As the date for departure draws ever closer there have been a few concerns voiced by a small number of pupils who are going on the trip, hopefully I’ll be able to answer some of these concerns and reassure you all.

Your child may be feeling apprehensive, it may be their first foreign trip without you and it’s natural to feel a bit of anxiety, I can assure you the staff going on the trip feel exactly the same!

As we allocate pupils to coaches by PSR class there’s often the feeling that a pupil may be separated from their friends. During the long drive from Dunblane to Hull the two coaches travel in convoy, there will be at least 3 stops en route, two short toilet breaks and one 45 minute meal break, pupils are free to socialise with their friends from the other coach during these stops. On the coach pupils are free to sit with anyone they like, and we actually encourage them to swap seats regularly.

When on the ferry overnight during leisure and meal time your child will once again be free to associate with their friends. Cabins on the ferry are allocated by PSR class, gender and then alphabetical order, pupils need only be in their cabins from “curfew” time, which will be 2200 and are then expected to be in bed, and sleeping by 2230, P&O ships staff will be patrolling the cabin area for security and to ensure that pupils adhere to these requirements.

Once we reach the hostel pupils will be allocated to their respective rooms, we usually manage to give each pupil their first choice of room mate, up until lights out, again usually 2230, pupils are free to socialise with their friends from the other coach.

When we are actually out during the 3 days we are in Belgium and France, your son/daughter will, apart from the trip to the Somme and back, be facing only short duration journeys on the coach.

Your child may be feeling that they are isolated from the friends during travel, however our experience over many years taking S1 on this trip, is that this turns out to be a positive experience for them and they make new and lasting friendships during the trip. There is a feeling of camaraderie which often lasts right through to the end of sixth year.

Please read the information form the government regarding Brexit.

Passports: check your renewal date

You may need to renew your British passport earlier if you’re travelling after 12 April and there’s no deal.
You should renew your passport if, on the day you travel, your passport either:
has less than 6 months left
is more than 9 years and 6 months old
If you do not renew it, you may not be able to travel to most EU countries and Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.
You can use a tool to check whether your passport is valid for the country you’re visiting.
It usually takes 3 weeks if you need to renew your passport. There’s a premium service if you need it sooner.

Healthcare: check you’re covered

Whether there’s a deal or not, you should always get appropriate travel insurance with healthcare cover before you go abroad.
If there’s a deal, you’ll continue to get state-provided healthcare in the EU if you have a free European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) card. The scheme also covers Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.
If there’s no deal, your EHIC card may not be valid.

If you have a pre-existing medical condition

The EHIC scheme covers pre-existing conditions, while many travel insurance policies do not.
If there’s no deal, your EHIC card may not be valid. It’s important that you check your travel insurance covers your condition. You may have to find a specialist insurer to cover you, depending on your condition.

Please note full and final payment is due by the end of the school day today, Friday 29th March, unless you have a prior arrangement in place, please ensure that you make this payment on time, at present there are still 22% of payments outstanding.

Please note the final payment is due this Friday, 29th March, unless you have a prior arrangement with the school please ensure that you have made all payments due by this date.

https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/the-pals-battalions-of-the-first-world-war

When the pupils leave Dunblane on the trip they will be known as the 11th Dunblane Pals, why they are called this will be fully explained to your
child by the tour guides during the trip however have a look at the link above which highlights some of the Pals Battalions.

Mercat Tours fully immerse the pupils in the history of the Great War, each coach is a company of the Dunblane Pals and as this is the 11th trip we’ve taken from Dunblane High School, your son/daughter has been called up to serve in the 11th Dunblane Pals Battalion of the Black Watch. There is a little bit of artistic licence in use here as the Black Watch did not raise any Pals Battalions, in fact the majority of the Scottish Infantry regiments didn’t.

There were however some famous Scottish Pals Battalions. One of the most famous was the 16th Battalion of the Royal Scots also known as McCrae’s Battalion, another notable Scottish Pals Battalion was the 15th Highland Infantry which recruited heavily from the Glasgow Tramways Staff, this battalion prided itself in having uniforms, when many had to drill in their own civilian clothes owing to uniform shortages, even if the uniforms of the 15th HLI were dark green Glasgow Tram Uniforms.

During the trip your child will learn about these and others such as the Manchester’s and the Accrington Pals.

One thing I forgot to mention at the parents evening was that final payment must be made prior to travelling. The due date is Friday 29th March, and while at present some 59% of you have made full payment there are still some payments from December outstanding.

Please ensure that you make full payment, unless you have a prior arrangement with the school, by Friday 29th at the latest as we have some quite substantial payments to make over the next few weeks.

As ever if you are finding difficulty in meeting your payments please get in touch with us and we’ll sort something out for you.

click on the link below for the Mercat Tours brief.

MTI Brief

Coaches: Pupils have been assigned to coaches in the PSR classes they were in when they applied for a place.

Coach A. 1K1, 1R1, 1S1. Staff Mrs Smith, Mr Denny, Mrs Ferrie, Mr Smith.

Coach B. 1K2, 1R2, 1S2. Staff, Mr McRobbie, Mrs Sutherland, Miss Delaney.

