Your Gap Year
Why choose The Gap Network?
The Gap Network is a fresh, new approach to the growing demand for Gap Year placements in UK Boarding Schools.
We are:
Specialists – the ONLY company in Australia dealing purely with Boarding School Gap year placements so our service is targeted. We have first-hand experience of the UK education system as well as personal experience in arranging gap years and exchanges.
Local –The Gap Network is based in NSW so we don’t need to fly in from overseas or interstate to interview applicants. We are available here in Sydney to speak to our students (and their parents) in person and can arrange for you to speak with past Gap Year Students here in Sydney.
Flexible – We don’t insist that you book and pay for your travel through us. We allow you to choose your own flights and insurance products. Our experience suggests that some people prefer to travel to Europe independently or in advance of the placement, for example to spend Christmas with extended family or enjoy a family post HSC holiday in Europe. Some applicants have access to Frequent Flyer points and wish to use these to meet the cost of their flights. That’s fine with us. Of course, if you would like us to help arrange your travel, we can put you in touch with people who can help.
Cost Effective – The Gap Network charges are always lower, making a Gap Year more affordable. The money saved can be spent on travel when you actually get to Europe – not on agency fees before you leave Australia!
Placement – We don’t place ‘square pegs in round holes’ and will work hard to find the best possible placement for your Gap Year, matching you carefully according to your skills, interests and aptitudes you have told us about.
Meet our team
Alexandra Young PhD
Alexandra Young is a qualified Social Worker, University Tutor and Researcher. She has worked in health, community and educational settings, gaining particular expertise in qualitative research and interview techniques.
Lexie is a strong advocate of structured overseas placements as a means to build independence, resilience and fellowship in young people.
She is bilingual after her own Gap Year in Europe as a recipient of a Rotary International Youth Scholarship. This was such a memorable experience that in recent years, she has arranged overseas language exchanges and Gap placements for her own children to continue in the family tradition.
Kim Riordan MA
Kim Riordan trained and worked as a health professional and in management before being appointed a Lecturer at the University of Technology, Sydney.
As well as delivering and coordinating undergraduate subjects over many years, she provided advice and guidance to students transitioning from High School to the tertiary education system. She is a firm believer in the power of ‘community’ and for the past 12 years, has been a qualified leader with the world’s largest youth organisation, running programs to develop leadership skills in young people through outdoor education.
Kim’s involvement with Gap Network draws on her own family’s very positive experience of ‘Gap’ as well as a strong sense of personal reward in seeing young adults achieve their very best.
My year away was truly one of the best things I’ve done – which is saying something considering how sceptical I was. I enjoyed working in the school and making great friends with my fellow Gaps, who I remain friends with to this day. Everything was exciting, mundane tasks and even the supermarket was so new and different. I felt like I had so much freedom.
