School tour Ideas

evolving_doors

Thinking about school tour next year for TY's in april (about 5 days). Could anyone recommend a tour company that they've travelled with (maybe by PM just to be fair!) . More importantly, ideas for an itinerary (was thinking of Italy/Switzerland/France region) ....science/cooking/relaxing/shopping
Anyone gone to CERN? It seems a bit out of the way from other places to visit though!
Or experiences of skiing!

rainbowtrout

Gebgbegb wrote: »

Thinking about school tour next year for TY's in april (about 5 days). Could anyone recommend a tour company that they've travelled with (maybe by PM just to be fair!) . More importantly, ideas for an itinerary (was thinking of Italy/Switzerland/France region) ....science/cooking/relaxing/shopping
Anyone gone to CERN? It seems a bit out of the way from other places to visit though!
Or experiences of skiing!

Yep, I brought a group to CERN/Geneva last year. I booked it all myself. Didn't use a tour group. Did it for approx €350 per student. Saved at least €200 per student I reckon.

Rough itinerary.

Day 1: Chocolate making at a chocolatiers./ Tour of United Nations.
Day 2: CERN tour/ Science Museum at CERN (this was pretty much all day).
Day 3: Cable car ride outside Geneva. Sightseeing around the city.
Day 4: Home.

PM if you want a more detailed breakdown of costs, accommodation, etc.

P.S. The most amazing thing ever: public transport in Geneva is free when you are booked into accommodation in the city. So transport costs were zero when we got there!

JPCN1

Five days in Knock is hard to beat in fairness...

TheDriver

There are numerous places: Amsterdam, Paris, Krakow, Barcelona.
There are a few companies: NST, GIT, Bidget school tours, School tour company and I think travel department do them now.
Booking it all yourself is grand if you can handle the cash but schools such as an ETB school requires quotations and payment through authorised tax system etc so ask the Secretary first.

spurious

I used to do Krakow regularly with ours - crazy prices being quoted by the companies. We used to do Auschwitz, Wieliczka, Park Wodny and shopping for €250 each and I would have money over to give them back while there - not much, about a tenner. Our staff paid for themselves so that we could get the cheapest possible price for the kids.

TheDriver

spurious wrote: »

I Our staff paid for themselves

I would get no one to go!

man_no_plan

Re booking yourself there is some issue with the commission for aviation regulation re bonding and licencing and school tours.

I can't recall directly but there was a court case a number if years ago where someone effectively acted as a travel agent without the proper licence etc.. We always book with a company as our ETB insist on it, they even want the money to be paid directly to the travel agent!! Not practical at all

ccazza

I think there is a department circular stating that travel companies must be used. It is to do with bonding issues. We used to book all tours ourselves but are not allowed to now.

TheDriver

The main reason why ETBs insist on companies is to ensure auditors see all the tax compliance etc. Booking each part yourself is risky I anything goes wrong or you're stranded.

TheDriver

Ps annoys me when some teachers who never go think its a bloody holiday for us. Its nice to go but its a busmans holiday which can be lots of work 24 hours a day and lots of responsibility.

spurious

TheDriver wrote: »

Ps annoys me when some teachers who never go think its a bloody holiday for us. Its nice to go but its a busmans holiday which can be lots of work 24 hours a day and lots of responsibility.

I regularly tried to get our Principal to go (for free) but no, he was having too much fun telling us all what a doss it was. Personally, I think it was worth it. I still get men who I taught over 25 years ago coming up to me and saying 'Weren't you the one brought us to....?'. They remember nothing else, not even my name, but they remember the trip.

I understand the thnking behind using companies, but you might be surprised at how much cheaper things can be got (particularly in Poland) with a cúpla focal of Polish. They have bonded companies there too, though I know we like to think we in Ireland are the epitome of compliance. Using companies ruled our kids out of going, their parents just do not have that sort of money.

rainbowtrout

spurious wrote: »

I regularly tried to get our Principal to go (for free) but no, he was having too much fun telling us all what a doss it was. Personally, I think it was worth it. I still get men who I taught over 25 years ago coming up to me and saying 'Weren't you the one brought us to....?'. They remember nothing else, not even my name, but they remember the trip.

I understand the thnking behind using companies, but you might be surprised at how much cheaper things can be got (particularly in Poland) with a cúpla focal of Polish. They have bonded companies there too, though I know we like to think we in Ireland are the epitome of compliance. Using companies ruled our kids out of going, their parents just do not have that sort of money.

I would agree. The starting price for the Geneva trip I outlined above from the tour companies was €530. That wasn't including transporting our students to the airport and would have been based on a minimum number going. Typically 30. I wouldn't have got 30 students to cough up €600 for a tour. No way, they couldn't afford it. I did get 19 at €350. Parents were told everything up front, that I was booking it independently etc. and were happy with that and the value they were getting from it.

In terms of travel agents being bonded etc, well if aer lingus had cancelled our flight the tour would have been cancelled. However we'd have been refunded on the flights. CERN was free. Some of the things I booked were pay on the day, and I paid a deposit on our hostel.

Tour companies obviously have to make their money and do so by charging schools for handling all the tour bookings, but I did all of that via email and it wasn't any major hassle. Not so much hassle to justify adding €250-300 on to the cost for each student.

Nabidana

Hi folks,

Anyone here ever done a ski tour?

