How to make your school trips meaningful

How to make your School Trips Meaningful and Inspiring With The E3 Method.

Your Guide to Creating an Immersive and Inspiring Travel Experience for your Students, using the E3 method.

Hello!

My name is Christopher Hill and I’m the CEO of Hands Up School Trips.

We created this Guide to make your next school trip a meaningful and enriching experience, not just for your students but also for your chosen destination, be it the people, the wildlife, or both.

At Hands Up we’re passionate about the benefits for your students of remarkable travel experiences. We are committed to providing you with itineraries that offer so much more than your typical school trip abroad. We strongly encourage student-led planning and preparation of each trip, lending our expertise when required.

This results in student trips that blend learning, adventure and cultural immersion together with fulfilling service opportunities. We believe making a difference as a united body of students impacts them like nothing else, increasing their team spirit, empathy, compassion, and equipping them for life beyond graduation.

We call this the E3 method: Explore, Experience, Enrich (yourselves and others).

I trust that you find this Guide useful to help your school to have amazing trips, even if you don’t book them with us!

I would love to hear your feedback – you can write to me directly at chris@handsupschooltrips.com. I answer every email personally.

Yours in Meaningful School Trips, Christopher Hill CEO Hands Up School Trips

Introduction

This Guide is a tool to enable School Trip planners to discover the benefits of an immersive School Trip that includes engaging volunteering opportunities - from building projects to wildlife conservation. This is the E3 method.

Upon completion of reading this Guide, you should feel confident in the benefits of providing your students with the opportunity to invest in the lives of the people and the destination you’re visiting and your students can experience the far-reaching benefits of volunteering overseas. All in a safe environment.

This Guide will provide you with the top tips on how to make your school trips meaningful and inspiring, right from how to take your first steps through to the value of feedback.

We hope this Guide informs and excites you about arranging school trips, irrespective of whether you choose to enlist our expertise or not.

A. The E3 Method Explore Encountering new destinations is one of the fundamental joys of travel: visiting sights that students may have only read about in books or seen in movies is fantastic. It is important to explore responsibly and sustainably, so that future generations can also enjoy them.

Each student will receive a briefing pack on how to Explore responsibly, customized to their trip destination, but 2

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for now, here are some more broad tips: • Avoid plastic bottles and bring a reusable drinking container that can be refilled with clean drinking water each day • Avoid plastic bags – bring your own from sustainable sources • Do not give sweets to local children as dental hygiene is often poor; in fact, do not give anything directly to children as this can encourage begging • Use local guides: they know the destination best, and by doing so, you are helping provide employment and encouraging local people to get training and education for well-paying guide jobs • Choose accommodation that runs on sustainability principles. These are myriad, but can include: o Using rain water and reusing shower water, using low flow shower heads, low consumption toilets o Generating their own electricity, such as by solar, wind or hydro-means o Actively recycling and composting o Using energy efficient construction materials o Conserving energy by turning off lights and appliances when not in use o Hiring locally (and local people in senior positions) o Planting native trees and plants in garden • Offset your carbon emissions (this is done on your behalf when you book with Hands Up School Trips) • Learn some basic words in the local language • Learn what products are endangered so you don’t buy them

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• Shop in small, locally owned businesses where possible

• A traditional wood carving lesson with the Maori in New Zealand • A calligraphy lesson in China

• Use public transport where it is safe to do so • An ox-cart painting lesson in Costa Rica • Remove any trash you bring in

Experience School trips are the perfect forum to really get immersed in the local culture and Experience the richness of it. This is a critical component for all Hands Up School Trips.

Experiencing Italy’s Sistine Chapel and Uffizi Gallery helps bring an Art History class to life, the same applies to practising Spanish with vendors in a Peruvian market.

And Experiential Learning on a trip helps students learn new skills and Enriches their appreciation of a culture. Examples are: • A market visit led by an expert chef followed by a cooking lesson in Thailand • A Zulu dance lesson in South Africa • A capoeira lesson in Brazil

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Enrich “It was a perfect mix between hard work and adventurous activities. It’s given me a whole new perspective on life for other people around the world. I also enjoyed being in a different environment than home.”

