DfE Guidance on Speedier Border Processing for School Trips Welcomed

School groups travelling with P&O Ferries and Irish Ferries can now benefit from quicker processing at the French border. The guidance outlines a seven-step process to streamline travel, allowing schools to submit passenger information in advance when crossing from Dover to Calais.

To take advantage of the new system, trip organisers are required to gather information for each traveller, including nationality and type of travel document. This data—covering everyone in the group, including drivers and accompanying adults—should be compiled into a spreadsheet provided by the ferry operator. The completed spreadsheets must be saved for each coach.

Event Coordinators (EVCs) or trip organisers are then responsible for sending the information, along with proof that the group is from a certified school in England, Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland, to the ferry operator ahead of travel. The operator will forward the details to French border authorities to speed up the clearance process.

On the day of travel, schools are instructed to display a label in the windscreen of each coach, clearly showing the first seven letters of the school’s name and the number of passengers onboard. The passenger count should match the information sent to the ferry operator in advance.

Additionally, the guidance includes a major benefit for visa nationals, who are usually required to have a visa to enter the EU. As part of this scheme, these students can now travel visa-free when participating in school trips to France.

The updated guidance has been warmly received by the School Travel Forum, which praised the initiative for helping to smooth the border crossing process and reduce delays at busy crossings while maintaining essential security measures.

Gill Harvey, CEO of the School Travel Forum, commented, “We’re delighted to see such clear and helpful guidance from the Department for Education. As we approach the peak season for school trips, this simple process will help ensure that school groups avoid long waits when crossing from Dover to Calais.”

This new guidance follows the introduction of a faster border clearance pilot scheme, which began on 3 April at the Port of Dover. Under the scheme, school groups travelling with P&O Ferries and Irish Ferries can submit their passenger information up to 72 hours before their departure, further streamlining the process for educational trips to Europe.

The Department for Education (DfE) has released new guidance to help schools make the most of a faster border clearance scheme for school trips, aimed at reducing waiting times at Dover.

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