Touring Advice

[Dubbleoh7]

Hi all
Appreciate if anyone over here can shed some light on what really goes on when on tour please.
Ds is supposed to start but I have no clue in this part as this his his first tour experience.

Is it the same chaperone that takes them or do they keep changing?
Ds is currently on preventive inhalers, he knows what to do but do we give these or any medication to the chaperones to keep in charge? What will be the case if the kids for example get a temperature, should we provide the medication say calpol/ibuprofen or do they have these general medication?
Are we told who the chaperones are in advance and if so is this done by the Council/LEA or CD
What kind of places to the dc stay in please? Hotels or B&Bs?
Are the dc allowed to take their game consoles (ds, psp etc) as in is it safe or is it unadviceable to send these along. Considering they will be restricted to a hotel room and long hrs of waiting any ideas as to what they can take to keep them occupied.

Any advice/tips will be much appreciated.

Many thanks again for each and everyone who contribute to this fab forum.

[2girlsmum]

Hi, my DD was part of the National Tour of The Sound of Music for a year so I know exactly where you are coming from.

A lot of it depends on the production company as its down to them but if your Childrens Administrator is Jo Hawes then it is likely to run very similar. Whilst the children are rehearsing there is normally a parents meeting to go through this information but in answer to your questions, my experience was the following. There was a dedicated chaperone per team of children, that they will meet when they are rehearsing. They will be responsible for the child from the moment you meet them at the train station to the moment they get back. If your child needs specific mediation they will manage the administration of the medicine etc. The kids normally stay in hotels, 2 or 3 to a room with the chaperones on the same floor. They are usually big chain hotels. Yes they can take games consoles but you have to be prepared that they might get lost as it is the childs responsibility to know where it is not the chaperones.

Hope that helps

[Friend to the stars]

What show will he be touring with? What a fantastic experience! He will have an amazing time and make loads of great friends.

[Dubbleoh7]

Thanks 2girlsmum and friends to the stars. Gives me a better picture now.

[Friend to the stars]

Ah brilliant then it will be as 2girlsmum says as Jo manages the Oliver tour aswell. The groups become like a little family.

[Dubbleoh7]

Aww that sounds nice....we will miss him tho!
Do you know if the school gives work direct to the tutor or should we collect the work that needs to be tutored from school and pass it on to the person who will be tutoring pls?
We had this meeting but as the date was given rather last minute couldn't take time off work :-(

[2girlsmum]

The children bring the work set by their school, if they need access to a computer they will have to bring their own, the tutors are local to each venue so if they are at one city for 4 weeks the tutor will more than likely be the same (availability?) but it will be a different one at the next location

[Friend to the stars]

Usually the children collect work from school for that week or for the time they will be away and take it with them to tutoring. Tutors sometimes have a laptop they can borrow a dongle is useful too for any internet for school work.

[francescasmum]

Hi Doubleoh7, I tutored the touring Von Trapp children and THEY generally brought their own work from school including, text books, exercise books, pencil cases, glue etc. Some of the older ones had an ipad/lap top with them too to do their work on, research, access lessons/submit work, (some schools have an intranet where children submit homework on). DON'T go out and buy one if you doesn't usually use one though, only some of them had them!

Many times the children finished their work early because they get through a great deal more work in 3 hours in a small group than they can in a school environment. Having said that, some children brought too much and couldn't get through it all or brought things that were not really easy to do, like make a poster by sticking 8 pieces of A4 together (how did they expect the child to get that back to London in good order after 3 nights in a hotel room and a train journey? ). Some brought educational work but not their school work (i.e. the type of work books you buy from WHS) because it was too difficult for their teachers to set work for one individual.
I always took 'work' with me too in case they finished early, got stuck or had no work.

Hope this helps if you need any more info PM me.

[Dubbleoh7]

Thanks again for the nice ideas and advice.

Francescasmum, great examples and makes a lot of sence....thanks again :-)

[Overtherooftops]

I worked on a couple of touring shows, it was the same group of chaperones that had the children, some children were picked up by parents after the show depending on where they lived, others stayed in a hotel (it was very very nice one!) Malmaison in Manchester and St Davids (think its called) in Wales.

The children brought work from school with them but one of the chaperones/tutor on one tour helped them with it in one of the empty rooms, she played games with them and did quizes and such too.

The chaperones were with them all the time, it was not a problem to give medicine and such.

He will have a lovely time.

[mathsmum]

what school year is he?

junior schools are often happy with a sending few worksheets/child taking books from wh smith/leaving it to the tutor

secondary school tend to want something more formal - as f's mum says, a school intranet is the ideal - when ds was touring, his school intranet was not in place - some teachers emailed work, some didn't - i sent him with school text books to work ahead - as f's mum also says, you get well ahead with a tutor - didn't work if school teacher turned out not to have been following the textbook - but it all seemed to iron out in the end

[Dubbleoh7]

He is in year 3. His school isn't that corporative so I have got him worksheets, books etc. He is having a great time and the experience they get is invaluable.
Many thanks again for everyone's helpful comments/advice.