Wednesday 8th January 2025
MEETING RE: YEAR 6 RESIDENTIAL TRIP TO FRANCE – TUESDAY 28TH JANUARY 2025 3.30PM
[TRIP DATES: MONDAY 19TH MAY – FRIDAY 23RD MAY 2025]
Dear Year 6 parents and carers,
Our Year 6 residential trip to France is now just under four months away. There are a number of very important legal documents that each family needs to complete before we can take your children abroad. To make this process as straightforward as possible, we are holding a meeting after school on Tuesday 28th January at 3.30pm in the Paxton Hall. Every child who is going on this trip needs to be represented by a parent or guardian (not an older sibling) at this meeting. Please read the contents of this letter carefully as you will need to bring some key information with you to complete documentation on behalf of your child.
Passports
As mentioned at the initial parent meeting, each child will need a valid passport to travel to France. We are required to submit advanced passenger information to Travelbound (the company facilitating our trip) ahead of our departure, therefore we need to take a copy of each child’s passport at the meeting. Please note that your child’s passport will need to be valid for three months after our return date (23rd August, 2025). If your child’s passport expires before then, you will need to apply for a new one now. We strongly advise you to act on this immediately as we will not be able to take any child who does not have a passport and there are sometimes delays at the passport office.
If your child holds a passport from another country, it is fine for them to use this to travel. Please note however that if it is from a non-European country, you may need to apply for a visa to travel to France. This is not a problem and the school is able to support you with the application if we are aware well in advance of our departure. Please bring the passport to the meeting as we will still need to make a copy of it for the advanced passenger information form.
Your child’s passport will be returned to you by the end of the meeting. For the trip itself, you will need to hand your child’s passport in to school a week before the trip. It will be looked after by the trip leader for the duration of the trip and handed back to you when we return to the UK. Reminders about this will be sent nearer to the time.
EHIC (European Heath Insurance Card) OR GHIC (Global Health Insurance Card)
We are covered by comprehensive travel insurance, but each child will need their own health insurance card.
This covers emergency access to healthcare, should the need arise. The card they need is either an EHIC (European Health Insurance Card) or a GHIC (Global Health Insurance Card). Either is fine to travel on, provided it is in date. If your child has a valid EHIC or GHIC card, please bring it to the meeting so that we can take a copy. If they do not have one, you will need to apply for one now. Once the card has been issued to you, you will need to provide the school with a photocopy ahead of travel or send the card into the school for us to copy and return to you. The easiest way to apply for one is online – (https://services.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/cra/start). Please note that there are a number of third-party websites which are charging for this service. Please avoid these websites and use the official NHS website which is free. If you would like any support in completing the EHIC or GHIC application at the meeting, please speak to one of us and we will be able to help you. You will need to have your own National Insurance Number with you to complete the application.
Medical and dietary requirements
During the meeting, we will ask you to fill in forms concerning your child’s medical and dietary needs. If your child takes regular medicine or has any allergies (including hay fever as we will be travelling in late Spring), please have these details to hand at the meeting. It is really important that we are made aware of all medical and dietary needs. This is to enable us to be prepared so that we can take the best possible care of your child whilst they are away from home.
Payments
Thank you for the payments received so far and to those of you that have already paid in full. A gentle reminder that the next payment, following the payment plan, is due on 31st January. If you have any queries or concerns regarding the payments, please speak to Shay Walters in the office or to Mr Hyde.
We appreciate that there is a lot of information to digest in this letter. If you have any queries about anything mentioned here or are unsure what to bring, please come and speak to one of us in advance of the meeting.
Thank you for your continued support.
Yours sincerely,
Mr Clark and the Year 6 team