letter 15th August

Lilongwe, 15th August 2011


Re: bmisgoesparislondon2011

Dear Parents and Students,

I hope you have had a good holiday and have returned to Malawi safe and sound. Thank you very much for having paid the first two instalments for our trip to France and London. Our plans are progressing well and it will certainly be a fantastic experience for the students. I would like to send a polite reminder that the remaining instalment is due this week and is needed to fulfil our financial obligations to airline and travel agency. Unfortunately, due to the recent exchange variations, we have had to adjust the amount to MKW 185,000.

A second polite reminder for those students who need a visa: please obtain the Schengen and UK visas on time. We try to be as helpful as possible, but it is the parents’ responsibility to arrange for the visas.

I would also invite parents and students to a meeting on Monday 22nd at 5 p.m. in the BMIS hall. Given the uncertain political situation in Malawi, the riots in London, the devaluation of the kwacha and the lack of Forex I feel we should have an extra meeting for the trip to enable us to discuss any queries you may have about the trip.

I look forward to seeing you on Monday 22nd August at 5.00 p.m.

Yours sincerely,




Willem Snieder, trip coordinator

PS Please check out our weblog bmisgoesparislondon2011.blogspot.com for additional information.

UK visa

Dear Mr Snieder,



Thank you for your email dated 04/07/2011. Based on the information you have provided your students will require a general visit visa (for child accompanied). I am assuming that the students in your party are visa nationals. I regret that a transit visa may only be issued for the purpose of transit only and has no provision for tourist activities during the transit period. There is no concession for school groups.



For further information please refer to the following website links:



http://www.ukvisas.gov.uk/en/doineedvisa/

http://www.vfs-uk-za.com/index1.aspx



Yours Sincerely,





Michael Kane | Entry Clearance Officer (South Africa)

Cost increase, sorry

Lilongwe, 9th June 2011

Re: bmisgoesparislondon2011, cost increase

Dear parents/guardians,

Thank you very much for having paid your instalments for our trip that promises to be a fantastic one. Not all second instalments have been paid yet. May I politely remind you of the payment deadlines. Please stick to them, because we need them to fulfil our financial obligations to the travel agent, the insurance and the air carrier:

Students/parents must bring cheques
(address to Bishop Mackenzie International School
and write bmisgoesparislondon2011 on the back) into the financial office immediately on arrival at school. They will be issued with a receipt. Cheques should be placed in a sealed envelope clearly labelled with your child’s/children’s name and class.

1st instalment
May 13th 2011
MKW 120,000 2nd instalment
June 3rd 2011
MKW 120,000 final payment
August 17th 2011
MKW 145,000
As you may have noticed in the box above, the last instalment has changed. We have to adjust the trip price with MKW20,000 because Ethiopian Air has increased its taxes. We have tried our very best to keep the price as low as possible, but the increase in unavoidable. Please take this into account for your final payment.

Thank you very much in advance and enjoy your holiday. First student meeting after the holiday: Thursday 18th August 2011, 10.05 in S5.

Kind regards,



Willem A. Snieder, Trip Coordinator.

PS Please check out our weblog for the latest information: http://bmisgoesparislondon2011.blogspot.com

Schengen visa

Relevant information on application form:
question 21: tick Study
question 24: tick multiple entries
question 31: hotel address Campanile Hotel 9 Rue Du Chemin Vert Paris, Paris 75011 France

Multiple entry Schengen visa needed

For all those students who need a Schengen visa + their parents: make sure that you apply for a MULTIPLE ENTRY visa, since we will leave France for England Wednesday 28th September just for one day, so we actually enter France a second time. This visa is costless.

summary parents' and students' evening and more info

Thank you very much for showing up in such a large number last Wednesday! Sorry to put this info this late on the blog, due to power and internet cuts... In meantime we've had our first students' meeting in school: trip participants are competing for having their shirt design printed on our bmisgoesparislondon2011 shirt. In 2 weeks we'll decide. We have also had 2 students pulling out, but they were happily followed up by 2 from the waiting list. Went to UK visa, explained about the school trip, left info and name list and got the following useful info:

in order to get a transit visa it is better to have the Schengen visa in the passport first, so they know you will actually get back to a Schengen country; a transit visa is less expensive than a regular one and we don't need a regular one for our 1 day visit; German Embassy also got the school info

On a financially less positive note: please anticipate upon a cost rise of the trip, since Ethiopian has increased its taxes. I'm still negotiating for a better price, but extra costs seem to be unavoidable. I'll keep you updated.