Any companies recommended etc?

Thanking you,
NBD

seavill

Topflight would be the most well known company for ski trips. The school tour company is another

Nabidana

Thank you seavill.

jayo76

Have been involved in numerous ski trips in our school, all organised by Topflight and find them very easy to work with. Usually to resorts in northern Italy such as San Valentino and Andalo, also Ehrwald in Austria.

Ski trips are obviously expensive with the average cost per student for a week coming in somewhere around 1000 euro but this usually includes just about everything in terms of hire of equipment, lessons, ski passes, food etc.

Nabidana

Thanks a million Jayo.

Is there any resort you'd recommend in particular?

Also, how much spending money would kids usually bring with them?

Thanks again.

NBD

man_no_plan

Nabidana wrote: »

Thanks a million Jayo.

Is there any resort you'd recommend in particular?

Also, how much spending money would kids usually bring with them?

Thanks again.

NBD

It depends where you go really, Norway is mentally expensive, Italy way less so, it depends what you're looking for.

We wouldn't encourage more than €100 for the week, its dear enough already.

If you are booking look out for estimated air fares, the idea of going back with your hand out for more is too much for me so I would insist on a fixed price. Also the support you have in resort is really important. How good is your Italian/German/Norwegian? You need a rep that's available all the time to your group. It might cost a few euro more but if you end up in the hospital with a teenager you'll want someone who can sort things out with you.

rainbowtrout

Nabidana wrote: »

Also, how much spending money would kids usually bring with them?

On any tour I've ever organised away, we've always emphasised to parents what their children would need money for on a day to day basis, e.g. lunch, snacks, small souvenirs etc. Beyond that anything they bought was an extra. We might have recommended €20-25 per day. We had kids come on a four day tour with just the €100 recommended, and we also knew that some of them came from households where money was tight, but also had kids who came with €400 who were mad to spend it on rubbish. We also emphasised the fact that bringing large sums of money meant more was lost if they lost their wallets. The vast majority end up buying cheap souvenir tat and chocolate in duty free anyway.

spurious

man_no_plan wrote: »

It might cost a few euro more but if you end up in the hospital with a teenager you'll want someone who can sort things out with you.

I used to get the parents to sign a dual language authorisation allowing me or my colleagues to make urgent medical decisions regarding their children on their behalf, in the event we could not contact them when we went to Poland.
If a hospital wanted consent for a child to have an operation, I didn't want to be faffing about trying to contact parents in the small hours.

For those planning skiing holidays, do you combine it with a city/museum/gallery visit? Just wondering do you get much 'What's educational about that?' reactions.

2011abc

CERN very , very 'heavy' . Would hesitate to recommend to all but the most academic of students and even then they will leave in a coma ( which may not necessarily be a bad thing )

rainbowtrout

2011abc wrote: »

CERN very , very 'heavy' . Would hesitate to recommend to all but the most academic of students and even then they will leave in a coma ( which may not necessarily be a bad thing )

All of our students loved it. Some of them would be described as average. No comas on our tour.

man_no_plan

spurious wrote: »

I used to get the parents to sign a dual language authorisation allowing me or my colleagues to make urgent medical decisions regarding their children on their behalf, in the event we could not contact them when we went to Poland.
If a hospital wanted consent for a child to have an operation, I didn't want to be faffing about trying to contact parents in the small hours.

For those planning skiing holidays, do you combine it with a city/museum/gallery visit? Just wondering do you get much 'What's educational about that?' reactions.

Usually get a day in Venice or Verona in but not always. Lots of history with ww in the dolomites.

Our etb requires full medical consent as above, don't sign it, don't go. Simple as.

TheDriver

I wouldn't take a student who didn't give consent, same if they forget to get an ehic card etc. Simple things they need to do

jayo76

Nabidana wrote: »

Thanks a million Jayo.

Is there any resort you'd recommend in particular?

Also, how much spending money would kids usually bring with them?

Thanks again.

NBD

Found all of the above resorts to be quite good, in terms of variety of slopes for beginners, intermediates etc Andalo is probably the best of these three. It also has very good nursery slopes if most of your group are beginners.

Usually the topflight hotels in Andalo though are a little bit of a walk from the slopes. Ski equipment is stored at the slopes though. In Ehrwald and San Valentino you can more or less ski to the door of the hotel.

Regards spending money as a couple of posters have said here I would say very little, the trip is very expensive as it is. 100 to 120 euro should be more than enough for the week, if you are not returning to the hotel for lunch will need to get lunch at the slopes or nearby restaurant for 6 days but would be less than 10 euro a day and topflight reps in a lot of places might be able to sort a deal for your group for the week.

If gong to the resorts in the Dolomites, we would always include a visit to Verona on the day of arrival or departure.

In response to another poster have never had any questions from parents about the educational value of the trip. If I did I guess we would be pointing out that as per our school ethos, tours and trips policy etc we are aiming to provide a holistic education and that not all trips need to have what I suppose you could term an academic benefit. I guess our school does offer a lot of trips, in recent years have had Barcelona, Berlin, Paris for language trips, Krakow and Berlin in History. There is an academic/ subject focus to these trips, ski trips are different obviously but t is not something I have ever been queried on.

In agreement with previous posters again in relation to any trip we would not be bringing anybody who has not given full consent, attained EHIC card.