Make your trip headline news
The first thing you need to do is promote your trip around school. You'll need to create a real buzz around the trip and get students really excited about it. And make sure it's mentioned in school newsletters and on the school’s social media accounts too.
Limit the number of places on the trip
We know your instinct is to try to take as many students as possible, as you don’t want any to miss out. However, limiting the number of places available does introduce a competitive element which could actually see more students signing up.
Make your trip as affordable as possible
With rising costs everywhere, the more affordable you can make your trip, the more likely students will be able to join you.
Planning your trip way in advance is one way to do this (‘cos you’ll be giving parents so much longer to pay for it). And taking your trip outside of peak travel times (avoiding school holidays, basically) is another great way to save money. For more advice on keeping costs down, see our money-saving tips for cheaper school trips.
Avoid the competition from other trips
If your school’s running any other trips that are likely to be popular with your target pool of students, make sure you avoid arranging your trip for the same time. And if you know that’s going to be impossible (perhaps because your school has strict rules around when you can arrange trips), then get in earlier with yours so students commit to your trip before the competition from others even starts.
Highlight the educational benefits of your trip to parents
At the end of the day, it will be parents who decide whether or not to send their kids on your trip. So, getting parents on board is essential. The key thing is making sure they know how your trip is going to benefit their children. So, make the educational value clear in all your comms to parents. And don’t forget to mention the other developmental benefits of your trip, like increasing independence and responsibility.
Open the trip up to students from other year groups
If you’re struggling to get enough students from your target year group(s), you could open the trip up to those in other years.
One obvious benefit of this could be for younger students who haven’t yet chosen their options for GCSE or A Levels. The trip could convince them to take your subject further – which could be a huge win for your department.
Make your trip cross-curricular
Another great way to widen the target pool of students for your trip is to make it cross-curricular.
Because our Travel Advisers know the destinations we travel to so well, they can advise you on visits and activities to suit all the subjects covered by your trip.
Pro tip for planning a cross-curricular school trip: try to plan one itinerary for the whole group with a mix of activities to suit each subject.
This’ll make it much easier for you to plan and manage, especially if you just have the one coach or your group doesn’t easily separate out into two or more coaches.
Having just one itinerary with a mix of trips is also better for the students, as they benefit more from the cross-curricular aspect of the trip.
Just a note of caution on this though. Cross-curricular trips aren’t the easiest option if you’re planning a languages trip that includes lessons at a specialist language school only for the languages students. Organising an itinerary that occupies the non-languages students while the others are having their lessons and working it so that they can meet up easily once lessons are over is, quite frankly, a logistical nightmare and we’d advise against it if possible.
Our top destinations for cross-curricular school trips
In all honesty, just about any big European city will cater well to several different subject areas, because of the number of visits and activities there.
Paris, Barcelona and Berlin have to be our top picks though.
Paris is clearly a great choice for a school trip from the UK because it’s easy to get to and there are so many educational opportunities there.
Obviously, everything you do will have a language element as your students will be surrounded by French and will be able to test out their skills on the locals. And immersion in French culture is a given here in the capital of France (and the heart of the Francophone world).
There are also some great museums and visits to discover French and European history. There are STEM-focused visits too, as well as plenty of art museums and galleries to explore. And you can learn more about French food, fashion and business too.
Barcelona’s another great choice for a cross-curricular school trip, with plenty of visits and activities to suit Spanish, art, business studies, fashion, food tech and geography.
This diversity means that whatever the combination of subjects, you can look forward to a really exciting itinerary packed full of unforgettable experiences for your students. This makes it the perfect choice for a cross-curricular school trip to Spain.
You can visit the world-famous art galleries, explore Spain’s unique tapas culture and learn more about the impact of tourism on this part of the Spanish coast.
And, of course, whatever the reason for visiting Barcelona, you must make sure you include some time in your itinerary to visit one of the incredible Gaudi sites – the Sagrada Familia and Park Guell are two of our favourites.
Along with Paris and Barcelona, Berlin’s a real favourite among our school groups and continues to be a popular choice for cross-curricular school trips to Germany.
Berlin is a really exciting, dynamic city that students love. It also offers some brilliant educational visits and activities for a variety of subjects, including history, German, art and design and technology.
Of course, for history students, Berlin offers students the opportunity to explore both the Cold War and the Nazis and the Holocaust. It’s also great for politics students, as they can explore the history of German politics from monarchy and Empire through to the Weimar Republic, Nazism, division during the Cold War and its current status as a federal republic and key member of the European Union. And all of this also holds interest for German students, as it will help them to understand German culture. Every visit will also have information in German and usually in English too.
Berlin’s home to some fantastic art museums and has a thriving street art culture. History, art and German culture all combine at the East Side Gallery, which is definitely worth a visit on a cross-curricular school trip to Berlin.
And for Design and Technology students, a visit to Berlin offers the opportunity to learn more about Germany’s reputation for excellent engineering.
If you prefer a quieter destination, Normandy and the Opal Coast are also great choices for cross-curricular school trips.
Normandy’s a truly lovely region of France famous for both its cuisine and its long and fascinating history (from Joan of Arc to WW2).
History students will love exploring the sites where British and US troops landed in June 1944. And they’ll be fascinated to discover what life was like for the locals under Nazi occupation. And with a visit to the Bayeux Tapestry, students can learn that England and France have shared a fascinating history throughout the ages.
You won’t have to deal with a bunch of hangry teens on your trip to Normandy either. All students (especially those studying food tech) will enjoy exploring Norman cuisine, which is famous for its dairy products, seafood and orchards. So, you’ll definitely want to include some visits to local food producers, like dairy farms (to try the cheese), bakeries and confectioners.
The Opal Coast is a short hop across the Channel making it really convenient for a short school trip for British schools. It’s also a bit of a hidden gem, because most tourists speed through it on the way to Paris, the Loire and the South of France.
You could visit bakeries, food markets and chocolatiers where your group will learn more about French food culture, which is great for both the French and Food Tech contingent of your group.
With these tips and pointers, we hope it’ll be a cinch getting the numbers for your school trip. And if not, don’t fret. Just get in touch and we’ll see what else we can suggest.