Our History

School tours since 1967

For over 40 years, we’ve been helping to create school tours which educate, inspire and enable children to develop a sense of independence.

Educational visits for over 40 years – Our story in brief

• NST was founded in 1967 as Northern Schools Travel by Vin Craven, a former Maths teacher from Millfield High School in Lancashire. At the time, we specialised in providing coach tours for schools in the north of England then, in 1992, began to offer air tours.
• Safety on educational visits has always been of paramount importance to us so, in 1993, we decided to document our existing safety procedures and – in conjunction with the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) – we developed a School Tour Operators’ Safety Management System.
• By the end of 1997, NST had achieved a dominant position in the UK educational trips market and become Europe’s leading school tour operator. In May 2000, NST was ranked as the 41st fastest growing company in the UK by Dun and Bradstreet from their database of over 2 million companies.
• In September 2007, NST was acquired by Holidaybreak plc and became part of the Education & Adventure Division of Holidaybreak.
• In 2010, we invested in leading accommodation group, MEININGER, who have properties suitable for school groups in many of our most popular destinations.
• Today, we remain one of the leading educational trip providers in the UK.