Activity
TCBC exists to help teachers provide a whole world of memorable learning outside of the classroom. We have years of experience planning inspiring, fun and educational tours.
Our story
We are a family business combining a strong educational and travel background in Russia together with vast experience of planning and leading school tours.
We began life as Russian City Breaks in 2005 unintentionally but happily focussing on the niche market of organising educational school tours to Russia. Teachers, delighted with our services, began to ask if we could organise trips to other destinations, and we have since been gradually adding new destinations to our portfolio. The huge success of these tours led to our rebranding and TCBC School Tours was born from our registered name - The City Break Company.
Year on year we continue to grow steadily and confidently, with more and more schools choosing TCBC. We are a market leader in customised educational school tours and currently take more schools to Russia than any other tour operator.
Your customer experience with us is paramount. We believe it is important you know who you are working with and who is responsible for organising your tour. We therefore make every effort to visit schools and meet the teachers who place their trust in TCBC.
We want to work together with you for many years to come and will do all we can to ensure you and your students enjoy the trip of a lifetime with us. We look forward to organising your next school trip!
Meet our team
Our dedicated team is on hand to offer help and advice at every stage. Here you can get to know us a little better...
Our Clients
Hundreds of schools from all over the world have entrusted us with their tours. It doesn’t matter where your school is located - we can organise your trip. We'll be happy to provide you with references and feedback from teachers who have run similar school trips.
Our Guides
In our opinion, the most important element of your trip is your guide. We spend a lot of time allocating guides and deciding who should work with which group. Our local guides are definitely a big asset of ours and are sure to make your tour a big success.
TCBC Educational Advisor
School tours are first and foremost educational experiences. It's important that your tour meets your learning objectives and relates to your curriculum. TCBC School Tours works closely with our Educational Advisor, Ruth Tarrant, to provide you with detailed and relevant curriculum links.
Social responsibility
As TCBC's success is so inextricably linked to Russia and to providing fantastic opportunities to young people, we feel it important to give something back to those less fortunate.
Our chosen charity
We proudly support the Russian Orphan Opportunity Fund (ROOF) by making a contribution from every tour
Personal growth
ROOF’s main goal is to provide opportunities for personal growth for orphans in Russia
Ability to change lives
The people at ROOF do fantastic work by providing the orphans with the tools to change their own lives
TCBC have been simply the best organised, knowledgeable and effective tour company I've travelled with in 20 years. I would recommend them wholeheartedly to any teacher considering a foreign visit.
Ruth Tarrant
Before becoming an educational consultant and advisor, Ruth gained significant experience of teaching of economics, politics, business and maths, in a range of educational settings, and also had responsibility for educational enrichment and teaching/learning quality.
She has run many school trips, both day and residential, to a number of UK and overseas destinations, and is passionate about drawing out the learning opportunities in every experience.
In her own time, she is a seasoned traveller; recent trips with her own small children include inter-railing around Europe, exploring China and Tibet by public transport, and hiking in California's national parks. In addition to advising TCBC on the educational and curriculum links for their trips, Ruth is also Subject Lead for Economics and Global Politics at Tutor2u Limited, a Principal Examiner at A-level, occasional supply teacher to Hampshire sixth forms and schools, and a kettlebell sport competitor.
Ruth has regularly had academic work published by The Economist's publishers and Anforme Ltd. She holds a degree from Oxford in Economics and Management, an MA from Warwick in International Relations, and a post-16 teaching qualification.