How to plan an overseas school trip

2. Understand Your Legal and Safety Responsibilities

As the trip organiser, you will hold a duty of care for your students. It is therefore a good idea to take the time to ensure you are familiar with the official guidance for school trips. Health and Safety on Educational Visits is the DfE-approved guidance on planning and conducting safe educational trips. HSE School Trips Advice is a great resource, giving practical advice on managing all the risks without any unnecessary red tape. Who completes the risk assessment? Is it the your job or will the tour operator provide that for you? The official guideance will identify responsibilities and duties for schools to understand exactly who is responsible for what. These documents will help you create risk assessments, emergency plans, and ensure your trip meets health and safety standards.

3. Get Approval and Secure Budgets

Once you've planned out the broad details, present your trip plan to Senior Leadership / Governors for approval and sign off. You will also need to involve your Educational Visits Coordinator (EVC) for risk and safety reviews, assuming this is not the head or a member of SL. The other key people to involve are your finance office. Confirm the budget and, once you are a bit further along in the planning process, any payment schedules. When you are quotes a price for the trip, make sure you factor in all possible costs: transport, accommodation, food, excursions, insurance, contingency, and even exchange rate fluctuations. Not every trip will be full inclusive so bear this in mind.

4. Choose the Right Travel Provider

Partnering with a reputable school travel company is a great way to go as it can save you a huge amount of time, stress, and paperwork. So how do you know whether or not a company is reputable? Look for companies that:

• Are ABTA and ATOL protected - as well as signing up to a series of standards that means they have to operate in a reputable way, the protection also means that should anything happen to the company after you have handed over the deposits and balance payments but before your trip, you are financially protected.
• Provide clear booking terms and cancellation policies - if you have organised any kind of trip before you will know that it never goes smoothly for everyone involved. We sometimes receive phone calls from parents asking whether their child can join a trip, or asking how they get their deposit back because they can no longer go. Make sure your chosen company has everything clearly documented for you to communicate to parents from the start to avoid any issues closer to departure.
• Offer 24/7 emergency support while abroad - as part of the health and safety obligations mentioned above, having a robust policy on what happens if something goes wrong while you are on your overseas school trip. Make sure everyone knows who to speak to so that issues can be resolved quickly and easily.
• Have plenty of experience handling educational group travel - this may be word of mouth from other local schools who may have used them in the past, or from reviews and case studies given by other schools, which would be easy to confirm. Ask to speak to one of their previous clients to see how they got on. Why not?

5. Communicate With Parents and Guardians

Parental engagement is vital. Organise an information evening (or virtual meeting) to explain the itinerary, costs, and educational value of the trip. You can also use the evening to discuss health and safety measures, key deadlines for payments, any paperwork, and to give an early reminder that they need to get passports in order! Speaking directly to parents helps avoid any miscommunication by relying on students to pass on the information. The other one is to make sure you collect all necessary medical forms and emergency contact details well in advance. You really don't want to be scrambling around at the last minute trying to get forms from people who won't answer their phone or email. Some schools collect these documents, including passports, a couple of weeks in advance so that there is no chance of people turning up at the airport without anything vital.

6. Finalise Risk Assessments

A thorough risk assessment is the backbone of a safe school trip, covering you not just legally, but also giving you genuine peace of mind that nobody has to improvise if things don't all go to plan. Visit the location in advance if possible. Some overseas school tour companies offer schools the chance to do a pre-visit inspection. This is a great opportunity to add to any existing risk assessments that they provide for you. Work with your EVC or SL team to complete school-approved risk assessment templates. They should already exist if your school has taken an overseas trip in the past, but may well need updating or amending. As always, factor in travel risks, destination-specific hazards, and student-specific needs. Set clear supervision ratios and assign group leaders, and use the HSE guidance we have linked to below to ensure you are covering all key areas without overcomplicating the process.

7. Prepare Students

Before you set foot on the plane, prepare your students for the trip. For some this may be their first time overseas. You may need to discuss with them any cultural expectations and local customs, if your school trip destination is very different to the UK. Make sure they understand any behaviour policies or expectations (some schools also use preceding few months to demand good behaviour and reserve the right to prevent students going on the trip if this is not met), safety procedures while abroad, and possibly any emergency plans. Set and share a packing list and any travel documents - 'what do they need to take', is always going to be one of the first questions you will get from parents. The more students know, the smoother the experience will be for everyone.

8. Conduct Final Checks

During the final weeks and days before departure, confirm all travel bookings and accommodation. Make sure your group are definitely expected! Check, double check, and triple check all passports, visas, and insurance. And be sure you have your emergency contacts list somewhere safe. Share your final itinerary and contact details with your school office and parents.

9. Enjoy the Trip - Stay Flexible and Safe

Even the best planned trips can go slightly off track. You may encounter flight or travel delays, unseasonal weather, or numerous other unexpected situations. Stay calm, follow your plan, and stay in contact with your school and parents.

Final Thoughts

Organising an overseas school trip is a big responsibility, but with careful planning, strong communication, and sticking to official safety guidelines, it can be an unforgettable highlight of your students' school years and something to be proud of for yourself. Planning such a large scale event for a big group of people is a real skill. Be proud of what you achieve, and have an amazing time.

Here are a few links you may find helpful when planning an overseas trip with your school:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/health-and-safety-on-educational-visits
https://www.hse.gov.uk/education/school-trips.htm
https://www.abta.com/
https://www.caa.co.uk/atol-protection/