Passports and EHICs.

Please ensure that you hand in your child’s passport and current EHIC by Friday 27th April at the latest, unless your child has a requirement to use their passport over the May bank holiday weekend in which case please inform the school.

Pupils in Company A (1K2, 1S1 and 1S2) should hand these to Mr Denny and pupils in Company B (1K1,1R1 and 1R2) should hand theirs into Ms Trimble. Both of the teachers can be found in Social Subjects. Passports and cards will be held in the school safe until we leave.

Please note: your son/daughter will not be allowed to depart on the coach unless we have their passport and EHIC.

The following is a summary of those topics covered by school staff at the recent parents evening.

Coaches.

Pupils are assigned to coaches in PSR classes, there are a very small number of pupils to whom this does not apply these parents have been informed.

Coach A. (Who will be known during the trip as Company A).
1K2 1S1 1S2 Staff, Mrs Smith, Mrs Hambly, Mr Denny.

Coach B. (Company B).

1K1 1R1 1R2 Staff, Mr McRobbie, Mrs Ferrie, Miss Delaney, Miss Trimble.

Changes to coach allocations are only possible in exceptional cases and must be for an educational and not social reason.

Pupils will need to have 3 bags with them, their main case/bag with all clothing for the trip (see packing list), a rucksack/bag for overnight travel and daytime use during the trip, (please pack any items which will be required during travel, e.g. medicines, warm
clothing, etc in the rucksack) and a bag for their wellies. The main case and wellie bag will be stored in the hold and will not be accessible until we reach the hostel.

Eating and drinking are not allowed on the coach, although water is allowed.

Please do not pack sweets and fizzy juice in your child’s rucksack. There are many opportunities for food at the frequent service area stops. As we have a number of pupils travelling on the coaches who have severe nut allergies we request that you do not pack any nut products in either your child’s rucksack or case.

Please ensure that you impress upon your child the need to try to get some sleep on the overnight coach, Friday is a very long day and it will be around 10pm before they see their beds again!

Please supply your child with hand cleansing gel and encourage them to use this at all times, especially before mealtimes, and returning to the coach from all activities.

Medicines. If your child takes prescription medicines please arrange for a spare and give this to school staff in a labelled bag (with dosage instructions) several days before the trip departs. If your child is susceptible to travel sickness please ensure
they are given appropriate travel sickness remedies. The first aiders are Mrs Hambley for Company A and Mr McRobbie for Company B. The female members of staff will have feminine hygiene products available should these be required, but please ensure that your daughter has a supply of her usual products should the need arise, female staff will be available at any time to support your daughter if needed.

Accommodation. Request forms were handed out to your son/daughter, these were to be returned to the box in the school office by 23rd March at the latest, if any forms have not been returned we will assume your child is happy to share with anyone. We will not be in a position to allocate rooms until we reach the hostel, we should be able to room your child with at least one pupil from their choice of room mates. Pupils will be required to make their own beds each day and to tidy their rooms.

Hoodies and T shirts have been received from the suppliers, these will be issued prior to us leaving, if you can it is advised to run the hoodie through a quick wash to get rid of loose fibres. Please note your child MUST wear the hoodie at all times when travelling and when out during the day. There is no requirement to wear school uniform.

Passports and EHIC. Please hand these in to either Mr Denny for Company A or Miss Trimble for Company B in Social Subjects by Friday 27th April at the latest, these will be held in the school safe until we depart, if you require your son’s/daughter’s passport for the May weekend please contact Mr Denny. This is a good time to check that your child’s passport and EHIC is in date. Please note no valid passport no travel!

Personal money. During the trip in addition to all meals provided at the hostel and packed lunches you child will be given £10 for breakfast on the ferry, €10 for lunch in Brugges and £10 toward dinner on the way home. Opportunities to spend money during the trip are limited and we suggest €10 at Hooge museum shop, €10 at the Thiepval visitor center and €40 to €50 for gifts in Ypres. Your child may also need around £5 to £10 for stops at the motorway services during the overnight trip.

With this in mind we suggest €60, and also £20, place this in a sealed envelope with your child’s name and PSR class together with the amount enclosed written on the front, each coach will have a banker who will issue monies to your son/daughter on a daily basis. Monies in envelopes should be handed to Mr Denny for coach A and Miss Trimble for coach B. Again please ensure this is handed in well in advance of the trip leaving. Parents do have the discretion for their child to carry all their trip money with them on the understanding that any loss is at their own risk.

