 18.

Most under 18 students are respectful of the extra responsibility that you incur by having them in your home and the experience is a good one for everyone.Some, however, are totally out of their depth -Linguistically,  emotionally and culturally and simply stay home all the time except to go to school. These ones in my experience seem to plug themselves into the social media of their country and emerge from it to eat, sleep and go back home!

Some young people find the "freedom" and lack of parental presence a very heady experience and go out and stay out for long periods of time. If you are able to communicate with them and think they have the maturity - then all is fine. If not call the school and have a chat to them and see if they can help you to communicate with the student about what is making you uncomfortable.

We have found girls under 18 to cope much better than the boys under 18 - but that may be random luck too.

The usual "rules" around minors in Australia applies to these young people. They can not drink alcohol, go into pubs, clubs and casinos, drive cars with out the appropriate licence or have underage sex. Obviously some of these things are very hard to monitor. If you are having concerns, it is better to bring it up with the school as soon as you become aware of it so that it doesn't escalate into behaviors that end with the young person being sent back to their home country. If this happens, there is no refund to the family and extra expense incurred if they cant change the flight and have to pay for another one. Its not a fun thing for anyone involved.

As with any student - if its really not working for you, call the school and ask for the student to be moved to another host family. If you are not happy, there is a good chance the student isn't either and everyone will be happier with a change.