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Anyone had to organise a school ski trip? Resort advice please!?!

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
I have just acquired the potential school ski trip, I have my favourites for me and Mrs Pitchski, but have never taken a group of teenagers to a resort. I have looked at some of the organisers and I have this fear of taking 40+ kids to somewhere the size of the Trois Vallees or even Alpe D'Huez. Help!! Shocked
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
pitchski, Never done it, but take the easy route and speak to someone like Interski or Equity who specialise in such trips. Pick a smaller resort such as Passo Tonale
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
I was thinking small would be good! I'd found Equity, but thanks for the Interski name.
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There's a specific school travel organisation. In fact there are 2 that I know of. They both do ski trips.
School Journeys Association are known to me (I worked with them) and I can get a number for you if you want.
A popular resort with Schools is Pra Loup and having been there I must admit it's a great resort.
Let me know if you want any contacts.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Michael B, please!
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My Daughter is offto St Michael in Austria (part of Obertauern area) with equity - smallish village, sole use of hotel with booking of 40 - they have been back 8 times..... so can't be too bad.
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
You might want to check out this thread (I've written some advice on the 2nd page)

http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=18286&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=school&start=40

FS
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
pitchski, try PGL ski division and have a chat to them.

I'd reccommend going to Austria. They have English speaking instructors and are generally much cheaper than France for school trips.

You need to think about the following:-

1) When are you planning on going? Term time is the cheapest/easiest, but takes the kids out of lessons. Feb 1/2 term and the 1st week of Easter hols are the busiest.....go the 2nd week of the Easter hols and it will be a lot quieter. New Year is usually expensive.

2) What age/ability are the kids? You will be allocated a set no of instructors for your group based on numbers. This is great if they are all beginners, or you have 10 advanced skiers. If you have 1 advanced, 3 intermediate and the rest beginners, you will end up with some beginners in a class with the intermediat and advanced, or very big classes + 1 small. It's worth looking into how much it will cost to hire an extra instructor if this is the case.

3) What sort of evening ents do you want? If you want to go ice skating, swimming, bowling etc, then you need to decide this in advance. A lot of busier resorts will book up facilities early, and smaller resorts won't have them! Don't expect to ice skate at Easter. If you can it's a bonus! A

4) Are you charging "all in" or are the kids paying for extras? Many groups will add £10/£20/£50 onto the cost of the trip and then include all ents, ski school badges, tour t-shirt etc in the cost. Others make the kids pay extra on an individual basis if they want them. The 1st option is easier!!

5) Do you want exclusive use of accommodation? Benefits are that there is only your group to keep happy, but it usually costs more. Having another group in the hotel can enhance the experience for the kids and can give you other teachers to swap ideas with/become drinking partners with/become lifelong friends with.

6) Travel - coach or air? Coach is easier, you don't lose luggage, you have a vehicle in resort so don't need to rely on ski bus, you can travel to evening ents....but expect a 16-20 hour journey Toofy Grin

7) What resort? It's a personal preference thing. In general, small resorts are easier, but have less happening and a smaller ski area. Big resorts have better facilities, but more groups and more chance for your darlings to get themselves into trouble. As I said earlier, having done Switzerland, Italy and Austria, I would choose Austria every time (as opposed to personal skiing where Switzerland would win!). They are set up for English groups and everything is easy!

Feel free to fire more questions in this direction if you wish.
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lots of schools go to serre chevalier, id imagine it'd be a good place to take kids.
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I've run school ski trips for 9 years now. Been to bigger resorts such as Les Deux Alpes and Serre Chevalier, and much smaller ones such as Passo Tonnale, Wagrain, Saalbach, Zell Am See and Chatel. I'd go for the smaller ones every time for a number of reasons - easier to track your different ski groups and meet them at lunch / end of day, village is often safer and quieter, prices are better and queues are usually shorter.

I'd also agree that Austria is best for the instruction the kids get - english speaking, often only assigned to your group, and more willing to go that little bit further to gives the kids a good week. So much better that we've been going to Austria for the last 4 years and don't bother with France or Italy anymore after bad experiences with the instructors.

You will be assigned an instructor to roughly one per 10-12 kids so it helps if they split roughly into ability groups of roughly that size.

We've used Skiplan, Interski and PGL. Interski were great but only have a limited range of resorts. PGL are also very good and who we've been using for the past few years.
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From another viewpoint, we have a friend whose son worked for Interski. He enjoyed it, and was very impressed with the work the organisation put in to give the kids a good time - he said it much enhanced his job satisfaction, as did Interski's good management practices. He had had less happy ski season experiences with ordinary tour operators.
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 And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
Interski might be a good first time company to use as you really can't go wrong with them.
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
I've been on many school trips and PGL have performed the best. Good luck.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
I can't give any advice on companies, but our school ski trips, which were invariably great successes, went to resorts such as Val d'Isere, Vars/Risoul (reasonably sized resort in French alps but not mainstream), twice to Heavenly in California (obviously snowsure, beautiful etc.) and Montgenevre (small, cosy town but with links into larger milky way circuit, and snowsure too). House trips and trips combining work with skiing also went to a variety of resorts such as Verbier and Courchevel.