Electronic equipment. We would recommend a camera is taken, also it’s a good idea for your child to carry their mobile phone in order to contact you with our arrival home time. Please do not allow your child to take tablets, laptops, portable DVD players as there will be no time for these to be used during the trip and these items have caused problems in the dormitories in the past, any of these which are brought on the trip will be held for safe keeping by school staff to be returned on return to Dunblane.

Please note personal electronic equipment is not covered in the tour or council insurance scheme, and we recommend you take out one trip travel insurance.

Arrival home. We aim to be back at the school by 11pm, we will be in a position to issue a more accurate time at around 9 pm that evening, please arrive promptly to pick your child up. The head teacher has agreed that pupils need not report for school until interval 1045 on the Wednesday.

Please regularly access the blog and also our twitter feed @BattlefieldsDHS

MTI itinerary v2

Please click on the link above for a copy of the Mercat Tours Itinerary for the May trip.

The parental information evening will take place on Monday 26th March in the Murray Hall starting at 7pm prompt. Please aim to arrive by 6.50 to ensure the meeting can start on time.

This is a very important meeting, where you will be given the chance to speak to a representative of Mercat Tours International, and also the school staff who are going on the trip. Hopefully all of the questions you wish to ask will be answered at this meeting.

Pupil accomodation request 2018

Accommodation request forms have been issued to your child this morning.

Please ask to see this form and if you agree with the choices your child has made sign the form and have it returned to the box at the school office by Friday 23rd at the very latest. If we do not receive a completed form from a pupil we will assume that they are happy to share with any other pupils.

Please click on the link above to see an brief explanation of the form.

Please note that we will not be able to confirm your child’s accommodation request until we arrive at the hostel, this is owing to the number of rooms and the number of beds in each room which we are allocated, in the last few years we have always been able to place all children with at least their first choice room mate.

You should, either today or tomorrow, receive a letter, via your daughter/son, inviting you to attend the parents information evening in the Murray Hall at 1900 on Monday 26th March.

Please detach and return the reply slip, this helps us to gauge numbers attending.

Even if you’ve attended the parents evening before it’s still a good idea to attend as we are making a couple of important changes over previous years.

If you don’t receive this letter it may be a good idea to search for it at the bottom of your child’s bag!

The 5th £75 instalment is due to be paid on Friday 23rd February, could you please ensure that this is paid on time as we have to make the final payment to the tour company at the end of the month.

There are still a few of you who have not, as yet, made the January instalment can you please check that your outstanding balance is £150 or less, if it is more can you please make the missing payments as soon as possible.

By the end of the school day tomorrow (Friday 23rd) your outstanding balance should be £75 and the final payment is due on Friday 30th March.

Something we try to incorporate into each year’s trip is a visit to the grave or memorial of ancestors of our pupils. This is often a very poignant and moving experience,

If you have lost any family member in the Great War (WW1) can you please let us have as much information on them as possible. We’d ask for Name, Date and place of Birth, Regiment, Date of Death, Service Number, Where buried or commemorated. We understand that you may not have all of these details but please give us as much as possible.

This relative does not need to have been a great grandparent, or great uncle, any close relative or distant family member is appropriate.

If your relative is buried or commemorated near to any of the places in our itinerary we will make every effort to visit their place of rest, although time and accessibility may mean we are unable to do so.

May I ask one thing of you all though, can you please give us as much notice as possible so the coach company and tour guides can try to factor in a visit, please don’t leave it until the last minute!

Just a quick reminder that payment instalment number 4 of £75 was due on Friday 26th of January, there are still a few outstanding payments and we would be grateful if you could make this payment as soon as possible please.

If you are in any doubt whether you’re up to date you should now have an outstanding balance of £225.

We’d also like to remind you that the parental information evening is on Monday 26th March starting at 7pm prompt

The parental information evening is now confirmed as Monday 26th March 2018, starting at 1900 prompt.

A representative from Mercat Tours International will be in attendance to brief you in all aspects of the trip, including the itinerary and required kit. School staff will also be in attendance to answer all questions regarding medication, money and personal electronic equipment.

Your child will shortly be issued with a letter confirming this meeting, please make every effort to attend this informative and important meeting.