Therefore trips to our UK centres will continue to be subject to normal VAT invoicing principles and Kingswood will continue to issue VAT invoices to school groups. Therefore there will be no need for a change to the practice of reclaiming VAT on invoices for trips to Kingswood’s UK centres.

Our widely renowned “Discovery Programme” for 2009/10 has been refined into a selection of 8 core cross-curricular modules covering key areas such as ICT, the environment, science and lifeskills. Building on our key mission of “education” we assist teachers even further, with modules showing which year groups they are tailored for, the key learning objectives and evidence of learning. We have added many new activities at our 7 existing centres like new 3G Swings at Isle of Wight, Dukeshouse Wood and Peak Venture, new Team Challenge courses at Staffordshire and Isle of Wight and a High Ropes course at Overstrand, featuring High Equilibrium, Jungle Vines, High All Aboard, Leap of Faith, Jacob’s Ladder and Balance Beam. New activities also include Bouldering, Crate Stack and Bridge Building. Our new eighth centre for 2010 will open in March, at Grosvenor Hall, near Ashford in Kent, catering for Key Stage 2 pupils as well as older students. Many centres have had upgrades for 2009/10 including refurbishment of accommodation and facilities, with Dukeshouse Wood receiving a new Activity Barn, extending the number of indoor activities we can provide, especially in wet weather. For more information, please see our courses pages.

Over the past 18 months we have undertaken almost £1.5m upgrades to the centre with new teacher and student facilities and installed some of the most exciting adventure activities which include a linear high ropes course, 3G swing, a superb team challenge as well as a new climbing and abseiling tower. The new 2010 Discovery programme includes updated ICT, Environmental and Lifeskills elements which will make the absolute most of our new woodland activity/study area. We are currently in the process of completing the 5000 sq ft all weather centre where children can experience an indoor climbing wall, laser arena and new ICT laboratory facilities.

This winter we will be completing the final development phase with further improvements to teacher and student facilities, enhancing the dining experience and completing the pathways and groundworks around the centre. We will also be upgrading our own staff accommodation. And finally Kingswood, has in September 2009, reached agreement with Northumberland County Council for development of three state of the art sports pitches for the benefit of the local community and visitors to the centre from 2010/11.

We are always happy to discuss a teacher visit to Dukeshouse Wood either over the phone or in person. In February 2010 during half-term we are also having a special open-day where teachers, party-leaders or governors can see our superb facilities and experience their own children having a great time with the educational programme and activities.

As Kingswood welcomes over 130,000 children to 8 UK centres annually, it is reasonable to anticipate cases of H1N1 developing at our centres, as pupils attend trips to Kingswood during the autumn term. Like schools and colleges, Kingswood has already experienced some cases in the latter part of the summer term. These were successfully contained and, with the assistance of the local Health Protection Agency (HPA), the appropriate steps taken to ensure these cases were isolated and did not spread throughout the centre.

We have been following all medical advice from the HPA and working with them to refine our processes and procedures for dealing with any future cases. We would like to reassure teachers and parents that we have the relevant processes in place, meeting HPA guidelines and best practice and we will continue to follow these exactly, for as long as is required.

We ask that both teachers and parents remain vigilant at all times, monitoring their children for any signs of swine flu before they arrive at our centres. We request that anyone who is showing symptoms of H1N1 should not travel to Kingswood and that you inform us immediately of this.

Any pupils or teachers who is thought to be suffering from symptoms of swine flu whilst at a Kingswood Centre will be isolated and treated in line with HPA advice, before returning home. Our H1N1 processes ensure that deep cleaning of the centre will be carried out after a swine flu case at a centre.

For more information on H1N1 or if you think any of your children are showing symptoms, please contact the national helpline on 08001 513 513 or visit www.hpa.org.uk.

We have been following all medical advice from the HPA and working with them to refine our processes and procedures for dealing with any future cases. We would like to reassure teachers and parents that we have the relevant processes in place, meeting HPA guidelines and best practice and we will continue to follow these exactly, for as long as is required.

