VIEW FROM THE CLASSROOM Challenges worth overcoming
As far as I’m concerned though, all this hard work is priceless because it gives our students the opportunity to broaden their minds and gain character traits such as persistence, resilience, self- discipline and the ability to work with and show consideration for others. This is absolutely crucial to preparing young people for success at school and in their adult life in the working world. In fact, our last tour to South Africa - which incorporated a visit to The Goedgedacht Trust, a charity providing real solutions to tackle poverty amongst rural children and youth - had such an impact on three of our students that on their return to England they independently organised and completed a charity cycle ride. This raised £1,500 and is a stunning illustration of the social responsibility duties such trips provoke in our students.
How did you change the way you organised the trips?
Much as I loved planning such events, balancing it with my demanding role as a Teacher of Mathematics, eventually took its toll. So when Travelopia approached me to trial its new personal online trip portal, I was the first to put up my hand.
Designed to take the stress out of organising a school trip, their personal online trip portal Toolkit can be used to change a quote from our tour operator and its sister companies1
into a school’s
very own interactive tour website, accessible by staff and parents at the click of the button from any device.
How does it work?
The first digital school trip management system of its kind, it allows me to dispense with the time- consuming task of preparing and mailing out numerous letters home and to personalise our trip, upload photos, videos, itineraries and contingencies for extras such as meals and activities. Parents can register their interest using a simple online form, upload their child’s dietary requirements and passport information,
significantly reducing the time spent by our school administrator entering data.
It also allows me to determine access options for staff – including the head, the bursar, PE staff and our school administrator - spreading the workload and ensuring that at any one time the relevant parties can obtain a clear and accurate view of progress and payments. An email function contained within the site allows finance staff to send payment reminders to parents. And a two-stage verification process ensures that all data is safe.
How is the next trip shaping up? I’m currently organising the school’s South Africa Rugby Tour 2018 - a 14-night stint for forty boys in Gauteng and Western Cape with four rugby matches for each of our school’s A and B teams,
various sightseeing tours and four days charity work at The Goedgebacht Trust. The itinerary includes flights to Johannesburg airport, coach travel to Konka Camp, information on the various matches, team-building activities, a training session, an escorted game drive to Mabula Game Reserve, a flight from Johannesburg to Cape Town and a tour of Langa Township. At Cape Peninsula, the boys will visit Boulders Beach, Hout Bay, the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point, and also visit Robben Island to learn about the struggles of Nelson Mandela. This will be followed by an awesome ride to the top of Table Mountain, four nights charity work at The Goedgebacht Trust, a match at the Swartland Festival, interaction with the children from Goedgebacht, then other matches. It’s quite a feat as you can see – and our new Toolkit online digital tour management platform has simplified the process significantly and, based on the initial reduction in workload at the organisational stage, will save us an estimated 75% of time formerly spent updating data, chasing students, tracking payments and updating parents.
What did the school’s parents think? When we first presented the new portal to parents they sighed with relief, pleased to learn that they would no longer have to rely on their children to be the rather unreliable vehicle of communication for letters home from the school. They were also happy to learn that they could now directly input dietary and passport data, track their instalments and in future receive regular updates on their child whilst they are away.
A short video detailing Toolkit’s key features and benefits can be viewed at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUs9Q y7G3Mc
1. Toolkit is free and can be used to convert quotes from the following operators - Edwin Doran Sports Tours, Gulliver’s Sports Travel, Teamlink Sports Tours, Travelbound, Masterclass Sports Tours, HTS Total Ski, JCA and SkiBound - into a school’s very own interactive tour website
June 2017
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