Youth Music Tour Information
DfE Guidelines - Safety on School Visits
A major initiative which helps you meet your obligations.
The School Travel Forum (STF) is a group of leading school tour operators who promote good practice and safety in school travel. All Full Members of the STF adhere to a rigorous Code of Practice and Safety Management Standards which meet the safety requirements of the DSCF guidelines and are externally verified each year by suitably qualified independent Health and Safety professionals.
The School Travel Forum Code of Practice has been developed in consultation with all the major Teachers' Associations and Unions, including NAHT, SHA, ATL, NASUWT, NUT, PAT and by the Outdoor Education Advisors' Panel.
Our Managing Director, John Boyden, is both a founding member and a past Chairman of the STF. Although he stepped down from this role at the end of 2008, we continue to actively support the STF’s core values and objectives. We are working hard to establish personal relationships with local LEA’s to aid our continued commitment to safety on school tours.
Concerts
Any regular performing ensemble can go on tour. We’ll ask for a recording to assess which venues would be most suitable for your group. Don’t forget that there is a different emphasis on music education in mainland Europe so, generally, audiences are very impressed by the skill of UK musicians.
Due to a regular inspection visit programme, we have personal knowledge of all our destinations. This local knowledge, combined with over 45 years of experience in the industry, guarantees a unique musical experience for your group. Whether you’re performing in a residential home, or the home of the Czech Philharmonic, your personal tour co-ordinator will provide location maps, local organiser contact details and ensure that your concert venues are appropriate and well publicised.
Audiences
It’s no good making the effort to secure wonderful venues if no-one comes to hear you perform! To complement our diverse range of concert venues, we promote your concerts by distributing eye catching publicity in advance, advertising in local ‘what’s on’ publications and in local press. We’ll even supply you with extra fliers so that you can distribute some last minute publicity on the spot (or keep them for yourselves as a souvenir).
Couriers and Assistance
If you want someone to help with all the practical arrangements of a tour, then opt for a courier and someone will be with you all the way, making your job as the group leader much easier!
Couriers and concert assistants speak the language of the country you’re visiting and can be invaluable to first time party leaders.
Tour couriers are available at all our destinations at a supplementary cost. They are, however, included in some of our tours - so look out for destinations with the ‘Courier Included’ logo.
Your Accommodation
We work with a wide variety of hotels and hostels to ensure all group sizes, budgets and tastes are catered for. Check out the ‘Where to Stay’ panels in this brochure for the most popular accommodation chosen by our groups. Each destination, however, offers a selection of options and your tour consultant will advise you on the best accommodation for your particular group. Our senior staff select and audit accommodation in accordance with our externally monitored Safety Management System to ensure they are in line with the health and safety standards.
Your Travel
We take tremendous care when selecting coach companies and only use executive vehicles for mainland Europe tours unless you specify otherwise. All have lap belts, video/DVD players and, on all European tours, coaches are equipped with air conditioning.
We work with many coach companies who can provide trailers, so safety isn’t compromised by overloading the vehicle. All coaches are for the exclusive use of your party, regardless of group size. If you choose to fly, we work with both scheduled and low-cost airlines and can always arrange coach hire in your chosen destination.
Financial Security
Rayburn Tours are ABTA bonded and can therefore guarantee total financial security. Booking with an ABTA bonded company like ours ensures peace of mind and guarantees financial security in the unlikely event of financial failure. In addition, our air travel packages are ATOL protected, (we hold an Air Travel Organisers Licence granted by the Civil Aviation Authority) which further secures your investment when travelling by air.
6 Simple Steps to Booking
Step 1 – Enquire
Call or e-mail us and speak to one of our dedicated Concert Tour Consultants. They will walk you through the aims and objectives of your tour so that we may provide you with a bespoke tour quotation.
Step 2 - Quote
Once you have received your quote, it is important that you check all the inclusions carefully so that any amendments you require can be tailored into the quotation process.
Step 3 - Approval
Following quotation approval, if required we can provide you with the SMS Policies and Risk Assessments relating to your tour. We can also provide you with PowerPoint Presentations to present the tour to your group, fundraising ideas and concepts or even have one of our Tour Co-ordinators give a presentation to parents or party members to promote the tour.
Step 4 - Deposits
Set a payment date for group members to finalise their deposits.
Step 5 - Booking Completion
Once the deposits are in, raise a cheque for the total value of the 1st deposits, fill in the booking form and send them back to Rayburn Tours to finalise your tour reservation.
Step 6 - Plan your Itinerary
Following your booking confirmation a Concert Tour Co-ordinator will work closely with you to set the finer details of your itinerary, which will be tailored to meet the specific needs of your tour group.
