TOURS

The information on our website forms part of the contract with us which you accept by signing our booking form. They detail the educational visits and activities included in the tour price. Please contact us for those tours in which you are interested.  If our tours do not meet your requirements, we will try to tailor a tour for you.

We offer:-
a) Full Board (packed lunch if desired) or Half Board or Bed & Breakfast. (Drinks, other than water, for lunch or dinner are not included in the price).
b) Travel by coach from school and back or from station/port/airport, by train, ferry or air.
On all tours, 1 teacher travels free per 8 pupils.

ACCOMMODATION

Most of our accommodation has been inspected by The School Journey Association and agents. Using guidelines of the Standard Vetting Procedure, our accommodation conforms with standards required. Group leaders may pre visit SJA accommodation for which 1 night's stay, if applicable, will be paid.

INSPECTION VISITS

For many of the tours which we advertise, we can offer free to the party leader one night's Bed & Breakfast at the chosen centre. Where this is not possible, the visit can be arranged at cost price (refundable if the tour is booked). The party leader is responsible for travel arrangements, but our office will gladly assist.

COACHES

All drivers are CRB checked and are experienced in transporting pupils of all ages. All coaches used meet high levels of safety, comfort and service.

TRANSPORT ONLY ARRANGEMENTS

We are pleased to offer our services in providing transport-only arrangements, whether by plane, train, coach, ferry or Eurotunnel. Our prices cover travel together with fully comprehensive insurance.

PASSPORTS

Group leaders are responsible for obtaining any necessary passports and visas.

FURTHER INFORMATION

For further information and advice on any matters concerning school travel write, phone or fax.

The School Journey Association,
48 Cavendish Road, London SW12 0DH,
PHONE: 020 8675 6636; FAX: 020 8673 8763

EMERGENCIES

You will be given 24-hour contact telephone numbers for emergency use. Parents will be given (through school) telephone numbers at which they can contact their children throughout the tour.

PRICES

Projected prices are firm, based on exchange rates & fares as at the time of booking.
There are NO HIDDEN EXTRAS. For all tour prices we include:-

• Comprehensive school group insurance
• Transport
• Bed & Breakfast or Half Board or Full Board as stated for each tour
• Specified visits and excursions
• Taxes: APD (where applicable), IPT and VAT (for some UK tours VAT is reclaimable by schools/Local Authorities).

SPECIAL NEEDS

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE

Financial assistance may be available for individual disadvantaged children who, for family circumstances, find it difficult to travel with the school. Write to us in confidence.

PEACE OF MIND

Your monies are fully protected by bonding with ABTA, ATOL & CAA, and by additional insurance. The teachers who run the SJA have all accompanied many groups in the past in the areas for which they are responsible, and have great experience of the needs of school parties.

VALUE FOR MONEY

We are a non-profit making charity. Our teacher organisers are unpaid and make no charge other than expenses.

Health and Safety of Pupils on Educational Visits

The Government now supports the role of adventure as part of active education especially in learning to manage risk. Pupils may no longer take risks unknowingly but need to learn to manage them. Before this can happen, risk needs to be assessed by competent persons.

SJA was a consultee on the 1998 publication and has considered later Supplementary Guidelines. School visits always have a potential for risk that needs analysis and planning by staff as part of their normal preparations. The details of this process must be recorded by the school staff and submitted to their Local Authority (LA) for approval.

The record will be in the form of Risk Assessment report (obtained from the LA) which should be written before a trip is approved. The Risk Assessment will contain details of the risks that have been identified, and the level of technical expertise needed by the accompanying staff, in order to control pupil activities safely. The steps taken before and during a visit should be all planned.

SJA has always carried out generic Risk Assessment reporting. It has prepared its own adaptation of the DFES publications aimed specifically at teachers.

Financial Assistance

Financial assistance may be available for individual disadvantaged children who, for family circumstances, find it difficult to travel with the school. We provide grants to help with up to 50% of the tour cost.

