SEN governess · Summer, holidays & travel
A summer and travel governess, so the routine survives the break.
A trained specialist for the school holidays or a family trip, booked early and agreed in writing before anyone packs a bag.
Summer and travel governess, at a glance
Updated
- When
- The long summer break, shorter school holidays, and family trips.
- Book
- As early as you can, because summer is the season when families all ask at once.
- Best placed
- Where possible, a specialist who already knows your child, so nothing has to be relearned for the break.
- Agreed in writing
- Dates, hours, where the work happens and what the role includes are set down before the placement starts.
Why the break is hard
A year of routine, and then the summer.
School gives many children with additional needs the structure their week depends on: the same start, the same order, the same adults. When term ends that structure goes with it, and the long UAE summer, or a trip with new rooms, new food and a different time zone, can undo progress that took months to build. Parents often see it in the first weeks of the new term, when skills that were secure before the holiday have to be taught again.
A summer or travel governess keeps the plan running while school is out. The specialist carries the routine, the communication and behaviour strategies and some learning through the holidays, and helps your child cope with what a trip brings: airports, unfamiliar places, broken sleep. Where your child already works with one of our specialists, the simplest answer is often that same person for the break.
What we do is straightforward. You tell us the dates early, we place the specialist, and the arrangement is agreed in writing before it starts. We do not book travel or arrange visas, and if you want the specialist to travel with you, tell us at the start: it depends on the specialist and on the arrangement, and we would rather check than promise.
What a holiday placement covers
The plan, adjusted for weeks without school.
A daily shape
A predictable rhythm for days with no timetable: waking, meals, activity, rest and bedtime, kept as close to term time as your holiday allows.
Preparing for change
Using the approaches set out in the plan to show your child what is coming, from the journey to the new place to who will be there, so a trip is expected rather than sprung.
Skills kept in use
Communication, self-care and independence goals practised in the new settings, so they are still there when the holiday ends.
Learning, little and often
Short sessions on reading, writing or number work where school or the plan calls for it, so the new term does not start from behind.
The same response, every time
The behaviour strategies applied consistently, even when everything else about the day is different.
Settled before you book
What goes into the written arrangement.
Dates and hours
The first and last day, the hours each day, and any days that are different, such as travel days.
Where the work happens
At home in the UAE, at a holiday home or on a trip, and what each of those means for the specialist's day.
Travel practicalities
If the specialist is to travel with you, how travel, accommodation and rest time are handled, settled before anything is booked.
What the role includes
Your child and the plan are the job. Anything beyond that, such as looking after siblings, is agreed up front or left out.
What happens afterwards
Whether the placement ends with the holiday or carries on into term as after-school or school-plus-home support.
How it starts
From a first message to the first session.
- Step 1
Tell us the dates
As soon as you know them, even roughly. Summer requests arrive together, and the earliest briefs get the widest choice.
- Step 2
Tell us about your child and the trip
Your child's needs, what the holiday involves, the languages spoken, and whether your child already works with one of our specialists.
- Step 3
We place the specialist
Matched to your child, the hours and the setting, and briefed on the plan before the first day.
- Step 4
Agreed in writing
Dates, hours, location and duties are set down before the placement starts, so nobody discovers the terms on the first morning.
Two ways to arrange it
We employ her, or you do.
We employ and supervise her
The specialist stays on our books. A clinical lead writes the plan, reviews it, and changes it as your child progresses — and if the placement stops working, we replace her.
AED 15,000–30,000/mo, plus AED 1,999 to start the search
Families who want the plan and the accountability carried for them.
You employ her
We run the search, screen, interview and reference the candidates, and you hire the one you choose onto your own arrangement. One fee, once, and no ongoing relationship with us unless you want one.
AED 1,499 to open the search; the placement fee is one month of the candidate's agreed gross salary
Families who are happy to manage the role themselves.
More on SEN governess support
Related pages.
SEN governess
A trained specialist for your child at home, to a written plan.
Read moreSEN governess across the UAE
Sharjah, Ajman, Ras Al Khaimah, Umm Al Quwain and Fujairah, under the same clinical team.
Read moreHome shadow teacher in Dubai
One-to-one support at home, or one specialist across the classroom and the afternoon.
Read moreAutism support
Everything we do for autistic children, from therapy to school support.
Read moreManaged LSA
We employ, brief and supervise your child's classroom support.
Read moreDirect hire
We run the search and you employ the specialist yourself.
Read moreFrequently asked
Questions families ask.
- How early should we book a summer SEN governess?
- As early as you can, ideally as soon as you know your dates. Summer is the season when most families ask at once, and a narrow brief, such as a particular language or long travel days, takes longer to fill. A request made well before the end of term has far more choice than one made in the last week.
- Can the governess travel abroad with us?
- Tell us at the very start if that is what you want. Whether it works depends on the specialist and on the arrangement, and we would rather check than promise. We do not book flights or arrange visas, and the practical details of the trip are agreed in writing before anything is booked.
- Can our child's shadow teacher work with us over the summer?
- It is often the simplest option, because nothing has to be relearned. If your child's shadow teacher or governess is on our books, ask us early and we will check whether they are available and willing. If they are not, we brief a new specialist on the same plan.
- Do you place a governess for shorter school holidays too?
- Yes. For a short break the value is mostly continuity: the same routine and the same responses for the days your child is out of school, so the return is not a fresh start. Tell us the dates and we will say plainly whether we can place someone for them.
- What does a travel governess do on the day of a journey?
- Travel days are where routines are most likely to break, so they are planned rather than left to chance. The specialist uses the approaches in the plan to prepare your child for each stage, keeps to the strategies that work, and gives you a calm pair of hands when something does not go to plan. What the specialist does on those days is agreed with you beforehand.
- Will the plan change for the holidays?
- On a managed placement, the clinical lead looks at the plan with the holiday in mind: which goals to keep working on, which to pause, and what the new settings need. The specialist records how the weeks go, so the plan for the new term starts from what actually happened over the break.
- How much does a summer or travel placement cost?
- A managed placement is priced from the same range as any SEN governess placement, AED 15,000–30,000/mo, with AED 1,999 to open the search; the hours, your child's needs and the languages decide where in the range it sits. Direct hire, where you employ the specialist for the period yourself, is AED 1,499 to open the search and one month of the candidate's agreed gross salary. Who covers any travel costs is settled in the written arrangement before anything is booked.
- Can the placement carry on once school starts again?
- Yes, if it suits your child and the specialist. Some families use the break to see what consistent support at home looks like, and carry it on as after-school support or, with the school's agreement, as school-plus-home. We can plan for that from the start.
Further reading
Guides for this decision.
Guides
Taking a SEN governess on holiday: planning the summer
How to keep your child's routine going over the summer with a SEN governess: when to book, what to brief, and what to agree in writing before you travel.
Autism
A SEN governess for an autistic child: what good support looks like at home
What one-to-one home support should be doing for an autistic child — routine, communication, sensory load — and what to watch for.
Guides
A day in the life of a SEN governess
An hour-by-hour picture of what one-to-one home support actually looks like, and what should be written down by the end of it.
Guides
The first month with a SEN governess: what to expect, week by week
Week by week through the first month of a SEN governess placement: the briefing, settling in, building the routine and the first review of the plan.
Guides
How to hire a SEN governess in the UAE: the checklist
References, trials, contracts and the questions that separate a good placement from an expensive one — the process we would use ourselves.
Tell us about your child.
A conversation first, on WhatsApp or by phone. No obligation, and a straight answer if we are not the right fit.