They all went well, and some of those resorts are large, some small, some far away.
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
My mate organised a few trips and he went to Tignes and Val Thoren, big resorts meant more facilities and things to do. Also think of your own requirements too, just a little
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
We go with Skiplan - seem to be a good company, we've never had any problem. We usually go the 1st week of Easter. With the exception of last year the reorts (all in Austria) have never been crowded. The snow has also been generally godd but if Easter is late (unlike this year) I think the second week of easter would have poor snow. This results in twisted ankles, knees etc. I would take a coach - its cheaper, you don't have to worry about the kids in the airport for hours and the coach is available to ferry the group around. We have been to Saalbach - nice resort but the instruction was not as good, Kitzbhuel -excellent resort but the hotel was right on the main road and Radstadt - excellent hotel but to low so there was no snow around and we had to get on the coach each morning although this was not a major problem. Whatever you do make sure you are provided with a rep. in resort who knows the reort. This will take a lot of the pressure off you. Also only take kids you trust, don't allow anyone to pressure you to take those you don't want. Also - make sure you enjoy it -the kids we take love it.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
I see the attraction of small austrian resorts - they are pretty, cheap and supposedly good for english speakers - but remember, snow conditions can be dodgy. Higher resorts in France will probably have far more snow, which is always handy on a ski trip, and are fine for english speakers. They will also have lots going on and are easier to access.
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Major schools operators are SkiPlan/Equity, SkiBound (now part of Crystal), PGL, Interski. SkiPlan probably offer the widest variety of resorts, and both they and SkiBound will do inspection visits for potential party leaders who want to do risk assesments/have a look at the resort/accommodation in advance. I have an IV in at the moment who is blatantly here on a cheap jolly - been to the resort umpteen times before, probably got the trip on the basis that he stayed in a different hotel last time and needs to have a look at the new one. And why not, indeed. Laughing
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Lizzard, PGL also do preview visits for staff.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Elizabeth B, I'd assume they all do, but those are the only ones I know about.
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A friend has taken his to various places, but having found Gaschurn in Austria now won't go anywhere else.
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
We have just booked our lad onto a ski trip to megeve in 2008. the school are using PGL who they have used for many previous trips. The only down side I can see is the coach journey but I guess kids wont mind really !
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
PGL & SJA are the 2 main contenders here. Both do fam visits in conjunction with the local tourist board.

SJA are at :-
School Journey Association
48 Cavendish Road
London SW12 0DH

Tel: 0845 658 1063
Fax: 0845 658 1064
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Thanks for all the advice, I have been in touch or ordered info from most of the companies mentioned.

I'll not get most of the info until the new year as I am now on holiday Very Happy . But NOT skiing this year Crying or Very sad .
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Has anyone used Club Europe to travel with? Would like feedback if poss.

Thanks, as always!!
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 snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
kwakazx6r, having taken 40+ school kids by air and coach, coach wins every time. It may not be the most comfortable modes of transport but at least the little blighters are contained. Going via plane is a test of endurance for staff. Loading at school, unloading at the airport, checking in and the inevitable couple of hours wait. Then loading up again for the transfer and straight into ski fit.

As an aside, don't think for one second that a subsidized or even free trip for staff/adults is a cushy number.
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 And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
Hi there.

I'm also a teacher and have organised and attended probably about 10 ski trips in my time. They are hard work-but great fun (usually). Group sizes from 15-55, ages 13-18, some whole School and others just a single boarding house. I work at a private secondary boarding school so we have more freedom over what we can allow our boys to do compared to the state sector where LEAs tend to apply more restrictions-E.g. we can say that experienced skiers don't have to take lessons and can ski unsupervised in groups.

I've done trips both ways-either using a company (E.g. I can strongly recommend Equity and Crystal) or doing a DIY-booking flights/accommodation using a company like Skisolutions, and then booking skipasses and kit hire over the internet. The former is easier, but not as flexible and sometimes you won't get exactly what you want. The latter is more work for you, but you get exactly what you want, usually better accommodation and it can work out cheaper if you do your sums carefully.
We've normally gone to large French resorts because our pupils are usually experienced skiers who are looking for big mileage-Serre Chevalier (Villeneuve-Equity have a great hotel here called Grand Aigle), Val D'isere a few times (La Daille is a great location for school groups), Courchevel 1650/1850, Les Menuires. Also Whistler twice. For younger, less experienced skiers-a small, self-contained resort might be better. As ever, horses for courses.

I think what you do/where you go depends greatly on who you are taking-they ages and ski experience, so where one resort might be good for one school group, it would be inappropriate for another. An evening plan is important-they might plan to go out boozing all week...but by Tuesday, they're usually completely knackered-so having a bit of shopping nearby, a cinema, or a games hall in the hotel would be invaluable.
Now they all have mobile phones, keeping track of everyone during the week is muuuuuuuuuuuch easier!

Oh, and I know previous posters would disagree-for secondary pupils-who should be old enough and have flown before, flying wins hands down for me as you shouldn't need to hold their hand throughout the airport process. Primary kids may be a different issue though.

And the snow needs to be as bombproof as possible. If there's one thing worse than skiing when there is no snow, it's taking 40 teenagers skiing when there's no snow! I would also warn that it's important to choose your staff carefully and make sure they know the ground-rules so that they are applied consistently in the resort.

Cheers
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