NST Travel Group

Good trip kids enjoyed and got a lot out of it

great company, well organised!

NYC provides several attractions that offer an educational and cultural insight into a range of areas including history, design and technology, Geography, Performing Arts, and Art and Design.

All was thoroughly planned and no issues with either itinerary or accommodation were evident, apart from that beyond their control.

All was thoroughly planned and no issues with either itinerary or accommodation were evident, apart from that beyond their control.

We specifically checked prior to agreeing to the Sky Lagoon visit that the changing rooms would be private – initially NST said that they were not, so we specifically request private changing facilities. On arrival, the helpful staff at the Sky Lagoon said that no, the private changing facilities for students had NOT been booked, but that the staff had private changing facilities. They were incredibly apologetic, but since the private changing facilities were fully booked, they could not provide us with private changing facilities for our students. We could have paid the additional charge to upgrade the students to private facilities had we waited an hour and a half for them to become available. We did not have the funds for that, so I conducted a dynamic risk assessment of the facilities with the safeguarding of the students in mind. The changing facilities were large rooms with benches at the centre, lockers around the outside, private toilets and a cubicled shower area (note that the showers were open at the top so you could see the head of the person next to you). Rather than disappoint the students I took the decision to allow the visit to go ahead using the facilities that were available. I briefed the students on the error made by NST and explained that they would have to use the toilets as private changing rooms. I checked with all students that they were comfortable with the arrangements, and all were and so the visit proceeded…. Albeit later than intended. I then contacted Sue Calvino, our Head of Pastoral Support and Designated Safeguarding Lead to let her know of the action I had taken, and she agreed that under the circumstances I had made the right decision. The visit then went ahead, and the students did indeed have a wonderful time with no issues or incidents. It is incredibly well organised and controlled. The staff at the Sky Lagoon were clearly frustrated that NST had not booked the private changing rooms too and advised next time that we book directly with them to avoid whatever confusion occurred with NST. Reading your comment below I am glad to read that your agents should always book private changing facilities for school groups, and I would be interested to understand why this did not happen for us, particularly as we specifically checked. Additionally, I assume that we were charged the rate for private facilities, so should we be due some discount / or rebate assuming we book again? I also wanted to flag a couple more problems that we had with the trip. Firstly, it was unfortunate that the itinerary changed so late in the day. As you are already aware from my previous email, this disappointed both the students and parent/carers. To mitigate their disappointment I then spent the time creating and risk assessing a walking tour of Reykjavík myself that we could then insert into the programme for our students – we did this and they thoroughly enjoyed it, but that was not without an addendum to our Risk Assessment being approved and our considerably man hours for something that had been originally part of NSTs offer and therefore risk assessed. Secondly, the visit to the Kerid volcano site was listed in your guidance as being 400ISK per person, however the price has increased to 600ISK per person. This is payable on arrival in cash so that I was short of funds when it came to paying. Luckily, I was able to borrow the shortfall and the visit went ahead, but the gentleman in the kiosk said this increase was not new so it is something I would have expected NST to be aware of. Other than the above we did indeed have a great trip that the students found very fulfilling.

no

Incredible landscape. Great wider curriculum visit.

Guide that was provide on the tour was the only let down.

The venue was perfect for an exploration of the causes and outcomes of the Holocaust.