Welcome - Gold Educational Tours

Welcome to our hosting community

Lodge your Working With Children’s Check application at any post office for a small fee of $11.
Join our Perth Homestay Community Facebook group to see what other families get up to when they host a Japanese student.
Two weeks before your student’s arrival, we will send you their profile and itinerary for the duration of your homestay.
1 week before the homestay commences, join our live Q&A on our Facebook community page to get an update on the visiting students and ask us any questions you may have.
1 week before your student arrives, you can get in touch via email to introduce yourself and send them photos of your family!

Students will travel together from the airport to their host school where you will meet them to pick them up.
When the students arrive we’ll simply introduce you to your student and you can take them home!
When you get home, your student may be tired. Perhaps they want to shower and get settled. Please show them around so they know where the essentials are and how to help themselves. It’s also a good time to explain your weekday routine, i.e., when they should go to bed, what time to wake up, and when you’ll leave the house for school in the morning.

Family members must always accompany exchange students when travelling to and from the host school. You can drive your student, or they can travel with your child via bus, train, walking, bike riding, or any other way your child normally gets to school.

Prior to the student’s arrival, host families will be given itineraries detailing the student activities, pick-up and drop-off locations, and maps of the schools.
Students will need to go to school with a packed lunch and some snacks for recess. Whatever your child usually takes is fine for the exchange students, nothing different needs to be made for them unless they have allergies or dietary requirements.

Students are encouraged to fit in with your daily life, which means your normal routine doesn’t necessarily need to change to accommodate the student.
If your child plays a sport in the evenings, we encourage host families to get in touch with the coach or sport leader to see if the student can be involved in some capacity for that week. If this isn’t possible the student can just come along and watch your child participate in the sport.

Exchange students will attend buddy classes during their school days. The school language teachers will inform all staff about the visit so that your child’s teacher can plan their classes accordingly.
If your child goes to the same host school the student will be attending, they may be buddied up with their exchange student.
Please note: Due to many different factors, it can sometimes be difficult for schools to match all host children with their exchange student. This is up to the discretion of the school and not Gold Educational Tours.

Host families will be paid $50 a night to help cover expenses during the homestay such as food, activities and general costs.
If the student specifically asks to visit somewhere or do something, they will be expected to pay for themselves. If you’d like to take the student somewhere it is unlikely the student will offer to pay their own way.
Exchange students will have their own money to purchase souvenirs and gifts for their friends and families back home in Japan. You are not expected to pay for their personal items.

We don’t expect our host families to be tour guides so please don’t feel obliged to take your student to extravagant places every day.
Feedback from previous exchange students show time and time again that simple, everyday activities prove to be fun for them. This could be taking the dog for a walk, going grocery shopping, watching and feeding the local birds, going to the beach at sunset, helping to cook a meal together or even just watching Australian tv.
If you’d like to take the students to different places during their stay but aren’t sure where the best spots are, feel free to reach out to the Facebook community group and ask other hosts for ideas on where they’re taking their exchange students.