Summary Wednesday evening 11th May:

USEFUL INFORMATION
 Trip open for Years 7,8,9,10,11,12,13 (in school year 2011/2)
 Staff: Mrs. Almeida, Ms. Taylor, Mr. Rajeshwar, Mr. Snieder
 Ethiopian Airlines takes care of the flights
 Ça Va Trips is UK travel organization in France with representative Julie during whole trip
 Trip cost 365,000 MKW = all inclusive except for pocket money + possible visa costs
 There is a regularly updated weblog: http://bmisgoesparislondon2011.blogspot.com
 Maximum of 40 participants
Visas
 Schengen visa for Paris
 Contact German embassy 01772555
 School does preparatory work
 Free
 Fill in application form: download from German embassy website in Lilongwe www.lilongwe.diplo.de/
 1 passport photograph
 Passport valid for at least 3 months return
 Exemption for most European countries and US
 Consulate open 8-11 working days


 UK visa for London
 www.ukvisas.gov.uk
 Taveta House opening house 8-15, tel. 01774484
 School does preparatory work, lets know about school trip
 Takes 10 working days
 Costs involved
 2 clean pages passport
 2 passport photos
 VISAS ARE RESPONSIBILITY OF PARENTS (tip: go for one visa before (Schengen might be best idea, see supra) and one visa after (UK might be best idea) holiday)

residence permits
 TEP, PRP, other: make sure they are in passport
 RESIDENCE PERMITS ARE RESPONSIBILITY OF PARENTS

Instalments
 Students/parents must bring cheques (address to Bishop Mackenzie International School and write bmisgoesparislondon2011 on the back) into the financial office immediately on arrival at school. They will be issued with a receipt. Cheques should be placed in a sealed envelope clearly labelled with your child’s/children’s name and class.

 *1st instalment
 May 13th 2011
 MKW 120,000
 *2nd instalment
 June 3rd 2011
 MKW 120,000
 *final payment
 August 17th 2011
 MKW 125,000

OTHER DOCUMENTS
 Behaviour contract
 Payment slip
 Indemnity form + medical information + dietary requirements + contact details
 Please fill the documents out and have relevant pages (personal details + validity and residence permit) of passport photocopied
other information
 No mobile phones allowed: security, value, focus; all communication through Head Teacher Mr Harrison + weblog we’ll update on a daily basis; bringing along of iPods/MP3 players etc. allowed, but valuables in general are at own risk
 Pocket money: guideline 150 euros, few pounds: obtain the Forex on time (letter available in school); there will simply be no time to exchange currencies in Paris and London
 Weblog should be a forum where you can ask questions and everybody can read the answers + ask your child about received letters which I will also post on the weblog
 Packing list: suggestions after holiday, but know that it could be rainy and chilly in Western Europe end September
 Waiting list: please let know if you have to pull out for a valid reason so we can fill the space up by someone from the waiting list
 Tags: each student will have one during the trip with contact details me + travel agent
 Chaperone system: students belong to a group of 10 headed by a chaperone for counting and other practical reasons, but are free to go with whom they want
 Insurance: medical and cancellation
 Malaria: please do prevention + we’ll take treatments to Paris/London
 Surprises: live show Paris e.g.
 Missed schoolwork responsibility student, so contact the teachers involved
 Rooming: boys and girls apart + we’ll follow up to students’ preferences normally speaking
 Staff will take care of pocket money and passports during the trip in order to minimize the chance of losing and maximize balanced spending

group complete and sorry to disappoint some applicants!

part acceptance letter:

6th May 2011

Dear Parents
bmisgoesparislondon2011

I am delighted to inform you that your child/children has/have been selected for a place on the above school trip. The balance of the trip is due in two instalments and a final payment, as shown below. Please note that deposits and payments will not be returned should you withdraw your child/children after the first instalment has been made. This is because the school will have to pay monies to the travel company, air carrier and insurance company that will be non-refundable. Please note that whilst every effort has been made to fix the price of the trip, unforeseen increases in costs (such as changing air fuel prices and varying exchange rates) will be passed on to the parents. For a breakdown of the costs please turn over.

Students/parents must bring cheques (write bmisgoesparislondon2011
at back) or cash into the financial office immediately on arrival at school. They will be issued with a receipt. Cheques/cash should be placed in a sealed envelope clearly labelled with your child’s/children’s name and class.
1st instalment
May 13th 2011
MKW 120,000 2nd instalment
June 3rd 2011
MKW 120,000 final payment
August 17th 2011
MKW 125,000

PARENTS’ AND STUDENTS’ MEETING WEDNESDAY 11TH MAY

I also would like to invite you kindly to attend our first parents’ and students’ meeting Wednesday 11th May 5.30 p.m. in the BMIS multi purpose room. We will discuss issues like visas, instalments, timeline, chaperone assignments, keeping valuables, diets, medicines, pocket money, rooming, luggage etc. There will be tea and coffee available. You are very welcome and so is your daughter and/or son who is going on the trip. We look forward meeting you

In order to process the paperwork more smoothly, could you please complete and sign the following 4 forms that will be available at this occasion:

• Behaviour contract
• Indemnity form
• Passport details form (please bring in your child’s/children’s passport(s), so we can take a copy)
• Instalment form slip


-------------

FIRST STUDENT MEETING THURSDAY 12TH MAY IN S5 AT FIRST BREAK
PLEASE BE THERE TRIP PARTICIPANTS!
-------------


part disappointment letter:

The interest in signing up for the bmisgoesparislondon2011 trip has been beyond any expectation: thank you very much! We have had almost 50 applications, but do not find it responsible to go with a larger group than 40 students to busy cities like Paris and London. While selecting the 40 students we have based ourselves also upon participation in 2010 France trip (we would like to give newcomers also the opportunity to go on such a trip), time of application (actual deadline was Friday 29th April) and age (Year 6 students will have more opportunities to go on a next trip than Year 12 students). We have consulted the classroom teachers in this difficult process. Unfortunately we have to disappoint your son/daughter. I just can say: sorry. We have put your child’s name however on a waiting list.