Planning a school trip? With travel back on the menu, teachers around the globe are eager to take advantage of this exciting opportunity to offer students a life-changing experience that will open their eyes to the world. If you are among this cohort, you are undoubtedly excited about planning a school trip—but the process can also be overwhelming.
There are many components to a successful overseas student trip, including research, booking, enrolment, payments, and of course, the actual travel. While the last part is certainly the most fun, we would also like to give you a functional roadmap of the events leading up to the tour. To make planning your 2022/2023 student trip as simple as possible, we have expanded our CAS Trips checklist to make travel planning a breeze.
Here is what you need to get started.
Find your why
To truly get the most from the experience of educational travel, you need to be able to define your purpose and aim for organizing it. Specifying that aim will allow you to better plan for what is to come and convince your students, parents, fellow teachers, and principal that the trip is a worthwhile endeavor.
This may be linked to a key world history topic you will cover during a term, a language skill, or a sustainability initiative. Whatever the case may be, it is essential to be able to explain clearly why you think that student learning will be enhanced as a result.
Settle on a destination
Related to the above point, it is necessary to select an appropriate destination to help you achieve your goal. In some cases, the perfect location for your school trip will be pretty obvious, but other objectives will require more consideration. If you are feeling a bit daunted by the possibility of so many intriguing places to visit—we have compiled a few of our top destinations to inspire you and help you narrow down your options.
Select your dates
With such a packed academic calendar to contend with, it is necessary to consider when the most appropriate time for your students to travel is. Account for exam schedules, school events, holidays, and weather conditions in your destination of choice. At CAS Trips, we offer flexible booking dates for all our Destination programs, so we can entirely accommodate your needs. Just let us know! For Global Student Exchanges and Global Student Conferences there are fixed dates.
Research international transport
As travel options vary so much from country to country, most travel providers, including CAS Trips, do not include flights or international transportation as part of the service. Once you know your destination and approximate dates, you should contact travel agents and airlines to get the best flights, rail, or bus options to get you to/from your destination.
Spread the word
Once you have your program proposal based on your preferences and flight details – it’s time to let students and parents know about it. CAS Trips has prepared in-school advertising materials in the form of PowerPoints, posters, sign-up sheets, and brochures. Contact us for this downloadable material that can be customized for your school.
Gather and send enrolment fees
In general, service providers will require a deposit to secure the number of participants for your trip. At CAS Trips, places can only be guaranteed once the 30% deposit payment is received, so be sure to send all participants’ deposits to CAS Trips as soon as possible and ahead of necessary deadlines. For further payment information, please contact us.
Ready to start travel planning your student trip? Check out our destinations here and email us at info@castrips.org for travel inspiration and planning assistance.
Want to stay updated with our newest destinations and tips & tricks when planning a student trip? Then sign-up to our CAS Trips newsletter here.
