How To Make Organising A School Trip Easier: Tips for Teachers

Organising a school trip can be a rewarding experience that enriches students' learning outside the classroom, and creates core memories. However, planning the trip can be a nightmare. Here's a guide on how to make organising a school trip easier:

Think About Purpose & Goals

Before you start thinking about numbers & budgets, consider what you want this trip to achieve. Is it about giving students a better understanding of a historical event? Is it more about team building or life skills? Having a clear idea of the goals will make deciding where to go much easier.

Who’s Planning It?

You could plan everything yourself, but that’s a lot of work to fit around your actual job. Traditional advice suggests getting a group together and assigning them roles such as finance, logistics, and communication, but that isn’t really the best option either.

The best option is to just have us book everything for you! We’ll do all the searching & negotiating for best prices, then send you some options. Once you’ve approved one, we’ll get it booked, then send you a detailed itinerary. You can use this to make a letter to the students & their parents about the trip.

If you book a Free Consultation (no obligation) you can see if we’re a good fit for you / your school / education trust!

Choosing The Destination & Setting The Budget

Now you have your goal in mind, find a destination (or a few to narrow down later) that could fulfil that goal. It’s worth considering some less traditional school trip destinations if the goal isn’t something a museum or aquarium could fulfil. If your goal is more about team building, then maybe somewhere that usually does business team building is a better fit. Or if it’s a small group, then an escape room, murder mystery, or wilderness skills facility.

Once you have your destination, then you should have a clearer idea of what that costs per person, and how far you’ll need to travel. It might be worth getting accommodation for the night if it’s hours away. You should also check if the location has any separate prices for school trips. You can use this information to set a budget per person (don’t forget the teachers going). Consider emergency funds, as well as meals for longer trips.

Get Administrative Approval Early

Put together a risk assessment, as well as a document outlining the goals and objectives of the trip (linking back to any connection it has to what they are learning in school), estimated costs, and an estimated itinerary. You should submit this trip proposal to the school administration well in advance. Approval is often required for insurance purposes and compliance with school policies.

Getting The Trip Booked

Once you have approval, you can send a letter out to parents with permission slips so you’ll have some numbers. Then start searching for the best transport and/or accommodation deals, or let us do it for you by clicking HERE. If you’re asking parents to contribute financially, then it’s best to collect that money before the trip.

A Safety & Emergency Plan

Make sure people not going on the trip have a copy of emergency contact details and the address of your accommodation. You should also have each student’s parents fill in a form about the student's emergency contact, any allergies, etc. Now make a plan of what to do in an emergency.

If we’ve booked the trip for you, our online booking platform has a ‘Generate Disaster Report’ feature. This will provide the expected locations & contact details of everyone on the trip(s). Just make sure someone not going on the trip has the login details.

Want us to book your school, college, or university trip? Just get in touch!