Stage 1 - Formulate a Plan

Stage 2 - Seek Professional Assistance from Schooltravel Sport

Stage 3 - Set the Ball Rolling

Stage 4 - Information Evening for Parents, Students and Staff

Stage 5 - Make your Booking

Stage 6 - Keep the ball rolling

Stage 7 - The Final Countdown

Stage 8 - Departure Day

Stage 9 - At your Destination

Stage 10 - Peace of Mind

Stage 11 - What was all the fuss about?

Stage 1 - Formulate a Plan

Formulate an idea in your own mind to include:

1. Where in the world do you wish to tour?
2. What time of year do you wish to tour?
3. Is your chosen sport played in that country at that time of year?
4. How long do you wish to be on tour including travelling time?
5. What age range do you wish to attract for the tour?
6. What type of tour are you thinking off? a. Single gender, one sport tour (for example – rugby, netball, hockey) b. Single gender, multi sports tour (for example – cricket and hockey) c. Mixed gender, one sport tour (for example – hockey, football) d. Mixed gender, multi sports tour (for example – rugby and netball)
7. What is the aim of your tour? We perceive all of our tours to be of educational benefit to the students but what is the main emphasis for the tour? a. Pre-season training b. Post-season reward c. Team building d. Cultural tour
8. What type of opposition are you looking for?
9. How many fixtures do you wish to play for each sport?
10. How many people do you wish to take on tour? a. For student groups – One teacher per ten students? b. How many male/female staff per group?
11. What type of accommodation and meal basis for your group?
12. What budget are you looking at for your tour?

Once you have formulated your plan, we recommend you share your ideas with colleagues and friends.

Stage 2 - Seek Professional Assistance from Schooltravel Sport

You will talk directly to a specialist tour coordinator, who has access to detailed information on all destinations and of the sporting opportunities available. They will talk to you to make sure they understand your exact requirements and that you are aware of all the possibilities available.

Tailoring a specific tour Itinerary
Once we have all the information, your tour coordinator will tailor-make a tour to suit your specific requirements and will send you a quotation, which contains a draft itinerary, features and prices, booking form and booking terms and conditions. Your draft itinerary can be amended as many times as necessary to suit your requirements at this stage of the planning.

Flights
We will do the research on various airlines in order to find the best flight schedules and most competitive flight costs for your travel dates and tour route. We will often give you a couple of airline options so that you can make a choice based on our findings. We always request group block seating, which is at the discretion of each airline.

Accommodation
We can offer a range of accommodation: hostels, hotels or apartments all of which are fully checked against our Due Diligence procedures. We will provide you with a description of facilities and costs. Billeting (staying with host families) is available for some destinations and offers a great way of experiencing the country, forging international friendships and keeping the cost of the tour down. Please check your school policy on billeting before requesting it. Where billeting with host families is arranged, it is the responsibility of the tour staff to supervise and organise activities should any of the host families be unable to look after students at any time during the tour. We must stress that this supervision is not the responsibility of the host family, host school or Schooltravel Sport. Parent’s houses vary in size which is why we can never guarantee the exact composition of billets. Sometimes, you can get four guests to a billet but more often than not, it is a single guest to a single host. Students then have to use their social skills. Despite the fact that children don’t initially particularly like the idea of being billeted, it is one of the really great highlights on all of our long haul tours. We give children opportunities to establish friends for life. Our experience is that the vast majority of billeting is performed by parents of the host children who are very well known to the teachers/sports coaches. On the very rare occasion where a host is not so well known to the teachers or coaches, we ask for this situation to be checked to the host school’s/club’s satisfaction. The list of guests is sent to each host school to seek parents prepared to billet. The sports organiser makes a list of acceptances. Teachers all over the world know the parents of the students they teach. This is probably the best vetting system you could get.

Organising Sports Fixtures
We have been working closely with overseas sports associations and ground handlers worldwide for many years and they have expert knowledge on the level of play of local teams. If you have your own contacts we will be happy to liaise with them. The most significant lessons are learned in competitive and challenging encounters, rather than easy victories or hard defeats. We therefore work carefully to ensure that the fixtures we organise for you are with teams of the same age group and standard, taking the lead from you regarding your standards. We also recognise the importance of cultural and social touring experiences and therefore aim to organise post-match hospitality wherever possible.

Free places for staff
Without teachers who give up their time to run and lead school trips abroad (often in their holidays) there of course wouldn’t be any school trips for students! It is completely understandable that staff costs are incorporated into the student’s price for the tour. In our costs structure we aim to make it simpler for you by incorporating the costs of staff in to the student’s costs. We call these ‘FOCs’ or free of charge places for staff. Consequently, the more FOCs we incorporate into the cost of the students price the more expensive the tour becomes for the students. As standard practice we will normally include one FOC place per 10 students. We understand that some school travel policies require the student/staff ratio to be higher than this. i.e. 1:8. Or even 1:7, therefore, please outline in your initial enquiry how many staff you propose to accompany the trip and how many of these staff places you would like to include as FOCs.

