Short-Term School Immersion

Studying abroad in a new country is an exciting opportunity for many, but it can also be a huge challenge of adjustment and for some students the thought of a whole year or semester away from familiar surroundings may seem too much.

Our short-term school immersion programmes aim to offer students a ‘taster’ experience of studying overseas for a much shorter time period, often for a couple of weeks.

Any student aged between 12 and 17 who is interested in experiencing school life in either England or the USA. It is a brilliant option for students that may be undecided about a long-term Academic Placement as this programme allows an insight into living away from home and the challenges that may bring. It could also be a great option for those students who come to the end of their domestic school semester earlier and would like the opportunity to travel whilst still being in a school environment.

All our schools in England and the USA are selected by Xplore, and of a high-quality. We also hand-select all our host families in the US to ensure they meet our strict standards. 

During a students’ placement, there will be plenty of opportunity for immersion – whether that be full immersion into boarding school life in England, living in a dormitory with other students and partaking in after-school and weekend activities or living authentically with a real-life host family visiting a local high school with other students.

This programme involves full immersion at a high-quality traditional English boarding school within our school network. Students live as a boarding student, staying on-campus 7-days a week, joining other students in subject classes; following the same weekly timetable and participating in evening and weekend activities as any other boarding student would do.

Traditional Boarding School Life

We typically work with independent Boarding Schools who tend to have a smaller and more select boarding capacity, however this does mean they operate a large ‘day student’ market, whereby many of the students attending are local English children resulting in an excellent integration opportunity. Boarding accommodation is a ‘home from home’ and we are often told how boarding students really do make friends for life.

Flexible and Extendable

This programme is available for 1 to 6-weeks during term time, allowing this to be a great short-term option for students. All placements are on application as we try to place students in the best, most suitable school and based on availability in year groups. The immersion placement can also be extended at the start or end by adding one of our Language Activity Camps in the spring or summer school holidays.

Our immersion programme in the US, gives visiting students the opportunity to fully immerse themselves in both school and family life in America. The 4-week programme involves being placed with an Xplore-selected host family taking part in all aspects of family life in the evenings and on weekends, whilst visiting a local high school during the week with other local American teens, maybe even a host sibling!

Authentic High School Immersion

We have a strong network of both public and private high schools based in a number of states that we use for this programme. In order to facilitate a smooth integration into school life, an American student ambassador is assigned, who the student can shadow attending the same classes and scheduled school activities.

Cultural Immersion

All our host families are hand-selected by our staff and are enthusiastic about welcoming an international student into their home. Students can expect comfortable accommodation at their host family’s house, sharing in their family activities in the evenings and at weekends.

As these immersion placements take place during the school year, they can easily be extended with one of our Language Activity Camps during the Spring or Summer school holidays. Add a camp to the beginning or end of your student’s immersion experience.

We can accept small groups on this type of programme, however we will be unable to guarantee the whole group attending the same school.