St Francis Xavier 6th Form College, Balham, London

Peace Child India are proud to welcome St Francis Xavier's into our family of UK schools joining our programme in India. As your project develops, this web page will keep being developed and updated, so please do remember to visit this page for the latest news and updates about your upcoming journey to India.

• General details
• Meaningful tour options:
• Kaveri Experience
• Godavari Experience
• Kali Experience
• Tunga Experience

• Oppsal School, Oslo - Norway
• Impington College, Cambridge - UK
• Harris City Academy Crystal Palace, London - UK
• Fettes College, Edinburgh - UK
• St. Charles' Caltholic School, London - UK
• St. Francis Xavier's 6th Form College, London - UK

Checklist:
This list can be updated, so please make sure you keep checking back here.

1. Bangalore city and the surrounding region is not a malaria risk area. However, please contact your GP or local surgery for a complete list of recommended vaccinations and medicines at least a month before departure
2. You need a TOURIST visa to visit India. Please make sure you have all your travel documents arranged for before your visit.
3. Please make sure you tell your mentor/teacher if you have any food allergies or reasonable food preferences (Vegetarian/Vegan) at least a month before departure
4. High factor sunscreen lotion
5. Mosquito repellent X 2 bottles
6. A pair of good sunglasses
7. A hat or cap
8. You will have the opportunity to do some shopping. Around 100 GBP should be sufficient for souvenir shopping and visiting Bangalore.
9. A water bottle to fill clean drinking water with from the accommodation, before you set off for the day
10. Light loose fitting cotton clothes
11. When on the project site, below the knee shorts and round neck t-shirts are advisable.
12. Trainers or sandals
13. All medication required
14. One set of smart clothes for visiting Bangalore city
15. Please refrain from bringing expensive camera or other electronic equipment. If you are bringin such items, please make sure that you insure them against theft and damage.
16. A bag of your favourite hard boiled sweets to give you instant energy

Undertake to refurbish an old classroom in a Government school into a reading room. Install library bookshelves and computers, create a working space. Work with the Indian students.

Participate in a joint theatre performance with the Indian school students, usually on the theme of participatory education or health, using props, masks and puppets.

For other volunteer options please see the meaningful tours section

Go on an educational, adventure tour of South India. This tour covers hiking, ancient temples, boating and living in a forest.

For more details visit the meaningful tours section.

As the idea is to experience another culture, the school group tours involve dressing up in Indian clothes, learning to cook Indian food and learning Indian dance. An evening is reserved for watching an Indian film and a day reserved for shopping and orientation.

All this is done with the participation of Indian volunteers, students and other staff, so the potential of making new and lasting friendships is tremendous.

A full, detailed schedule of day to day events is provided at the beginning of every school group tour. There is room for customisation of the tour; for example, some school groups would prefer to visit the seaside than the forest expedition.

We are not a travel agency and as such we do not have an ABTA or equivalent certification or membership. We run the school visit programme as a consequence of our main work in India and it is a completely non-profit operation. We strongly recommend full and complete health and travel insurance for all participants and their mentors before traveling to India.

From arrival in India till departure (airport pick up to drop off), the organisation will fulfill committments made to you as per the travel and work schedule provided. Barring 'force majeure' conditions (i.e. a catastrophic event completely beyond the control of the organisation), the committments will be met in full.

Health and safety arrangements are paramount in our preparations, based on years of experience of handling tens of school groups. Select transport and accommodation facilities are made available to visiting groups and where necessary, standbys are in place in the unlikely event of having to use alternate arrangements.

All flight and travel arrangements before arrival in India are the responsibility of the visiting group, and Peace Child India will not be able to guarantee any arrangements, travel or otherwise that lie outside the schedules agreed upon by us. In the event that flights are missed or delayed, we will be flexible (within reason) in our transport and accommodation arrangements to suit the anomaly.