Please contact the SJA office in the first instance to request further details and a form to complete. You may then write to us in confidence. Each case will be carefully and confidentially reviewed by the SJA Board.

Booking Terms & Conditions

1. Bookings are made with the School Journey Association of 48 Cavendish Road, London SW12 0DH, and are designed for Members of the Association. Membership costs £12.00 + VAT per school for 3 years.

No booking can be accepted without a completed and signed booking form (available from the website or from the office) accompanied by the appropriate deposit (see 2). By signing the form, the party leader agrees to the conditions detailed here on behalf of all members of the party or their parent or legal guardian and confirms that s/he is authorised to act on their behalf. A contract exists between yourselves and ourselves once we have confirmed the booking in writing. We will send you an individualised quote and details of insurance cover. Any alteration you wish to make in a proposed or booked tour must be submitted to us in writing and accepted in writing by us before it becomes part of the contract. Please contact us at once if any information in our documents seems incorrect. If we cannot make a satisfactory booking through unavailability of accommodation or transport your deposit will be returned in full.

2. Payments. The Association is a fully-bonded member of ABTA (*) and holder of ATOL 3165. (+) This is your guarantee that payments made to us are secure.

a) Residential Tours A deposit of £35 per paying member of the party is required with the booking, or £100 for bookings including air travel. An interim payment of £100 per person is required 15 weeks before departure, and the balance 7 weeks before departure.

b) Day Trips A deposit of £12 per paying member of the party is required with the booking. The balance is required 7 weeks before the departure date.

If you book less than 7 weeks before the departure date, full payment must be made with the booking. Travel documents will not be dispatched before receipt of full payment. If final payment is not made by the due date we may treat your booking as cancelled and you may be liable for the cancellation charges (see 7).

3. Free Places. One adult per 8 pupils travels free. It is expected that such adults will, in return, exercise proper control over the party in 2 bedded or single rooms, where available.

4. Tour Descriptions. Details on our website are given in good faith: care is taken over accuracy. There can be no guarantee that a particular tour advertised will be available at the date of booking.

5. Tour Prices. Prices given are based on the relevant exchange rates at the operative date. Once the booking has been accepted, prices will not be increased except by agreement, or as in (6) below, or because of a decrease in the group's number. Should currencies change appreciably in your favour, our price will be adjusted accordingly after the tour.

6. Surcharges. The price of your travel arrangements is subject to surcharges on the following items for increases in: transportation costs e.g. fuel, scheduled air fares and any other airline surcharges which are part of the contract between airlines (and their agents) and the tour operator/organiser, Government action such as increases in VAT or any other Government imposed increases, currency in relation to adverse exchange rate variations.

Even in this case, we will attempt to minimise any increases. If this means paying more than 10% of the tour price, you will be entitled to cancel your tour with a full refund of all money paid except for any premium paid to us for tour insurance and amendment charges. Should you decide to cancel because of this, you must exercise your right to do so within 14 days from the issue date printed on the invoice.

7. If you cancel your booking. Where individuals or the whole party are cancelled, you must inform us at once in writing, and the following charges will apply:-
(a) the deposit will be lost; and
(b) if cancellation is advised between 6-12 weeks before date of departure, 45% of the tour cost will be charged
(c) 60% of the tour cost will be charged if advised 4-6 weeks before departure;
(d) if cancellation is advised less than 4 weeks before departure, the full tour cost will be lost.
For enforced cancellation, see Insurance (16). In the case of exceptional family difficulty, the Association will consider some reduction sympathetically.

8. If you alter your booking. If you need to change details of your booking, notify us in writing as soon as possible; we will do our best to help, but may make an administration charge of £5 per person (maximum £100 per booking form) payable together with any costs incurred by us or charges imposed by our suppliers. If airline tickets have already been issued, their full cost is payable. Charges will also increase if the number travelling is reduced below the number for which you were quoted. There may be additional charges if you alter arrangements made by us without our consent.

