Our journey through the coronavirus pandemic
It seems like a different lifetime when back in February we had seven teams heading away for half term. In the blur of all that has happened since, it is easy to forget how many felt that it wouldn’t affect us here.
Leading up to February half term students were looking forward to their trips to Nepal, Finland and India, but understandably some parents were nervous. We put in place protocols in line with guidance at the time, to ensure those trips went ahead safely. However, if you had asked me at the time if all of this summer’s adventures would need to be cancelled, I will admit I would have replied with an emphatic ‘no’.
Fast forward eight months and what a different world we now live in. It is fair to say that it has been a challenging time, but, isn’t that the case for everyone? We’ve certainly learnt so much over these last few months and have many thank you’s to make.
It’s about working together
Schools have faced challenges like never before and we have listened in awe to the stories of remote learning and how teachers, and parents, have adapted to the challenges in education since March.
While working to overcome these issues, many teachers, and school leadership teams, were worried about school trips. Will they go ahead? Will parents facing financial hardship have to make final payments? Will each family receive refunds if trips are cancelled? Can we defer trips to another year?
These are all questions we received and, at times, we were not able to answer in full as circumstances were often changing daily.
However, working together we got through it. We pride ourselves on the relationships we build with schools, and it was through these relationships that we able to act for the benefit of the students. I’m so pleased to be able to report that everyone has been, or will be, fully refunded. The last two schools who cancelled this summer should receive their full refunds shortly!
The Thank you’s
This is where our ‘thank-yous’ start. Thank you to teachers and school leaders for your understanding and thank you for your efforts to find solutions and conclusions. To the school bursars and business managers, thank you for working with us to support the parents of your students and ensure a positive outcome for all.
To all parents, you have played a huge part in our journey. Your patience, understanding and support have allowed my team to work diligently to conclude claims as quickly as possible. Thank you.
Which leads me to the True Adventure team. I have said for some time how lucky we are to have the people we do working for True Adventure. I will not single out individuals, as together we have worked so hard to manage each challenge that has come our way. You should all be immensely proud and I am certainly proud to work with you all.
At True Adventure we also consider our overseas partners and our leaders to be significant parts of our team. The impact on many all over the world has been immense. We thank you for everything you do and we look forward to working with you again soon. We will be back!
What about the students?
Lastly and not least, the students who would have travelled with us. I’m sorry your trips have been cancelled this year. I’m also sorry that all the hard work you put into fundraising and preparation has not been put to use. I want to thank you for your patience and understanding at what I know was a worrying time for you.
Thank you to all of you who have continued to raise funds to support the projects you were due to visit, and donated funds originally earmarked for your adventure to projects and charities overseas.
Many of you will be given the opportunity to travel next summer. We hope the experiences you will have when the trips do go ahead will make up for this year’s disappointment.
If your trip was cancelled and you want to travel in the future then please know that at True Adventure we are here to help and offer support. It is just as important to us all that you get the life changing opportunities you were promised this year.
What’s Next
So, what about the future? We have been working hard to ensure we are Covid ready to visit schools so we can once more inspire and encourage students to join future lifechanging trips. We have some exciting plans and I look forward to telling you about those in the coming months.
In the meantime, stay safe and look after each other.