Ellis – student, 17

One of the wonderful things about travel is that it can both be Enriching for the students, and they can Enrich the people they interact with, and the wildlife they encounter. This is achieved by incorporating a meaningful service volunteer component to the trip. It is even possible to Enrich in as little as an afternoon, if structured properly.

11 reasons why your students should Enrich others on their trip: 1. Your students may have trekked to Machu Picchu, dived in the Great Barrier Reef or spotted the Big 5 on safari, but few have experienced first-hand the impact even small acts of service can have on a local community, and contribute to equity and equality issues.

2. By volunteering, your students join hands with local people to give back to the people and places they visit. They can transform the lives of disabled villagers by installing disabled-accessible bathrooms in Bali or provide better access to education for Rwandan schoolchildren, to name just two examples amongst many.

3. By volunteering on a trip your students gain valuable life-skills - developing their problem-solving and leadership abilities - and experience what it means to become a more responsible global citizen, preparing future leaders for work in a competitive, challenging and diverse workplace, anywhere in the world.

4. Volunteering get your students fully engaged and immersed in the local culture, presenting them with new worldviews, some of which may be challenging or confronting. Exposure to this at an early age helps sharpen the mind to discern and make good life choices.

Equally, the experience can provide insights and perspectives that last a lifetime.

7. Students develop first-hand appreciation of global issues, self-awareness and leadership skills 8. By volunteering, students can earn service hours which can assist with college entry 9. The interaction that comes from volunteering promotes greater tolerance and understanding of other people and their cultures 10. By getting to know the people they are helping, students become more compassionate and improve their emotional intelligence - key ingredients in life success 11. Volunteering generates feelings of satisfaction and enhanced levels of confidence and outlook from having made a genuine difference to a community or to wildlife.

A micro-case study

One of our schools decided to Explore 5. By working together to make a difference, Rwanda, where Save the Children is relationships amongst classmates are actively caring for children affected by strengthened as they learn the synergies from the 1994 genocidal war in a remote rural teamwork and cooperation. community.

6. Students can build global relationships by interacting meaningfully with the local people as they deepen their social and interpersonal skills.

Students Experienced daily life as they worked alongside villagers performing their daily tasks. Led by an expert

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Rwandan guide, they gained insights to the horrors of the genocide, played football with the villagers and Enriched the community by building a new classroom in the school. Furthermore, with funds they had raised, the salary of an additional teacher was paid for giving the Rwandan students better access to education and thus improved job, health and family prospects.

The students also Experienced Rwandan dance lessons, and encountered the endangered Mountain Gorillas on a sustainable hike.

The students rated the trip as highly meaningful and life-changing. They Enriched others and were themselves Enriched.

An immersive, volunteering experience can impact students far beyond their education, as well as better equipping them for college. Just as a short-term trip can have a long-term impact on a community, an experience like this can help a student consider a longer gap-year experience, before or after college.

B. First Steps in Making Your School Trip Meaningful Preparation for an inspirational School Trip starts early. These are some of the practicalities you might like to consider:

Identify Your Goals and Learning Objectives Your school is unique and has specific priorities and standards. We carry out a careful needs analysis to take the time to fully understand what your goals are for each trip. Consider what your priorities might be.

Timing Allow sufficient time for planning the details of a trip, engaging students and parents in the process, and fundraising if necessary. Consider the best time of year for your students to travel, as well as the climate or conditions of your ideal travel destination.

Destination Involve the students in the destination or type of project they’d like to be involved in. From our experience, student-led initiatives have a longer lasting impact because they are already invested in them and more likely to go above and beyond to make significant contributions.

We can offer over 40 destinations for you to choose from and our goal is to provide the best, most immersive and life transforming experiences for your students.