9. If we alter the booking. Should we be forced to change your tour we will inform you as quickly as reasonably possible and try to obtain your agreement. Except in the case of Force Majeure (see 11), if we need to make a significant material change to your booking and you have made the final payment, you will be offered the following compensation:
(a) £15 per person, if within 7 weeks of departure; £30 per person, if within 2 weeks. A significant material change is a change of port/airport (except between eg Heathrow and Gatwick, or when coach transfer to the port/airport is included in the tour cost); or of resort/destination area; or to a hotel/hostel of lower category; or if time of departure/return varies by more than 12 hours. Should you not wish to accept a material change and the cause is other than force majeure we will either provide an acceptable alternative or refund all monies paid (except insurance premiums) plus compensation as above.

10. If we cancel your booking. The Association reserve the right to cancel your booking and will, in the event, either provide an acceptable alternative or repay all or some of the monies paid to us (as appropriate). Except for Force Majeure see (11), or if you fail to complete your payments, a tour will not be cancelled after the date when full payment becomes due.

11. Force Majeure. Compensation payments do not apply if any aspect of your tour is affected by matters over which we have no control and could not have been forestalled, including: industrial dispute, war or threat of war, riot, civil strife, terrorist activity, government action, weather conditions, natural disaster, fire, traffic conditions, port regulations or technical problems affecting accommodation or transport.

12. Travel Delay. Should delay occur to your travel arrangements due to circumstances beyond our control, we will endeavour to provide:
(a) light refreshments, for delay is from 3 to 5 hours;
(b) a main meal, for delays over 5 hours;
(c) accommodation for extended overnight delays. We will also endeavour to contact an emergency number of your choice in case of serious delays.

13. Our responsibility for your visit/tour. We accept full responsibility for services offered on our website and any printed materials, including liability for actions or deficiencies of ourselves, our employees, agents or suppliers. We further accept responsibility for failure to perform contract on the part of ourselves or our suppliers, other than carriers or hoteliers, (see 14b) which might result in death/body injury/illness of our clients. We have taken all reasonable care to ensure that our suppliers are efficient and reputable concerns complying with the local and national laws of the countries in which they operate. If through our own or our suppliers' fault it becomes impossible to complete your planned tour, we will do our best tomake prompt alternative arrangements and will compensate you afterwards in proportion to the deficiency experienced subject to Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations 1992.

14. Your responsibility for your visit/tour. As group leader, you are responsible for proper supervision of your party their good behaviour and for damage or loss caused by you or party members. Payment for any damage must be made at the time to the person to whom it is due and ensuing legal costs. If you fail to do so, you must indemnify us against any claim made against us as a result. You and your party must observe all the local laws and regulations. If in our opinion a member of your party behaves so as to cause danger or distress or damage we are entitled without notice to terminate the arrangements for such person(s) and we will have no further responsibility to such persons including for return travel arrangements.
Should a group fail to show consideration for others, we may, in the interest of our suppliers and future clients, decline further bookings from schools or individuals involved.

15. International terms and conditions of carriage, etc.
(a) carriage of passengers/property by land/sea/air/rail is subject to the carriers' own terms and conditions, incorporating the provisions of:- the Athens Convention 1974; the Warsaw Convention as amended 1955 by The Hague Protocol; the Berne Convention 1962. Our booking conditions and the carrier's/hotelier's are intended to complement each other, but in case of inconsistency our Booking Conditions and Contract shall prevail.
(b) subject to (13) above, carriage of passengers by coach is subject to the conditions of carriage of the relevant carrier, which may limit the liability of the carrier to passengers.

16. Health. At the time of printing no vaccinations are required for any of our tours, but as conditions may change, you are advised to check with your school medical officer before travelling. You should obtain an EHIC form or booklet T2 from a post office.