We ask that both teachers and parents remain vigilant at all times, monitoring their children for any signs of swine flu before they arrive at our centres. We request that anyone who is showing symptoms of H1N1 should not travel to Kingswood and that you inform us immediately of this.

Any pupils or teachers who is thought to be suffering from symptoms of swine flu whilst at a Kingswood Centre will be isolated and treated in line with HPA advice, before returning home. Our H1N1 processes ensure that deep cleaning of the centre will be carried out after a swine flu case at a centre.

For more information on H1N1 or if you think any of your children are showing symptoms, please contact the national helpline on 08001 513 513 or visit www.hpa.org.uk.

But there are many highly reputable companies such as Kingswood Educational Activity Centres and out sister companies School Travel Services, SkiPlan, Equity Travel and STS Pavilion Tours, who are leaders in the field of providing residential school trips, organising everything for you, and ensuring quality educational benefits, combined with the highest levels of safety and security. We’ve provided you with 10 top tips and steps to organising your school trip, so don’t hesitate any longer – we hope you find these helpful!

1. If you can, plan your trip as far in advance as possible, ideally 9-12 months ahead. Some teachers are booking their trips as far forward as 2-3 years! This ensures you get your choice of location and time of year, and gives parents a chance to save for the coming trip. Some companies, like Kingswood, operate a novel Savings Card scheme, which allows parents to deposit a small amount of money each week in the months leading up to the trip, to spread the cost, which makes advance planning even more important.

2. Deciding on the location for your visit can sometimes be quite challenging, as there are many options available, from UK activity centres, to European and Worldwide tours. Do you want to visit a centre or location close to home, to keep transport costs to a minimum? Or would you like pupils to venture farther afield and discover new areas of the country? Or experience new countries and cultures on an overseas visit? It all depends on your educational aims and reasons for the trip. Once you’ve decided on the general premise, there are many avenues to research providers, like directory websites, contacting trip providers direct, recommendations from other teachers, or your LA will often hold a list of preferred providers.

3. Safety, safety, safety! School trip safety is at the top of the list of concerns for trip organisers in today’s litigious society. This high regard for health and safety issues does not have to stifle the adventurous spirit of school trips and visits though, instead it should create an environment which promotes challenge by choice in safe surroundings. There are many regulatory bodies which ensure the safety of the school trip industry, such as the British Activity Holiday Association (BAHA) and the Adventure Activities Licensing Service (AALS). The Government’s “Learning Outside The Classroom Quality Badge Scheme” has been introduced to make it easier for teachers to quickly be reassured of an organisation’s credibility when making enquiries. Check before booking that your chosen provider is registered with all relevant organisations and authorities. Before undertaking any school trip, teachers are legally required to carry out a written risk assessment. Reputable school trip providers, like Kingswood and Education Travel Group have already carried out all of the necessary risk assessments for teachers, and these can then be used to submit to all necessary parties, like the School Governors and LA’s.

4. People can make all the difference to the success of your school visit. Choose somewhere with staff teams that you feel confident about dealing with and working with during your trip. Staff and instructors at your chosen centre or location should be fully trained in any activities they are delivering, especially for adventure activities and sports which are regulated by the National Governing Bodies for each activity. This ensures a high level of instruction and also, more importantly, a regard to health and safety practices for those activities.

5. There’s nothing better to help a teacher’s understanding of exactly what to expect on their school trip then actually seeing the location in action before booking. Many teachers like to organise a preview visit to the centre they are considering ahead of the trip. This is a great opportunity to meet senior personnel and see the school trips in action before you commit. These previews can also help you to think about the particular courses and educational modules you would like your group to partake in as you see them in action.

6. One of the main reasons for a school trip is learning through having fun, whether that’s key lifeskills such as teamwork and leadership, new ICT skills, or even investigating a river study. Kingswood have a great variation of courses and programmes available for all age groups, like the KS2 Discovery and KS3 3+. Themed around specific study areas the full range of modules can be chosen in any combination to fire imaginations and stimulate young minds, covering ICT, the Environment, Enterprise, PSHE, Science and even Lifeskills, encouraging the development of essential skills like teamwork, goal-setting & motivation. The leading Environmental Field Studies Programme is perfect for covering GCSE and ‘A’ Level fieldwork requirements.

