Published on: 30 May 2024


Christ Church opens it’s doors to a number of young men from around the world each year, known as ‘RENTAs’. The RENTA program is designed to allow young people from overseas to live and work in the Christ Church Grammar School community and gain experiences of Australian life. In return, Christ Church provides paid work, accommodation, meals, and the chance to attend school trips. School holidays are the perfect opportunity for RENTAs to travel around Australia to get the full gap year experience.

These visitors become fully integrated into our community and play a special role in the lives of students and staff during their time at the School. RENTAs assist teaching staff with administrative tasks, the important ‘behind the scenes’ work that ensures all students get the best out of every class. They attend and help out on camps, co-curricular activities, and various school events, similarly helping staff but also supporting students. Throughout their time, our students and staff form strong bonds with these valued members of the School and often keep in contact. A 2023 RENTA named Yuto, who was a Japanese assistant during his time here, travelled from his home in Kyoto to Osaka to surprise our Senior Japanese language students during their recent exchange tour, highlighting the positive outcomes of this program for all involved.

Some RENTAs are recent graduates returning to the School following an exchange experience through our Beyond Queenslea Drive (BQD) program. BQD sees Christ Church students visit our partner schools across the globe and participate in a reciprocal or one-way exchange program. Others arrive simply through word-of-mouth or serendipitous connections. This was the case for three of our eight current RENTAs, Alex, Oli, and Harvey who are finishing up their time with us this week and heading back to the UK.

Harvey (started July 2023) has a friend back home in Northamptonshire who came to Christ Church as a RENTA and shared his positive experience. After some time working at the School, Harvey told his friend Oli about Christ Church, who followed suit and joined us in October 2023. Alex (started January 2024) found out about Christ Church through his head of sixth form, who knew a staff member here, Tom Jerram, who also hails from the UK.

Director of Activities and Senior Teacher, Neil Saggers, oversees the RENTA program and commented on the benefits for all involved.

“Everyone wins in this situation. It’s undoubtedly a fantastic experience for the young men who join us and get to live and work in Australia. Staff across all departments greatly appreciate the support RENTAs provide and form great relationships with them. But the best outcomes by far are for our students. They get contact with these young men through classes, camps, and co-curricular activities. Next week’s camp is a great example – we have a RENTA attending and he will be responsible for providing additional support for one of our students from the PMC going on the camp. This is just one of many ways they positively contribute to the entire school community.”

Mr Saggers also spoke to the influence RENTAs can have on student learning across all subjects. “Sport is a huge one – many of these Renters are proficient in a sport which is wonderful for our students. Language practice is another incredible benefit of the program because our students get one-on-one time with a native speaker for the duration of their time at the School.”

At yesterday’s Senior School staff briefing, Harvey, Alex and Oli were thanked and farewelled by the staff cohort, who spoke very highly of their efforts. You can watch a video about their personal highlights here.