Early August, our sports specialist Mike Hendey took 9 Directors or Head of Sport to Nottingham for an exciting day at The Hundred Series. The aim of the day was to talk about their vision of what makes the perfect school sports tour.
From the moment you enquire to the final big (or small) touches that make your tour perfect, we want to know how best to support you in reducing stress, combating admin issues, and making sure your educational program is sports-focused and outcome-driven. The Learning Adventure always strives to create transformative travel experiences for our groups – and we want to listen to those who know these school tours the best so that you can be confident your departments are getting the best possible experience.
Once everyone arrived, the conversation flowed effortlessly and some brilliant topics were covered.
Inspection trips:
As we move into the sports market and look to bring our creativity to these trips, it’s important that teachers feel supported and included on that journey. Most tour companies will try and get discounted rates if teachers want to travel, but have no obligation to cover all costs. This leaves staff in the awkward position of knowing the value but lacking school funding or needing to pay from their own pocket.
This led us to discuss the idea that relationships should be reciprocal and if tour companies want to build long-term bonds with their schools, the investment of covering an inspection trip is beneficial on all sides.
The importance of high-quality domestic tours:
Long-haul tours and a lower-cost but high-quality offering in the UK is becoming more and more important. It allows for larger groups to be taken away and more ability levels to be included, as well as being able to offer all the sports regularly played at schools on the same tour.
At The Learning Adventure, we’re building strong bonds with Saracens, Leicester Tigers and Northampton Saints on the rugby front. Links to Trent Bridge, Notts County and an array of local football clubs makes The Midlands an exceptional hub for sports groups. The idea is to have a limited number of trips but to make sure that it’s specialised, diverse and makes the most of the local sporting landscape.
Multi-subject tours (academic and sporting):
An issue across a number of sports tours is that it can become difficult to get the numbers to make it viable. There’s also a struggle when trying to offer to a wider ability group, as opposed to elite/focussed trips where the sport is the primary goal. We discussed subjects that would be compatible, such as language, culture and art, which can be done in a range of destinations, allowing students to experience some sport, with a wider focus.
We will be led by our wonderful teachers from the event and be willing and open to collaborate and use our extensive educational tours experience to make sure it’s a meaningful product.
What makes the best memories on a school tour:
Although our guests agreed that for them, fixtures are key, unanimously they explained that this isn’t the element that any student cites as a highlight. They remember the bits where they were out of their comfort zone, off the beaten track and engaging with the local culture in a way they haven’t before.
This is where our Adventure Leaders come in. Our next steps are to ensure that our ethos and focus across all of our sports tours is consistent with the wider brand. We pride ourselves on transformative travel experiences that place our groups at the heart of the place they visit.
Pre-tour support and how we can be collaborative:
We discussed the difficulties facing staff getting the sign off to make a trip happen. It can be so off-putting to know that, despite all the work in gathering quotes, perfecting an itinerary, speaking with students and parents, a Leadership Team may still decide a tour can’t run due to admin.
We talked about how useful it could be to have one of our team visit the school and collaboratively work through paperwork. There’s so much we could answer quicker and easier, and a real benefit to being able to ask questions and get answers in real time. It increases the likelihood for both sides of working on a viable trip that will become a reality.
Thank you to all the staff who gave up a weekend in their summer holidays to join and be part of the discussion, you brought such genuine passion and energy to the day.
From 2025, this will become an annual event with the express purpose of constantly revaluating, assessing and taking a fresh look at the touring landscape, driven by the voices of those who know it best. We want to know how we can ensure sports touring with The Learning Adventure means signing up and travelling on the most unique tours on the market, keeping in line with our mission statement of delivering Transformative Travel Experiences.
If you are interested in taking part in our next sporting event, please contact Mike Hendey to discuss further.
Remember, all of our trips are fully customisable. If you would like to speak to an education specialist about planning a school trip then enquire now.
Discover all of our sports school tours!