Fundraising Most School Trips are paid for by the students’ parents. We also offer schools an opportunity to fund-raise a portion of the trip costs. For example, the costs of building materials or local experts during the volunteering component. This engages students in the trip from an early stage and gives them a greater sense of investment right from the start.

Safety and Security Student safety is paramount and we take every reasonable precaution to ensure that our trips are as safe as possible.

We carry out risk assessments for each trip and constantly assess the security situation for each destination, keeping up-to-date with State Department and Foreign Office travel advice. See our sample Risk Assessment Form in the Appendix.

It’s never too early to chat through with us what you’re thinking. We can provide you with a range of options from which you can choose and from there we can match your students with the best location and service opportunities.

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C. Engaging Students, Parents and Other Key Stakeholders Student Preparation Naturally, students are at the center of the trip. It’s their opportunity to venture into the world, learn, have fun and make a difference. So, getting them prepared and excited about the trip, as well as gathering their views and aspirations, is crucial. The more involved and invested they are, the more they’ll learn, and the more life transforming the trip will be for them.

Preparing the students and getting them involved in the planning is perhaps the most demanding and time-consuming phase, yet it’s pivotal for the success of your trip. Here are some tips: • Introduce the concept of a trip abroad at an early stage to make them aware of the possibility.

• Set the parameters, and the rules for decision-making (e.g. should it be by consensus, bare majority, or another formula).

• Set the criteria for what a successful trip will look like, and the priorities for each. For International Baccalaureate schools running a CAS trip, clearly Creativity, Activity and Service are critical elements. Other criteria may be: o Cultural immersion and understanding o Experiential learning

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• Complete medical permission, allergy disclosure, dietary requirements.

• Arrange travel insurance (Hands Up Schools

can assist with this).

• Ensure passports have at least 6 months’ validity from after the end of the trip, and in some destinations, there are at least two blank pages.

• Arrange visas in advance if required by the destination (Hands Up Schools can advise on this).

o Curriculum – ensuring that a trip connects with what students are learning in the classroom, this may be history, languages, science, P.E to name but a few •Discuss the trip and how it relates to what they are learning in the classroom as part of the curriculum •Encourage students to find out as much as they can about the people and destination they’ll be visiting. The more they know about the destination, the more engaged your students will be.

•Discuss the potential for fundraising beforehand and invite them to consider the benefits of volunteering during their trip.

Perhaps assign (or have voted for) ‘fund raising champions” amongst the students, who are responsible for creating fund raising ideas and coordinating them.

•Help the students create a fitness plan that will prepare them for the trip. Naturally the level of intensity will vary from trip to trip, and those that involve hiking or biking at altitude will require longer and more rigorous preparation than one that is, say, more language-oriented. We can help you prepare an appropriate training plan, and monitor that it is being achieved.

•Thoroughly explore and discuss expected

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behaviour and learning objectives. For example, you might require the students to produce a report after the trip, to increase their curiosity and encourage active participation.

Parents and Other Stakeholders As important as students are, parents, school administrators and other staff members are vital to the success of a trip too. There are also essential elements that must be accomplished, such as visas, vaccinations, passport validity and travel insurance.

Preparing Yourself You also need to prepare yourself for the trip. Ensure you have key emergency contacts and medical information about the students. Be in contact with your travel arranger during this phase to see how best they can assist you with various aspects of the trip and expedite preparations.

After the Trip

Once the trip is over, it’s a great time to reflect with your students on their experiences and capture the memories they’ve made. Encourage them to share experiences through written reports, presentations and even on social media.

Curating the best moments can provide a record for students, parents and the school which will be informative and engaging for years to come.

Equally, it is important for you and your students to get feedback from the community you visited. We can arrange regular updates from them, including photos and videos, so you can continue to see the sustained impact your visit made.

For a case study of how other schools have made their educational trip noteworthy, please visit handsupschooltrips.com/case-studies/

• Obtain necessary approval from the school administration system, having discussed goals, safety, fundraising, and itinerary.

• Once the details of the trip are agreed, arrange a Parent Meeting or other form of communication. Provide parents with all the details they might need, as well as an opportunity for questions.

