A GSOS host and a newly-arrived student talking warmly over coffee in a bright UK café

Packages · September 2026 intake

Three ways to land softly.

Every package: met at the airport, settled in, never out of touch. They differ only in how many days your host stays — and how much of the city you cover together.

Welcome · £649 Settle · £1,199 Tailored · £1,799+
Whichever you choose

The same foundation under every package.

  1. Met at arrivals

    A vetted host at the airport door with your child's name, and a message to you the moment they land.

  2. The first essentials

    A UK SIM so they can call you, and the first supermarket shop walked aisle by aisle.

  3. A meal together

    At least one meal with their host at a proper local restaurant, on us.

  4. You're kept in the loop

    Milestone notifications to you at every step, in your language.

A GSOS host greeting a newly-arrived student at UK airport arrivals, holding a welcome card with the student's name

Welcome · £649 · two days

Welcome.

Two days with a vetted host — the arrival essentials, handled.

Book Welcome — £649 Compare all three

Two days with a vetted GSOS host — ideally a current UK student from your child's culture or language background, handling the part of the trip parents worry about most. Booking opens an enquiry first; once we confirm a host for your child's city and date, we send a payment link.

What's in Welcome

Hour by hour.

  1. Day 1 — Arrival
    • We meet your child at the airport arrivals door, with a sign and their name.
    • We bring them to their accommodation.
    • We help them buy a UK SIM card so they can call you on a working number.
    • We message you the moment they land, in the taxi, and at the flat.
    • One meal together at a casual local restaurant, on us.
    • Your host is available by phone for the rest of the evening.
  2. Day 2 — Essentials
    • Your child's first supermarket shop, with their host walking the aisles with them.
    • We help them find familiar food where possible.
    • We message you a wrap-up at the end of the day.
A wooden table set for two at the host's home — fish and chips on unmatched plates, a candle, warm evening light

The first night

A meal together, on us.

The first evening decides whether a new city feels lonely or liveable. So Welcome includes a proper meal out with your child's host — somewhere casual and local, no rush. It's often the moment the long flight finally lets go.

A GSOS host walking a newly-arrived student through a UK university building, showing them around

Settle · £1,199 · three days · most parents choose this

Settle.

Three days — the full settling-in, from bank account to campus.

Book Settle — £1,199 Compare all three

Everything in Welcome, plus the things that turn "arrived" into "settled" — a UK bank account, public transport sorted, a campus walkthrough, and a second meal where your child finally exhales. £1,199. Booking opens an enquiry first; once we confirm a host for your child's city and date, we send a payment link.

What's in Settle

Day by day.

  1. Day 1 — Arrival
    Airport pickup, transport to accommodation, SIM card, first meal together, milestone notifications to you. The same Day 1 as Welcome.
  2. Day 2 — Essentials and bank
    • First supermarket shop with your host walking the aisles.
    • UK bank account opened together — your host knows the documents you'll need and which banks make it easiest for international students.
    • Public transport orientation: your child rides their actual local bus or tram with the host, from accommodation to a key destination and back.
  3. Day 3 — Belonging
    • A second shop together, this time including a cultural or familiar-food supermarket.
    • Campus walkthrough — your host physically walks them through the university, not just sends a map.
    • A second meal at a proper local restaurant, on us. Often the moment your child relaxes for the first time.
    • End-of-week wrap message to you.
A GSOS host and a newly-arrived student on a UK tram platform, the host pointing out the route
By day three they ride the city on their own — because someone rode it with them first.That's the difference three days makes.
Overhead of a small wooden tray: an open notebook with addresses, a UK contactless debit card, a popped SIM, a brass key, and a sprig of dried wheat

The small wins

A bank card, a SIM, a set of keys.

By the end of the Settle week your child has the things that quietly make a place yours — a UK bank account opened together, a working SIM, keys to a door that's now theirs. The admin parents dread, done alongside someone who's done it all before.

A GSOS host introducing a newly-arrived student into a warm, diverse group of fellow UK students

Tailored · from £1,799 · built around your child

Tailored.

We start with Settle and design the rest around your family.

Enquire about Tailored Compare all three

You tell us what your child needs and we design the days around it. We start with everything in Settle and add what matters to your family. From £1,799 — every quote built to scope.

A cream cardstock welcome card lying flat on a walnut desk, the student's name written in elegant fountain-pen calligraphy, ink bottle and pen beside

What Tailored is

GSOS without the menu.

Some families need more than a fixed package can hold — a particular community to meet, a language spoken at every appointment, a parent flying in mid-term. Tailored starts with the full Settle week and shapes everything else around the child in front of us.

Examples

What Tailored families have asked for.

  • Multiple meals across different cuisines — Indian, Chinese, Italian, British — over a week
  • Introduction to a local cultural or religious community — a mosque, a Chinese Christian church, an Indian society
  • Multi-day check-ins after the formal three-day handover
  • Pickup of family members visiting later in the term
  • Daily WhatsApp reports to you, in your language, with photos
  • Pre-arrival video call between your child and their assigned host
  • Translator support at specific appointments — GP registration, university enrolment, accommodation walkthrough

We don't list a fixed price because every Tailored quote is different. We start at £1,799 and quote up from there based on the scope.

Compare

What's in each.

Welcome Settle Tailored
Price£649£1,199From £1,799
Days with your host233+ (you decide)
Airport pickup & transport to accommodation✓✓✓
SIM card setup✓✓✓
First supermarket shop✓✓✓
One meal together✓✓✓
Milestone notifications to you✓✓✓
UK bank account setup—✓✓
Second cultural-food shop—✓✓
Second meal at a quality restaurant—✓✓
Public transport orientation—✓✓
Campus walkthrough together—✓✓
Multiple meals across cuisines——available
Cultural / religious community introduction——available
Multi-day check-ins after formal handover——available
Daily WhatsApp report in your language——available
Pre-arrival video call between host & student——available
Translator support for specific appointments——available
Pricing FAQ

The detail.

At booking. Stripe handles the payment securely. You're charged in your local currency at the day's mid-market rate.

100% refund if you cancel 14 days or more before your child's arrival. 50% refund 7–13 days before. Inside 7 days, no refund — except if we cannot deliver, in which case we refund in full.

GSOS is below the UK VAT threshold for Year 1. Prices are as shown — no extra tax at checkout.

The actual cost of your child's groceries, SIM card, bank account, and transport tickets. GSOS covers our host's time and one (Welcome) or two (Settle) meals together at a quality restaurant. Your child pays for their own purchases.

Not sure which one?

Tell us about your child — the city, the date, and what worries you most. We'll recommend the right package within 24 hours.

Tell us about your child