Hosting an international 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 as they do likewise.

WEP’s host families are cordial, curious, open and tolerant. They are people who would like to discover another culture, another way of life and traditions, and be challenged by a different way of thinking. To be a WEP host family means opening up one’s door, heart and mind to an equally curious and enthusiastic international exchange student.

You will become a second set of parents to your student and they will adapt themselves to your routines and family rules. Day after day, 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’s exchange students are young people between the ages of 15 and 19 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.