It's that time of year when local WEP representatives are looking for host families to host WEP students from many countries. WEP is a not-for-profit student exchange organisation registered with the NSW Education Department. WEP facilitates cultural exchange programs for families in your community and invites you to be a part of this wonderful experience starting July, by hosting an exchange student for a semester or year. If you think you have the space and would like to enjoy the experience at hosting and learning about mother country then contact Jackie Mcardle on 0458311914 or visit the WEP website If you would like to find out more about this wonderful experience for your family Jackie can then arrange for a full information pack, including student profiles, to be sent to you. Choosing your student early builds excitement and anticipation for their arrival!
Hosting an overseas secondary school student gives Australian families the opportunity to share their life and culture with young people from around the world for a school year, semester or term. It is about discovering another culture, encompassing different traditions and practices, and supporting a new family member.
WEP host families are welcoming, curious and excited to have the opportunity for new experiences. They are people who would like to discover another culture, another way of life and traditions, and enjoy seeing Australia through the eyes of their exchange student. To be a WEP host family means offering this exciting opportunity to an equally curious and enthusiastic high school exchange student.
You will become a second set of parents to your student and they will adapt themselves to your routines and family rules. While hosting a student you will have the opportunity to uncover the little differences that exist between our culture and that of another country.
Over time, host parents find that they have a special place in the heart of the exchange student. Some students even come to call their host parents ‘mum’ and ‘dad’, whilst all are heart-broken when it comes time for them to return home. Who are the exchange students? WEP exchange students are young people between the ages of 15 and 18 who want to experience a new culture, build their characters and increase their maturity levels by learning to adapt and integrate into a way of life unique and different from their own. They are students who think seriously about their future and who want to learn our language through daily usage. The students who arrive in our country have deliberately made the choice to come and live here. Despite a multitude of possible choices, Australia is where they have chosen to undertake their exchange. It is our culture they wish to learn more about and it is up to us to help them do so.