7. Once all the basic elements of your trip are decided on, it’s time to introduce the trip to parents and students. A great way of doing this is via a letter home or at a Parent Evening, where the proposed trip can be presented and any questions answered and objections overcome. A representative of Kingswood will even attend this with your own teachers to illustrate the trip with a DVD to really give students and parents a good understanding of the fun and learning that the trip will entail.

8. Many trip organising companies will organise the extras like transport and group travel insurance on a school’s behalf. Trips to structured companies like activity centres will generally be covered by their Public Liability Insurance, but when it comes down to last minute issues like chicken pox which may prevent some of the group attending, insurance can ensure that parents can get their money back without any extra hassle. Transport to your school trip can usually be organised through local coach companies, although if your trip is with an organised provider, like Kingswood, they can often obtain a better price than individual schools, from their preferred suppliers, so your school trip becomes even better value for money! Added benefits also include the assurance of high standards of travel safety.

9. Some schools like to tie in their school trip with project work both before and after their visit. Kingswood’s educational ICT modules like Mission Maker particularly lend themselves well to this. The module combines control technology with creativity and object-oriented programming in a fun, interactive and exciting format, where students design their very own computer game. The software is available to schools to then take back with them to further develop the learning experience.

10. Relax and enjoy the trip!

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This guidance sets out the process by which schools should deal with covering for absent teachers from the next academic year onwards. It is known as the Rarely Cover guidance and states that from 1st September 2009 schools should have systems in place to ensure that teachers have to cover for absent colleagues ‘only rarely’.

It has become increasingly apparent that an unintended consequence of this guidance is that it is discouraging schools from taking educational trips. In some of the cases we have seen, the teachers involved in organising the trip are still trying to convince their headteacher or board of governors that the trip should take place, but the school leadership is taking a very cautious view of the guidance and will not authorise the trips.

Having looked at the guidance, we believe that it is not the Government’s intention for it to discourage teachers from taking school trips. This would go against the direction of all recent policy on this issue which has actively tried to encourage educational school trips. As a result we have been working with our PR and Public Affairs agencies to lobby the government on this issue and we have recently met with Sarah Conboy from the Rarely Cover team to voice our concerns.

Following on from this meeting I am pleased to announce that we have had it confirmed by Rarely Cover that the guidance was never intended to have an adverse effect on school trips and that they would not expect schools to use this as a reason not to take trips. In addition a draft copy of the guidance is now going to be sent out to consultation over the summer and we have the opportunity to review and respond to the proposal. We will now be working with both Rarely Cover and the DCSF to get the message out to schools that the Rarely Cover guidance should not impact on school trips. We will continue to monitor this situation very closely.

To draw attention to this, I would urge you to sign the petition at http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/MovingSATs/ to pledge your support and to assist in ensuring that all school children can benefit from the invaluable experiences school trips provide them at any time of the year.

In recent weeks Kingswood’s parent company, Education Travel Group, which also includes companies such as STS, SkiPlan and Pavilion, has been working to implement a lobbying campaign requesting that the Government and their Expert Group of advisors reconsider their recommendations to move the SATs exams.

In a ministerial statement on Wednesday 8th July, Mr Vernon Coaker, minister of state for schools and learners, stated that he “can confirm that tests in 2010 will take place as planned in the week commencing 10th May. Having taken account of QCA and Ofqual’s advice, we will seek to implement the Expert Group’s recommendation on moving the test to mid June in 2011”. 

If the Government persists with its policy of moving SATs from May to June, this will make it increasingly difficult for teachers to take students on school trips and will undermine the Government’s own policy of encouraging learning outside the classroom.

Paul Gilbert, chief executive officer of Education Travel Group said “We are extremely pleased with the DCSF’s decision as we feel that moving the SATS will dramatically hinder both students’ and teachers’ ability to learn outside the classroom and does not aid in creating a ‘broad and balanced curriculum’ as set out by the Education Secretary.” He adds “We will continue to lobby the government so that the SATS will not be rescheduled at all”.