The Costello School's Trip to LA

We wanted to provide students with opportunities that they may not otherwise have had, and to enhance cultural capital. 

By offering the opportunity to take part in an international trip, as well as enjoying a variety of experiences, visit a wide range of places and see some famous landmarks, we hoped to encourage students to widen their understanding of the world, build resilience, make new friends and make memories to last a lifetime. I think we were able to achieve all of our aims!

We had previously offered students the opportunity to visit New York in previous years, but wanted to offer a new location and different experiences. We felt LA offered a bit of everything - history, culture, fun, shopping and, of course, sunshine. 

We visited both the Academy and Grammy museums, explored different locations and areas, drove around the city seeing famous locations and celebrity spotting. We had our picture taken in Beverly Hills, walked from Santa Monica to Venice Beach where we watched the sunset. We spent an entire day having fun at Universal Studios and walked up to the Hollywood sign. We also went shopping, saw the famous Chinese Theatre and walked up the Hollywood Walk of Fame looking for our favourite stars. We also ate and drank lots of delicious treats!

We wanted to make the most of our time in LA and believe we were successful in achieving this aim. As we had travelled so far, we wanted to make sure we visited and experienced everything LA had to offer, as well as ensuring our days were varied and offered a range of experiences. 

There are so many! The number one has to be our tour guide John who was phenomenal. Both students and staff rated him as the best part of LA (students loved him even more than Universal Studios!). He was so knowledgeable and friendly, and really allowed us to get to know the 'real' LA. He had so much insider knowledge and took us to many places we wouldn't have known about without his wisdom. He was so engaging and friendly and we learnt so much from him. 

We also loved the walk to the Hollywood sign, which allowed us to enjoy the sun. Some students were able to achieve goals and feel huge pride in themselves and what they achieved. The walk was lovely, the sign was incredibly impressive and the guide was very informative, as well as having a gorgeous dog who came along for the walk!

As teachers, our lasting memories will be of our students learning, enjoying themselves, having fun, laughing, being amazed and growing as individuals. Every single student came back from the trip happy, more knowledgeable, with a greater understanding of LA and with many, many stories and memories to share with those back home. As teachers, this is what we want our trips to achieve and we will forever be grateful that our students were able to have the most wonderful time.

We have used Halsbury for previous trips and had always had a fantastic experience with them. All of their staff are so friendly, attentive and helpful and they always provide brilliant, bespoke itineraries. They take the time to listen to you, the school, and work with you every step of the way to ensure the trip is suitable and appropriate for your vision and your students. 

Thorough, personal, professional, patient, incredible. Halsbury could not have done any more to support and help us. I really cannot rate them highly enough. They completely understand that they are working with school groups and tailor their trips and itineraries to consider this. They have fantastic communication and nothing is too much trouble for them, they do it all with humility, kindness and a smile. They are incredibly professional and easy to work with - it genuinely feels like you are reaching out to a friend. I have worked with different staff on different trips and the same high standard applies to every single person who works at Halsbury. 

Absolutely, the support is of the highest quality, as is their expertise. The information they are able to provide in order to ensure your students have the trip of a lifetime is not something that you can find anywhere else. Our students always have the most wonderful time and make the most incredible memories because of the package Halsbury puts together. The purpose of these trips is to allow our students a once-in-a-lifetime trip and Halsbury allows us to give this to our students, while making it as easy as possible for the staff who give up their time to support with these trips.