The coaches will depart from school at 0930 on Monday 13th May, please turn up at least 30 minutes before as we are on a tight schedule and cannot wait on stragglers. We recommend you turn up no later than 0845.

Note the car park will be very busy, parents are asked to park in the overflow car park at the rear of the school, please follow the instructions of the parking marshals.

Note, we do not allow eating on the coach, so do not pack 2kg bags of Harribo in the hand luggage! No juice of any description allowed, water is encouraged.

We have a few pupils who have severe nut allergies, so would ask that you do not pack products containing nuts.

Your child will require 3 bags for the trip, a large rucksack or case containing all of the clothes for the trip, this will be placed in the hold of the coach until arrival at the hostel (Tuesday P.M.), a small backpack taken onto the coach containing everything required for overnight on the ferry, wash gear, spare underwear etc, and a final small bag containing wellies which will be placed in the hold of the coach for use on day 1.

As well as their hoodie your child should take a rainproof jacket onto the coach with them as this may b e needed at various points during the trip.

Medicines. If your child is on any prescription medicines please ensure that they bring these with them and that school staff are aware of what requirements are for taking these, also please supply a spare prescription medicine for each pupil labelled with name and dosage, this is especially important if your child carries an epipen. Please ensure any travel sickness medications are packed in pupils hand luggage. Please purchase anti bacterial hand gel for your child and tell them to use it!

Children with minor ailments, (sore heads, sore tummies) will be expected to travel each day, owing to the required staff to pupil ratios if one child has to be left behind then the whole coach has to stay behind! Major health issues will of course be referred to the excellent Belgian Health Service.

There will be at least 4 first aid qualified staff on the trip.

Accommodation: Mrs Smith handed out accommodation request forms for the dormitories in the hostel, these forms must be returned to Mrs Smith as soon as possible, if you don’t return a form we will assume your child is happy to share a room with any other children in her/his year group. The cabins on the ferry are allocated by the tour company and P&O ferries, children will be allocated to male or female 4 berth cabins alphabetically and by PSR class, children will be expected to be in their cabins by 2200 and sleeping by 2230.

Hoodies and T Shirts: Ms Delaney will organise these to be handed out a short time before the trip, t shirts should if possible have a name tag sewn in and the it’s a good idea to wash the hoodies before first wearing them, Hoodies are not to be worn until the evening of travel, and should not be worn as part of school uniform, they must be worn at all times when travelling on the trip.

Passports and EHIC cards. Valid passports and EHIC cards should be handed in to Mr Denny for coach A and Mrs Sutherland for coach B on the 7th May, note as we are still in the dark regarding Brexit if your child has less than 6 months left on their passport by the date we leave then you must apply for a new passport now, No valid passport, no travel! In the event of a no deal Brexit then EHIC cards will no longer be valid, Mercat Tours International have, at their own expense, arranged medical insurance to cover any medical emergencies, however we still recommend you take out private travel insurance to cover your child for all eventualities. Should there be a Brexit deal then EHIC cards will be valid until 2020 however no futher applications for new or replacement EHIC cards is being allowed by the UK government after the 29th March this year, if your child’s card is due to run out or has run out apply now.

Personal money. We suggest roughly €70 this money to be handed to Mr Denny coach A or Mrs Sutherland coach B in a sealed envelope with the pupils name and initial together with amount written on it. Most coach stops are short comfort breaks only however pupils will need some Sterling for the one long stop on the way out and again on the return journey. Pupils will be given £10 towards lunch on the way out, they will be provided with all other meals including a packed lunch for the journey home. If parents wish their child to carry all their own money it must be at their own risk.

Electronic equipment. Cameras and mobile phones are permitted, do not bring portable DVD players, laptops, or tablets as there will be limited time to use these. The school/tour and coach company will not insure you for any equipment taken to the trip.

Banned items. Pupils purchasing banned items will have these confiscated, banned items include alcohol, tobacco products, drug paraphernalia, laser pens, lighters, knives and any other items deemed by the staff to be inappropriate.

Return to Dunblane. We are due back in Dunblane around 1700 on Saturday 18th. Please ensure that you turn up promptly to pick up your child, we will try to get them to contact you around 2 hours before we are due to arrive back at school, they may not always have battery left in their phone so we will put a message out on the school’s twitter feed (if network connection is available).

Reminder the parents information evening is tomorrow Thursday 7th March starting at 7pm prompt, please aim to arrive by no later than 6.45.

This is an important evening where you will be fully briefed by a representative of Mercat Tours International, and school staff. There are significant changes to the tour this year so even if you have had children on the trip before please try to attend.

If you are unable to attend the information will be posted on this blog next week.

The parental information evening will take place on Thursday 7th 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.

Reminder: the 5th installment of £75 is due this Friday 22nd February, please ensure that you make this payment on time. Thanks to those parents who have already paid.

Once you have made this payment your outstanding balance should be £75 or less.

Update Tuesday 26th
As of lunchtime today there are 25 payments outstanding from last Friday, 8 from the January payment and 1 from December, we have to make the final payment to the tour company this week and would be very grateful if all outstanding payments are made by the end of this week.