I issued a statement about school trips just before Easter and indicated then that I had hoped to have some resolution to this within a couple of weeks (I should have known that was a risky statement!).

In practice, the companies are still not cancelling the trips and insisting that we will face cancellation charges if we do so at this point. Although any possibility of the trips going ahead is becoming increasingly unlikely in theory (and even more so in practice), we are continuing to work to ensure that we can receive full refunds and be able to return all monies to parents.

This is being addressed at ERC level as well as school level and is affecting all schools. Rumours of some schools having received full refunds have proved unfounded.

I apologise that I have not been able to respond individually to all parents who have contacted to enquire about refunds, but I would assure you this is continuing to be at the forefront of our attention and would ask for your patience for a bit longer. I hope that the end result will make it worth waiting for.

I will let you know as soon as we have a result.

Mr Sinclair