• Discuss the itinerary and other safety concerns with parents and obtain written parental permission.

• Arrange for any vaccinations that are recommended for your chosen destination (Hands Up Schools can advise on this).

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Like what you have read? Next steps: Get in Touch with Us

Appendix - Sample Risk assessment

Contact us for your free, no obligation School Trip proposal. The proposal will:

Risk

• Assess your educational requirements for the trip

Pre-trip:

Assessment

Visit Hands Up School Trips website (www.handsupschooltrips.com)

Low

Check that all students have valid visa(s); offer to arrange it

Liaise with relevant authorities

Valid Passport

Low

Check that each student has valid passport that meets the destinations requirements, such as 2 blank pages

Liaise with relevant authorities

State Dept. or other Government advice

Various

Monitor Government advice; act accordingly based on new advice

Cancel or modify trip if necessary

Travel insurance

Low

Check that students or school has travel insurance and that it covers helicopter evacuation; offer to arrange it

Prevent client from traveling if they do not have insurance, or sign a waiver that they bear all risks

Allergies

Low if declared by client

Declaration on participant’s information sheet to ensure Tour Leader and guides know of participant’s allergies, food or medications. All team members to bring own medications for serious known allergies and ensure Leader and guides know how to use (e.g.

EpiPen, heart medications, etc).

First-aid and/or hospitalization as appropriate.

Dietary requirements

Low if declared

As above

As above

Medications

Low if declared

As above

As above

Heart and other

Depends

As above

As above

Diseases & vaccination

Consult with medical and government advice concerning recommended immunizations, medications and malaria

Participants to consult their physician concerning all travel-health related issues at least 6 weeks prior to departure.

Ensure participants are told to visit physician if they feel ill on return explaining where they have been.

Snakes

Depends on destination

Stick to paths. Be observant and noisy – snakes will almost always get out of your way. Don’t go out in the dark without a torch.

Don’t put fingers in holes or under rocks/logs

Immediate first aid and/ or hospitalization. Ensure guide and Tour Leader has a First Aid kit

Call one of our expert advisors on: USA: 201 984 5372 UK: +44 (0)207 193 1062 NZ: +64 (0) 27 501 3631

On behalf of Hands Up School Trips, thanks again. We hope to have the opportunity to inspire you soon.

Pre-trip: Pre-existing medical conditions

Bites/Stings

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Actions if Incident

Visas

• Identify how we can provide the most tailor-made experience • Reveal how your students can impact a local community and experience lifechanging opportunities for themselves

Control Measures

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Appendix - Sample Risk assessment continued Risk

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Control Measures

Actions if Incident

Risk

Assessment

Control Measures

Actions if Incident

Mammals

Depends on destination

Warn students to keep away from mammals and don’t be tempted to play with them. Bites from cats, dogs, monkeys, etc. are all potentially very serious matters.

Immediate first aid and/ or hospitalization. Ensure guide and Tour Leader has a First Aid kit

During activities

Low/Medium

Participants asked to be alert to changes in behaviour: fatigue, lack of energy, headaches, dizziness, not visiting the toilet, little sweat, stomach cramps, inability to use the toilet.

Immediate first aid and/or hospitalization.

Mosquitos-malaria and dengue

Depends on season (high in rainy season, low in dry season)

Use repellent & keep covered up with longsleeved clothing. Take malaria medication only on advice of family medical practitioner and be aware of possible side-effects and ineffectiveness for dengue fever.

From no action to first-aid to hospitalization depending on nature of bite. Seek local advice as appropriate.

Ensure person bitten seeks medical attention as soon as they return home if thought to be malaria/ dengue.

Lost person

Low

Travel in groups, and with guide. Obey route instructions. Take contact phone numbers of guides and accommodation address and number.

Guides ensure all other participants are together with supervision before going to look for missing person.

Pick-pocketing

Low/medium

Warn not to wear jewellery or show obvious signs of wealth. Take out only the money you need, and split between pockets and money-belts. Do not get large amounts of money out when paying for items.