17. Insurance. Comprehensive insurance is included in all tour prices, unless you prefer to make your own arrangements: once you have paid your deposit you are covered as to:- protection of pupils, teachers, Governing Bodies and LEAs for: enforced cancellation charges, medical expenses, personal accident, personal monies, baggage, emergency services, departure delay, legal liability up to £2,000,000. This policy carries an excess of £15 per person per claim and is underwritten by Zurich Municipal Insurance Ltd, of Mountbatten House, Grosvenor Square, Southampton, SO15 2RP. Full details will be supplied on receipt of the Booking Form.

If you prefer to buy insurance elsewhere, we need to see the insurance certificate before we can book your tour.

18. Block insurance cover for outings and tours. Underwritten by Zurich Municipal, policy no. SJ 016101-2166. To take part in the scheme you send a cheque for £100, payable to SJA; premiums will be deducted whenever you send a completed proposal form. When a top-up payment is required a statement will be sent to the school. Cost of cover is 15p in UK, 30p Europe, 50p elsewhere world-wide, per person per day. Any hazardous activity carries 100% loading. (The usual £15 minimum per policy does not apply to this scheme) Policy details available from the office.

19. Complaints, Enforcement and Arbitration. Any matter which might give rise to a complaint must be reported as soon as practicable to our representative and/or to the supplier concerned in writing and/or the police as appropriate. Enforcement of the Contract is the business of local Trading Standard Authority in the UK. Should the complaint not be resolved immediately and you wish to pursue the matter, you must write to us within 28 days of your return. Disputes which cannot be settled amicably may be referred to arbitration under a scheme administered by ABTA, which provides inexpensive arbitration on documents alone, with restricted liability for costs on the client.

20. English Law. Without prejudice to the rights of the clients, the contract between the Association and the clients shall be governed by English Law and any dispute shall be determined by the English courts.

21. Definitions. In these booking conditions and contract:-
(a) "We", "our" and "The Association" mean The School Journey Association of 48 Cavendish Road, London SW12 0DH, and include its Officers, employees, agents and insurers.
(b) "The Client" means all persons named/listed by the person signing the booking form as comprising the group.
(c) "Suppliers" means all persons other than the Association but including its employees, agents and subcontractors who provide services or facilities which form part of the tour booked by the Client from the Association and confirmed by the Association in writing.

* ABTA, the Association of British Travel Agents, at the forefront of the travel industry since its formation in 1950, offers holiday-makers the security of a financial protection scheme and professional service. Representing the majority of travel agents and tour operators in Great Britain, ABTA's principal role is to ensure decent standards of service and business throughout its membership.
Before entering into a contract for accommodation on any flight you will be informed:
(a) the name of the intended operator of the aircraft on which the passengers will be carried, the type of aircraft which he intends to operate, and the airport of destination;
or
(b) the fact that we are not at the time of booking in a position to state the operator, the type of aircraft or the airport of destination but will do so as soon as we have the relevant information. Once passengers have been informed of the operator, aircraft type and airport of destination and a significant material change (see 9a above) occurs in any of these respects, the Association will make every effort to provide an acceptable alternative.

Unfortunately, it is possible that some of the prices, or details contained in our tour descriptions may have changed since they were written. You will be informed about any such changes when you book with us.

Our advertised prices are based on fares and exchange rates as at the date of publication.

Consumer Protection

The air holidays and flights* we offer are ATOL Protected, since we hold an Air Travel Organiser's licence granted by the Civil Aviation Authority. Our ATOL number is ATOL 3165. In the unlikely event of our insolvency, the CAA will ensure that you are not stranded abroad and will arrange to refund any money you have paid to us for an advance booking. For further information, visit the ATOL website at www.atol.org.uk

TRAVEL INSURANCE (Optional)

All tours booked through SJA include COMPREHENSIVE insurance. Cover includes the services of Partner Assistance UK for urgent medical repatriation and for legal liability (covering School Governors and Teachers up to £2,000,000). There will be increased insurance charges where hazardous activities are involved. We can arrange competitive insurance for all your out-of-school activities, including “adventure” tours. Our cover is underwritten by Zurich Municipal Insurance Ltd.