The students, Alexandra Avis, Ruby Clarke and Lisa Gerrand, will be spending almost a year in the UK volunteering at schools and nursing homes as part of their Latitude Global Volunteering gap year.

For Alexandra it will be her first trip overseas and while she was a little nervous about the 11-month stint, said she was looking forward to making new friends, helping out and seeing a new part of the world.

"I will have the opportunity to do something different, that I wouldn't normally be able to do on my own without the help of a company," Alexandra said.

Alexandra will spend 11-months volunteering at boarding school Saint Felix in the English seaside town of Southwold.

Eighteen-year-old Ruby Clarke is also looking forward to her trip to the UK, she is taking on a community and care placement, which involves helping, disadvantaged people.

"I found out about the gap year at school and thought this was the type of volunteering most suited to me," Ruby said.

"I'll be helping disadvantaged people, the elderly and working in a soup kitchen."

Ruby decided to take on the volunteering program to challenge herself and will be doing just that when she leaves for the UK in March next year.

"I wanted to have a life experience, learn new things and put my self in challenging situations," she said.