Be aware while in crowds or on transport.

Report loss of passports or other items of value to police and get a report for insurance.

Traffic

Low/medium

Warn to watch out for bicycles, animals and cars that may not follow the same ‘rules of the road’ as home country.

Report incident to police as appropriate

Being approached by the wrong people

Low

Go out with others.

Guides recommend clients to be wary of those offering ‘good deals’ or some ‘special’ services.

Report incident to police as appropriate

Theft

Low

Recommend strict care of personal belongings. Use safety deposit boxes for valuables at hotel

Report incident to police as appropriate

Medium/high depending on destination

Guides monitor group to ensure everyone has sunscreen, hat, and wear protective clothing.

Participants asked to be alert to changes in behaviour: fatigue, lack of energy, headaches, dizziness, not visiting the toilet, little sweat, stomach cramps, inability to use the toilet.

In the event of heat exhaustion & dehydration plenty of rest and fluids.

Hospitalisation in serious cases.

Scorpions / Insects / Bees

Medium risk of minor stings / bites

Don’t put hands or fingers in holes. Be careful when picking up rocks or handling wood, and check boots before putting on.

From no action to first-aid to hospitalisation depending on nature of bite. Seek local advice as appropriate.

Food

Low

Local partners inspect all restaurants and cooking areas to ensure hygienic cooking conditions, all fruit/vegetables are peeled and cooked properly, all utensils and bowls/ plates thoroughly cleaned.

Guides observe group to ensure all eating adequate food and cater for any food allergies, and dietary requirements.

Monitor throughout tour.

Guides ensure all water is treated or bottled. Guides observe group to ensure enough water is being drunk.

In the event of heat exhaustion & dehydration plenty of rest and fluids.

Hospitalization in serious cases.

Guides have a first aid kit close to hand and inform team members of its location.

Guides check participants wear appropriate socks and shoes.

Guides check weather report before departure.

Guides advise participants to bring appropriate clothing.

Guides ensure everyone has sunscreen, hat, and wear protective clothing.

In the event of heat exhaustion & dehydration plenty of rest and fluids.

Hospitalization in serious cases.

Water

General Travel

Assessment

Appendix - Sample Risk assessment continued

Daily checks

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Low

Low

In the event of upset tummies / nausea initially water / electrolytes and rest for up to 48 hours. Avoid Imodium or similar unless embarking on long-distance travel. If situation not rectified in 48 hours then referral to health centre or hospital.

Heat exhaustion and dehydration

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Appendix - Sample Risk assessment continued Risk

Assessment

Control Measures

Actions if Incident

Hotel Dangers

Low

Listen to guides briefings to 1) keep rooms locked always.

2) know where fire escape is.

Report incident to police as appropriate

Vehicular travel

Low

Use only fully licensed and properly maintained vehicles in accordance with local laws & transportation regulations

Report incident to police as appropriate.

Medical attention as appropriate.

Culture shock

Low

Briefing by guides as to what to expect in tour orientation.

Guides to monitor individuals and address concerns as they come up.

Local traditions/customs

Low

Briefing by guides as to what to expect in tour orientation on clothing, language/swearing, physical contact and eating.

Guides to monitor individuals and address concerns as they come up.

Alcohol and drugs

Low

Strictly no alcohol or illegal drugs are allowed

Guides to monitor individuals and address concerns as they come up.

Swimming

In pools or sea

Medium/high

Always stay close and within sight of group members. Wear safety gear as provided. Get out of the water if you feel cold, get cramps or feel sick. Do not drink the water. Behave and play responsibly. Be mindful of others and weather conditions.

Immediate first aid and/or hospitalisation

Force Majeure

Political unrest, natural disasters (flooding, landslides etc.)

Low

Guides consult news & weather reports before departure in consultation with local office.

In consultation with local office, overseas agent, guides will evacuate participants under the supervision of local government and police.

During evacuation, we will communicate with local partner

Cultural issues

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