Iceland Final Preparations

An overseas residential trip with young people is always stressful. In this post I aim to share the last minute thoughts and preparations that I go trough. This post links to an early one about the pre-visit stage.

The final preparations assume that all money and forms have been collected in. This is not an exhaustive list, but these are some of the tips that I have found useful in the past:

Create A5 booklets of medical forms and passport information and give one to each member of staff.
Split the group in to smaller registration groups. So with 30 pupils and 3 staff there would be 3 groups of 10. This is far easier and far far less faff than registering the whole group each time. Give staff laminated, colour coded, lists of pupils and take spares.
Give out hoodies. These are great for identifying pupils in the airport that should be with you.
Scan in and email to staff a PDF which contains all passport and medical information. That way all we need is an internet connection if something goes astray.
Don’t over brief staff. There are hours and hours in the departure lounge (not to mention a couple in the Blue Lagoon) to chat over detail. Just focus on getting the pupils checked in and through security.
Drink lots of coffee.
Set up a photo competition for students. Take a netbook / laptop and card reader to share images.
Sort out dongles and wifi access for pupil blogging and letting all know that we are safe.
Secure a cash float from the school for emergencies.

I think that’s about it – we head off one week tomorrow Smile

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