Home / Our approach
Imagination in the experience. Rigour behind it.
Heads and governors are accountable for every trip. We design our planning around what you’re judged by, so duty of care is built in, not bolted on.
Musée d'Orsay, ParisThe experience students remember.
Every journey starts from learning objectives, then finds the places and activities that bring them to life.
Hiking & expeditions
Challenge that builds a group
Fieldwork & science
Real data, real places
Cities & galleries
History and art in front of you
Language & community
Speaking it, not studying it
Art, design & architecture
Seeing how places are made
Theatre & performance
Text brought to life
Signature experiences.
Small things we build into journeys that students remember long after the trip.
Walking Hunt
Our signature. Instead of a standard city tour, a gamified challenge built around your learning objectives, so students discover a place for themselves.
Photo Marathon
New. Each team gets a disposable analogue camera and a set of themes to shoot, slowing them down to really look.
Professional practitioners
Theatre workshops, field science and outdoor skills led by people who do it for a living.
Trip Time Capsule
A memory wall and a letter to their future self, so the trip keeps working after students get home.
Seven disciplines behind every trip.
These run through every journey, from a two-day residential to a two-week expedition.
How our seven disciplines map to the guidance.
ISO 31031 (managing risk for youth and school trips) applies the ISO 31000 risk-management principles, framework and process to school travel. The seven disciplines are BFC’s own way of organising the work, not a list of the standard’s clauses. Here is where each one sits.
ISO 31031 is guidance, not a certification scheme. BFC designs its processes in line with it.
| BFC discipline | Where it sits in ISO 31031 / 31000 |
|---|---|
| 01 Programme design | Scope, context and criteria: objectives, participants, activities |
| 02 Provider assurance | Risk treatment: selecting and checking providers |
| 03 Risk management | Risk assessment (identify, analyse, evaluate) and treatment |
| 04 Safeguarding | Safeguarding, which the standard treats as a key component throughout |
| 05 Traveller readiness | Communication and consultation with participants, parents and school |
| 06 Operational support | Emergency response planning and incident management |
| 07 Review & learning | Monitoring and review; recording and reporting |
Children’s welfare comes before everything.
Every journey has a safeguarding plan agreed with the school before departure, with named responsibilities, clear reporting routes and checked suppliers.
- Safeguarding at BFC is overseen by our Founder and Director, who is accountable for it
- Your school’s Designated Safeguarding Lead stays responsible for your pupils; we agree reporting routes with them before departure
- Background checks for anyone we engage to work directly with your students
- Supplier checks covering licences, insurance and safeguarding policies
- We never publish the names of schools or identifiable pupils
Before every departure.
- Itinerary with learning objectives
- Risk assessment for activities and destination
- Supplier assurance summary
- Safeguarding and emergency plan
- Traveller information: consents, medical, dietary, documents
After you’re home.
- A review and feedback summary
Frequently asked.
How far ahead should we start planning?
As a guide, 9 to 12 months ahead for every journey, abroad and in the UK. UK hostels and residential centres now book up as quickly as flights, and that lead time also leaves room for group rates, your approval process and parent communications. Shorter timelines are often possible, so ask us if your dates are close.
Who is responsible while students are away?
Your trip leader keeps day-to-day responsibility for students. BFC is responsible for the arrangements we make: suppliers, logistics, planning and support. The safeguarding plan sets out exactly who does what before you leave.
How do you choose and check suppliers?
We select transport, accommodation and activity providers we know, and check licences, insurance, safety records and safeguarding policies before booking. Checks are recorded and shared with you.
What happens if something goes wrong?
Every trip has an emergency plan and a BFC contact your leaders can reach throughout. Incidents are logged, escalated and followed up, and lessons feed into the next trip.
Can you work with our own trip policies and forms?
Yes. We align with your school’s educational visits policy and your local authority or group requirements, and can use your forms where you prefer.
Is BFC compliant with ISO 31031?
ISO 31031 is guidance rather than a certification standard. We design our planning in line with it; the table above shows where each part of our work sits.
How do you look after students’ personal data?
We ask only for what a journey needs: consents, medical and dietary information and emergency contacts. It is held securely on our school platform, Ildána, seen only by the people who need it for the trip, and handled in line with UK and EU GDPR.
Safe hands, in their words.
Fei always finds a way to make it work at a very reasonable cost, while carefully listening to feedback and ensuring that each trip improves year after year. She has even completed the enhanced DBS check, allowing her to join our team on trips abroad.
The Tour Director handled absolutely everything for our Space Trip to Singapore, from logistics to last-minute adjustments, allowing me to focus entirely on my students. It was by far the least stressful trip I’ve ever led.
Where would you like learning to go?
Tell us who is travelling, roughly when, and the idea behind the journey. We’ll help shape the right experience, and reply within two working days.
and come back within two working days.
about your students, objectives, dates and budget.
with an outline, costs and how we’ll manage risk.
Confidential. We never publish the names of schools or groups we work with.
Prefer email? info@bfctravels.com
Start with a brief.
Four quick fields. Add more detail only if you’d like to.