Stage 3 - Set the Ball Rolling

Once your quotation has been received, take time to study the quote and make sure it meets with all your requirements. Take time to talk to colleagues/friends. We are happy to discuss with you, over the phone or in person, any points you might have. When you are happy with your quote, you will need to gain permission from your School, Governors, Local Authorities or Club Committee as appropriate. The suggested process is:

1. Form a Tour Committee
2. Put together tour costing and a payment schedule
3. Fund Raising Target and ideas
4. Code of Conduct for Staff/Coaches and Players
5. Decide on a Tour selection policy for players

Stage 4 - Information Evening for Parents, Students and Staff

To help sell the tour to parents, players or committee members we suggest that you organise an open evening and invite Schooltravel Sport along to do a PowerPoint presentation to the audience on the tour planned. To achieve this you will need to send out invitations to your chosen group or a general letter to everyone. Give parents an outline plan, rough cost and a reply coupon to say whether they will be attending the meeting or not. At the meeting, after the PowerPoint presentation, discuss the itinerary, costing, fund-raising ideas and code of conduct for staff, parents and players. Explain exactly what you expect from everyone involved. We suggest that you tell all present what the selection process will entail, deadline date for passenger names and when a non-returnable deposit is required. We also suggest that you tell the parents that you will require the following to help with the tour:

1. General Tour Committee members.
2. Fund Raising Committee and ideas.
3. Any Sponsorship contacts
4. General helpers

Stage 5 - Make your Booking

As soon as you are happy with the tour arrangements, return a completed Booking Form along with the non-returnable deposit of $550 per person for a long-haul tour and $250 per person for a short-haul tour. As soon as we receive this we will proceed with your reservation, make the necessary travel and accommodation arrangements and contact our ground handlers with your tour requirements. We will then forward you a Booking Pack, which includes a Confirmation letter detailing all services to be provided.

Stage 6 - Keep the ball rolling

We suggest you have regular committee meetings and keep the parents/group updated on fund raising events and deadlines.

Health and Safety – All schools are now required to carry out a risk assessment for any tour. This has to be completed by the Tour Leader well in advance of the visit. Please note that we are unable to supply copies of our own risk assessments to third parties.
New Zealand Airport Transfers – This is an area that most team leaders forget to organise, the transport of the group to and from the departure airport. In our opinion the best way to make sure the entire group arrives at the airport in time for their flight is that they all travel together, this way you are certain that all the group will arrive at check in on time and not be stuck in traffic. Most airports require groups to check in 3 to 4 hours before departure time. We are happy to arrange this for you with our preferred coach companies, if you do not already have a contact.

Tour Kit – This is another area which is sometimes left to the last minute. Remember that for large groups you will need to order your merchandise early and have it delivered to the school/Club in term/open time. Trying to give out kit at the airport or on the coach becomes disorderly!!

We recommend that you arrange a final tour meeting evening for parents and tour members to run over the arrangements, give out emergency contact numbers and give out the tour merchandise. We are happy to attend this meeting to answer any last minute questions.

Insurance – It is vital that you have adequate travel insurance for your tour. Some important things to note on the policy is that you are fully covered against unexpected cancellation charges, medical expenses arising abroad, loss of luggage and money and personal liability claims. Your insurance must also cover all the equipment/instruments that you are taking on tour. Many schools have their own travel insurance policy. If your group does not have insurance, please call us for advice and a quote.

Stage 7 - The Final Countdown

In the run up to a tour, your tour coordinator will be available to answer questions at all times. We fully appreciate the complexity of arranging overseas tours, which is why you can rely on us to assist in making your planning as easy as possible. The interim payment is due 6 months prior to departure and is for a further $550 for a long haul tour and $250 dollars for a short haul tour. Please note these interim payments are non-refundable. Your full and Final Balance is due 60 days before your departure date. A Final Tour Pack will be sent out approximately 2 weeks prior to departure date. This will contain a full itinerary, contact list detailing all phone numbers and addresses regarding the tour, final passenger and rooming list, tour summary, luggage labels and local information.

Stage 8 - Departure Day

Schooltravel Sport will always aim to have a representative at either Auckland, Christchurch or Wellington Airport to answer any last minute questions and assist with your check-in.

Stage 9 - At your Destination

When you arrive at your destination our local ground handler will be there to meet & greet you and give your group a run-down of everything you need to know, safety precautions and measures, where to eat and drink, highlights not to be missed etc. Our local representatives will then be available throughout your tour to answer any questions and help in any way possible.

Stage 10 - Peace of Mind

Once you are on tour, and for your peace of mind, our local ground handler will be on call 24 hours a day, backed up by the knowledge that one of our Schooltravel sport Executives are always available in New Zealand. We also recommend that before you leave New Zealand, you set up a Tour Party Telephone Tree. This is in the case of any changes to the tour, emergencies etc which need to be advised back in New Zealand. How it works is that you phone one person, who then phones two or three people and so on, so information is passed quickly around the parents. We suggest that the first person on the tree is normally a member of staff/Committee who is available in New Zealand for the duration of your Tour.

Stage 11 - What was all the fuss about?

Schooltravel Sport pride ourselves on the quality and personal service that we offer our clients, from the first phone call making an enquiry to the time you arrive back home. When you return we therefore would appreciate you taking a few moments to complete our tour feedback form as we value your views. We would also be most grateful if you would send us a copy of your tour report and photos that we can use on our website or new brochures.