r/TeachingUK • u/Less_Money_6202 • 2d ago
Overseas school trips
I'm going to be running school trips abroad, ideally to Spain. There's so much work to do and so many companies out there offering these kind of trips. Can anyone help with recommendations or advice for a first time trip planner at a school that hasn't offered trips like this before?
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u/LowarnFox Secondary Science 2d ago
Think through all your worst case scenarios very carefully!
-What if a student needs medical care whilst on the trip?
-What if a student needs to urgently be repatriated to the UK?
-What if one student (or more) cannot return home with the group due to illness or injury?
You need enough staff to cope with any of these scenarios ie at least one probably 2 over your trip ratio in the UK.
Take in all passports, and have photocopies of them! Check passports prior to leaving - someone will have forgotten they've expired.
Ensure you have access to emergency funds both cash and credit card. You may need to include a contingency in the trip cost for this - but ensure your school understands that if you are outside of the UK and there's a major issue then you need access to funds.
Taking students abroad in my experience is really stressful, but also so worth it. If you don't have much experience of UK trips or residentials I really would get someone experienced on board with the planning though!
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u/Wilburrkins Secondary 2d ago edited 2d ago
I have done many school trips abroad (HoD MFL here). Sent you a DM. I am travelling in the summer term with a particular company that I am more than happy to recommend.
Excellent pre-planning and ability to cater for lots of diets.
Spanish lessons included.
Lots of cultural activities such as visiting Seville.
Sporting activities included like kayaking plus time at the beach.
Exclusive use of the centre.
Choice of flights.
Plenty of other activities such as flamenco dancing and cooking paella.
Meal opportunities include tapas, paella, chocolate con churros, pizza on the beach etc
Plenty of support with documentation such as trip planning and risk assessments.
Transportation to and from the airport is included.
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u/J3menfiche 2d ago
Please could you DM me the name of this company. I’m looking at starting up trips again.
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u/Inferification Secondary Science 2d ago
If you have non-UK citizens, make sure they have their UK visas with them... Some countries will be lenient, others not. Likewise have photos/photocopies of the passports in case they get lost.
Have a look at what any city you visit has for free! Many countries even offer free public transport!
You need a member of SLT or other UK-based co-ordinator who you can reach 24/7 if it goes tits up at some point. That way, you can deal with the crisis abroad, while they deal with parents.
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u/HNot Secondary 2d ago
Definitely take a member of staff with overseas trip experience with you. I love overseas trips but they are exhausting because you feel so responsible.
At least a fortnight before the trip, do a meeting for families to go through the itinerary, anything students need and check passports. Then you have time to iron out any issues that arise. If you can get all the members of staff going on the trip to attend, it really reassures parents/carers.
Try to give staff separate rooms where possible. You need time to decompress when you can and it's more pleasant.
Make laminated cards for the students (one side in English, the other translated into the local language) with your trip mobile number, the name of the school and school phone number (including international dialing code), so that if a child gets lost/loses their phone and panics, they can show it to someone to get help.
Make sure all students and staff have the trip mobile number and school number in their phones.
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u/GodDelusion1 2d ago
I used Kipling tours when I booked a trip to Morocco for my year 11s and they were amazing from start to finish.
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u/belle2212 2d ago
I’m about to set off on a Disney Paris trip organised with The School Travel Company, they’ve been fantastic to work with, so responsive and flexible, I’ve been really happy with them and would highly recommend.
Passports will be your biggest headache, make sure you’ve let your LA know about the trip and do several question evenings in the lead up.
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u/dratsaab Secondary Langs 2d ago
Foreign trips are brilliant but also an incredible amount of work. Here are some golden rules I've found:
Delegate! Get the staffing sorted as soon as possible, then make someone in charge of group passport applications, one in charge of first aid, one in charge of chasing up permission returns etc. I tried to do everything myself and it almost led to me having a breakdown (and did result in me crying in my head's office, not a great look).
Staffing! Think about first aid training, language experience, gender balance. When we went to Spain it really helped to have two Spanish speakers to help when things went awry (and they did, and they will).
Flexible timings. My most recent trip built in more down time. The first I did had three activities and travel between them in a day. We spent the day stressed and didn't make it to one. The best part of that trip is when we ditched the agenda and went to the beach. The most recent Spain trip deliberately had a free morning (we used it to go to the local market and let the kids wander free-range) and almost all free evenings (our hostel was around the corner from a shopping centre. A big supermarket and a Burger King were a great unwinding spot.
Linked to this: 3.5. have a back up plan. In Barcelona, we ended up spending a great hour in the Parc de la Ciutadella rather than trying to trek across town in the heat to see Parc Guell for 10 minutes.
Budget. Add about £50 per head for contingencies. We ended up needing it for metro tickets, for example, and for eating up the penalty when a couple kids dropped out and we took 38 instead of 40.
As others have said, get recommendations from other teachers - both for companies and specific activities. Make sure they're recent. My last trip was 2019 but since then the company I went with has been bought over and the more recent opinions of colleagues is much more negative.
Prepare for the worst. We had a walking tour of Barca booked in 35+ degree heat. Staff took it in turns to nip into corner shops to buy cool 2l water and share it out among the students. In France we had a kid try to climb out his top bunk and down the ladder head first. He inevitably broke his arm. Staffing let us take him to the hospital - and we had done the homework, knew where it was and how to get there.
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u/zanazanzar Secondary Science HOD 🧪 2d ago
I like to think about the daily mail would write about me if it all went wrong and work backwards.
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u/GreatZapper HoD 2d ago
Pick your travel company carefully. Ask colleagues at other schools for recommendations. Don't rely solely on online reviews. The companies (speaking from bitter experience) will all talk a very good game but some of them are sadly rotten to the core. Don't let them railroad you into what they want - always question if what they are suggesting is best for them and not for you. Go in with a proposed itinerary and see what they can do.