This article explores the importance of the host culture in the development of international mindedness in the pupils of an international school. It puts forward a model for engagement based on Allport's contact theory and examines the success of one such model resulting from co-operation between the International School of Maastricht and its parent Dutch school, the Porta Mosana College. The article argues that only with this kind of contact can international schools succeed in their mission to produce interculturally aware young people.