No Currency Surcharge Guarantee

There will be no additional costs if currency rates change. We guarantee that we will not surcharge a booking where currency fluctuation results in additional costs. In the event of this, we will absorb these costs so that you can prepare in confidence for your tour.

We wish you a fun, enjoyable and educational trip. But we also want you to stay safe and healthy during your travels. We are committed to only selecting transport, accommodation, activity and excursion providers (on your behalf) that have good health and safety provisions in place

Party Leader Responsibilities

In signing the Booking Form, the Party Leader also accepts responsibility for the good conduct of all party members during the tour. At least one responsible adult must be on duty at all times to ensure that group members' behaviour is acceptable and safety is not put at risk.

Inspection Visits

We are conscious of the pressure on Group Leaders and Educational Visit Coordinators (EVCs) to produce risk assessments for all school travel. To assist in this task, we would encourage you to carry out an inspection visit of the resort. If you already have a confirmed booking with us we may be able to contribute financially - please contact the office for further details.

Health & Safety Booklet

Download our latest Health & Safety booklet today. We will continue to update this throughout the year so keep checking back. 

Please download and read each of the PDF’s to ensure your school group’s safety.

Taking care on the slopes

ISF Rules of Ski Conduct

Accident Procedures

Our Coaches

We use a core of selected British coach operators - all of which are well established and reliable companies. Audits are completed for all our selected coach companies to ensure that they provide us with good quality, safe and reliable vehicles. Seat belts will be available for all pupils on British coaches (this does not necessarily apply to foreign coaches). The frequency and detail of the audits is set by the School Travel Forum.

Accommodation

We have undertaken to carry out a SMS Accommodation Audit on all of the properties featured in this website. This is a thorough audit covering essential areas of security, hygiene and fire safety. The frequency and detail of the audits is set by the School Travel Forum.

STS School Travel Service is a Full Member of the School Travel Forum (STF). The STF is a group of leading school tour operators who promote good practice and safety in school travel. All Full Members of the STF adhere to a rigorous Code of Practice and Safety Management Standards which meet the requirements of DCSF guidelines - these are externally verified each year by suitably qualified independent Health and Safety professionals. During the course of developing the STF Code of Practice, and in addition to liaising with the DCSF, advice has been sought from all leading educational Unions and Associations.

The STF initiative has the support of the SHA, NAHT, ATL, PAT and is welcomed by the Outdoor Education Advisors' Panel. The principles on which it is based have the support of the NUT and the NASUWT advises members wishing to organise school trips to use the companies who are members of the STF. Details of the School Travel Forum Code of Practice are available from our office or online at: www.schooltravelforum.com

Download a copy of our STF Certificate here. 

At SkiPlan we attach the utmost importance to all possible aspects of safety on our tours. Schools booking a tour from this brochure will benefit from our Health and Safety Management System designed to make your tour as safe as possible.

Download a copy of our Safety Management System

Emergency Procedures

In all our resorts we have an infrastructure of support staff (with area managers in our European resorts) to offer help and assistance if required. SkiPlan also provides party leaders with a 24 hour emergency contact number to be used when groups are on tour. To ensure that we deal with any possible incident in the most efficient and professional manner possible, we have formalised our emergency procedures into a manual which clearly sets out all actions to be taken in the event of a serious incident.

24 Hour Support

You can rely on us to get it right in the first place but should the unexpected happen we have the knowledge and the resources to resolve any issues.

Our overseas team are always available should you need them; they have the experience to deal with any situations that may arise and are trained to deal with situations calmly and effectively.

We also operate a Duty Office on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The Duty Office is staffed by an experienced team who have full details of your tour and can deal efficiently with any problems.

Tour Operator Public Liability Insurance

Our duty of care to you includes having Tour Operator Public Liability insurance cover (double the minimum standard) at £10 million.

Download a copy of our Tour Operator Public Liability Insurance

Demystifying Risk Assessments

Many teachers would like to take their pupils on a school trip but are worried about the prospect of completing the risk assessment. The good news is though that the process is not as complicated as you may think.

Party Leaders will need to follow the guidelines for their particular school and LEA. However, use of a properly selected tour operator can substantially reduce liabilities and work load. It is our, the tour operator's, responsibility to carry out checks on all the component parts of their visits - such as the accommodation and transport - and so we can assist Party Leaders with the local information that they need to develop their management plans. By handing over this part of visit organising, you can better allocate your time to developing your own management plan and the delivery of the educational content of the visit.

Within the context of school travel, a risk assessment is consistent with a group management plan. In other words, the means by which leaders 'steer' their group through to the objective of arriving home safe and sound. Download the School Travel Forum's
Demystifying risk assessments guide for a full description.

Although we cannot complete your Risk Assessment for you, we are members of the School Travel Forum, ABTA and ATOL and we have a strong Safety Management System in place. This means you can use our Safety Management System as part of your risk assessment, saving you time and effort. We also have a range of generic risk assessments that we will provide to you on request.

For the first time a national accreditation combining the essential elements of provision - learning and safety - can be easily recognisable and trusted by one Quality Badge for all types of Learning Outside the Classroom provider organisations.

We are proud to have been awarded with the 'Learning Outside the Classroom Quality Badge'. It reflects our support for learning outside the classroom and to providing high-quality experiences for all young people. For full details please log-on to the LOtC website.

Download a copy of our Quality Badge Certificate. 

Outdoor Education Advisors Panel Statement

The OEAP endorses the LOTC Quality Badge and requests to Local Authority Members to recommend the use of LOTC Quality Badge Providers to its schools, other establishments and groups. It further requests to its LA members not to require information from LOTC Badged Providers that duplicates details provided by the Quality Badge Criteria. For more information, click here.

We recommend that all travelers should read the Department of Heath guidance leaflet ‘T7.1 Health Advice for Travelers'. 

To obtain up-to-date general travel information and country specific health advice, we also recommend viewing the Foreign Commission Office (FCO) website. 

The role of the UK Health protection Agency (HPA) is to protect UK public health through the provision of support and advice to other health related authorities and so schools (via local authorities). The HPA often issue a ‘Position Statement’ regarding any significant current worldwide health issues in the news, to inform the UK public how their health may be affected: www.hpa.org.uk

Sources of UK medical information include The National Health Service (NHS) and the National Travel Health Network and Centre (NaTHNaC) website But we strongly advise you to consult your own general medical practitioner (GP) who will be in the best position to take into account any relevant personal health factors or any current disease epidemics in your chosen county of travel when advising you, as requirements may change frequently and rapidly. 

Skiplan Travel Insurance

SkiPlan are an Appointed Representative of ITC Compliance Limited which is Authorised and Regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

Download PDF's of your Insurance policy:

Letter to Travellers

Organisor's Letter

Insurance Policy

Security

ABTA We are members of the Association of British Travel Agent (no. V9860) The ABTA Code of Conduct ensures all members adhere to best practices, such as making alternative arrangements for parties should a hotel or coach company go out of business.

ATOL: All our air tours and flights are protected by the Civil Aviation Authority (no. 4849) If you are abroad with your party and an airline fails, our ATOL bonding ensures that we will get you home as quickly as possible.

IATA: The IATA logo means that a company is allowed to issue tickets on behalf of scheduled airlines.