Ysgol Gymunedol Cefn Hengoed Community School Languages Visit to France 2016 Parent Meeting Tuesday 14 th June 2016 Peace of Mind

o At our request Schools into Europe gave us a programme to support the heightened security levels.  Spoke to the Foreign Office who advised we give their website to parents:  Security round the tunnel has been massively increased in last 12 months due to migrant crisis in Calais.  Even greater security is now in place to respond to heightened awareness across Europe.  Heightened awareness at channel ports – gave advice on how to respond to that with heightened supervision of pupils i.e. Divide pupils into small groups and share between members of staff.  Consider sending an additional member of staff over the required allocation to support pupils’ security – we have done this by adding Miss Llewellyn to the trip. Highest teacher:pupil ratio with which we have ever travelled.  Without a Foreign Office ban on travel to a country e.g. as currently in Tunisia and Sharm el Sheikh, like any holiday a cancellation will result in loss of money. Currently they are happy with cross channel travel and the heightened security in France extends to Paris and Eurodisney. Peace of Mind for our Trip

Schools into Europe  As ABTA members the Foreign Office is updating them continually and knows the details of the travel arrangements, passengers and resort.  A small company based in Cardiff, who know school staff from many years of travelling with them, including the Headteacher.  During the trip the company allocate the Party Leader a direct senior 24hr contact.  This is a completely different level of service to that of a national company, which is why we use them.  Schools into Europe company book ferry and tunnel crossings themselves directly – they started this when the migrant crisis started and are sustaining it through the current heightened security, to minimise delays and select the most appropriate crossings. Peace of Mind for our Trip

Keeping in touch while they’re away  Encourage your child to take their mobile phone (and to keep in touch with you!).  Headteacher’s mobile always provided on trip information giving you 24/7 contact.  Head runs school Twitter account. When a trip is away, will tweet everything sent from the trip often several times/day. Ms Jones and Mr Vaughan will take responsibility for feeding news to Mrs Hollister.  Follow to get used to using Twitter before they go.  Text Mrs Hollister whenever you want – will ALWAYS reply. Mrs Hollister in constant touch with the trip. Peace of Mind for our Trip

Good news!  Ms Jones has 14 years teaching experience and several years experience of running this trip – and she is your Party Leader.  Schools into Europe have given the team and Mrs Hollister green light to contact them anytime with any concern.  You can contact Mrs Hollister any time! That’s what we do! Bon Voyage! Peace of Mind for our Ski Trip