Feedback from the China Meeting on Tuesday 23rd April

VISA APPLICATIONS - UPDATE!!!

Please note there is a meeting EVERY Tuesday lunchtime for the foreseeable future. If a meeting is not going to take place, I will inform you the week before, or put a message on the blog. We also use the computer screens in the school to share information like. Yesterday we discussed visas and I became aware that a significant number of students who are going on the China trip are also going on other overseas trips in May.
For these reasons and others, many students cannot surrender their passports in May. This makes it very difficult for us to organise a group visa as all passports would have to be sent off together.
We have also done a bit of research into the process and we feel that it would be better if everyone made their own individual application as the process of making a group application is not as straightforward as we previously thought.
We will therefore be asking you to make your own visa application and I will update you later on how to go about this.
The form is available to download from China Visa Application Service Centre online. Once you are on the website, go to "visa instructions" and then you will see an option for downloading forms. The form that you will need is V.2011A
There are detailed instructions on the website about how to apply. I read that applications by post can take up to 10 days.
I will try to create a link to the website via this blog, but if it doesn't work please just search for "China visa Application Centre" and you will find it. I will organise a letter to be sent home to confirm this. Please get in touch if you have any questions/concerns.
China Visa Application Centre

China Meeting Tuesday 23rd April

1. Meeting Tomorrow

This is a reminder that there will be a meeting tomorrow at 1:15pm in W20 for all students going to China.
Attendance is essential!
Please ensure the following:

1. Are all of your payments up to date? If not we need the final payment immediately! (last week there were still several outstanding payments and this is causing problems as we need to pay the final instalment to the travel company.

2. If you have not yet returned a signed copy of the code of conduct, please do so immediately. You cannot go on the trip if you have not done this!

3. You will have to attend some of the Friday afternoon Mandarin sessions in order to practise some very useful, survival Mandarin for the trip to China. This will be taught over a block of 4 weeks.

There will be a sign up sheet for this being passed around tomorrow in the meeting.

2. Vaccinations (Important information for parents/guardians):

There are no particular vaccination requirements for China, but tetanus and hepatitis vaccinations should be up to date.
As mentioned at the information evening, it is the responsibility of parents and guardians to find out whether, or not their child requires vaccinations. It is therefore advisable that all parents seek the advice of their child's doctor. They will be in a better position to advise you whether, or not a child needs a particular vaccination. We are not able to give medical advice and your family doctor will have knowledge of your child's medical history..

3. Visas

We have made the decision to do a group visa for our trip, we will therefore be asking all students to bring in their passports to be sent away for the visa.
I will update you more on this shortly!

Mr. Irvine

Code of conduct - notice for students and parents

If you have not yet returned a signed copy of the code of conduct issued on the information evening on Thursday 14th of March, please can you do so immediately. This should be returned to your family leader.

Best wishes

Mr. Irvine

Next China meeting for students

The next meeting for students will take place on Tuesday 23rd of April at 13:15 in W20. Attendance is essential.

Mr. Irvine