It started over 50 years ago with a school trip!
When our founder, Keith Sharkey, was 11 years old, he went on a school trip to Interlaken, Switzerland. He was fascinated by the fact that Switzerland had four official languages – German, French, Italian and Romansh. And this very first immersion in foreign languages left a deep impression on him.
His time abroad with school inspired Keith to study French at university, before spending some time living and working in Paris and the French Alps, where he perfected his French.
Later, he decided that the best way to share this passion for the French language was by going into teaching.
Inspired by his own experiences of running school trips, Halsbury Travel was born!
Keith had seen the impact that educational travel can have on students from the perspective of both students and the teacher.
But he knew that to be able to offer these experiences, teachers need to be fully supported by their tour operator every step of the way.
In 1986, with the support of his wife Sue, who was also a teacher, he founded Halsbury to provide teachers with this support, in the belief that, by doing so, more young people would have the opportunity to travel with their school. He also knew that every single trip offered would need to be tailor made to ensure each group would achieve their learning objectives. That’s why our experts will work closely with you to design your trip around your specific requirements.
"My own travel experiences and my experiences as a teacher leading trips have taught me first-hand the marvels and wonders that the world has to offer. The world is a classroom like no other, and there are all manner of lessons to be learned. Travel is a great educator and, no matter how old you are, you will never finish learning."
Keith Sharkey
And now?
Today, Halsbury Travel is part of the Literacy Capital portfolio, an investment firm with a unique charitable objective to advance the education of children in the United Kingdom by promoting and supporting the development of literacy.
One of the ways they do this is by donating 0.9% of their net assets every year to literacy charities, such as BookMark, whose aim is to get every child reading. Since their creation in 2017, Literacy Capital have donated over £3.8 million.
Although our owners may have changed, our values and mission remain the same and you can still look forward to the friendly, personalised service we’re famous for – our dynamic team of former teachers and school travel specialists are always very keen to help and ready to answer any questions you have!
So, shall we start planning your next school trip?