Funded European exchanges for UK schools
Turing now, Erasmus+ from 2027. Trips and exchanges built around your students and your curriculum — led by your teachers, organised by us.
A week learning alongside students in another country changes how young people see themselves and the world. They come home more confident, more independent and more curious about what comes next. We introduce partner schools, help you plan the programme and take care of the arrangements and logistics. Our coordinator is on hand while your teachers lead, and you come back with the evidence your senior team and governors will ask for.
Turing this year, Erasmus+ next
2026/27 is Turing's last year before Erasmus+ placements begin. Most schools are in one of two positions.
Your school holds Turing funding for this year
Now let's turn your award into a trip your students and staff will remember.
- A programme shaped around the aims in your application
- Accommodation, venues, local transport and transfers arranged
- Risk assessments ready for your visits coordinator to approve
- Evidence collected along the way for your end-of-year report
Your school is aiming for Erasmus+
UK schools can apply for Erasmus+ from the 2027 call. The first UK round should open in November 2026, with closing dates in February and March 2027. A school exchange needs a partner school and a clear plan, so now is the time to start.
- Help registering your school once UK registration opens
- Introductions to partner schools that suit your students and subjects
- Suggested activities and indicative costs to help you plan
- Feedback on your draft, measured against the award criteria, while your school writes and owns the application
Every subject has a reason to travel
We start from what you want students to learn, then suggest places and partner schools that could fit. A few of the ways an exchange can connect to your curriculum:
Modern languages
Speaking the language every day, with students who use it at home.
Geography & the environment
Fieldwork, local sustainability projects and how another place is planned.
History & citizenship
Shared European history and how young people take part in public life elsewhere.
Science & technology
Joint STEM projects with partner-school students, and visits linked to local research or industry.
Art, design & media
Galleries, studios and creative work made with students from another culture.
Business & careers
Enterprise challenges and encounters with employers in another country.
PE & sport
Training, friendly fixtures and how school sport works somewhere new.
Music & drama
Rehearsing, performing and creating alongside students from the partner school.
…and many more
Tell us your subject and year group, and we'll suggest what could work.
One way a week could run: the Shared Communities Project
Your students and students from a partner school work in mixed teams to explore what makes a community work in both their towns, then design an idea to make one of them better.
| Day | Theme | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arrive & meet | Arrival, welcome at the partner school, safety briefing and mixed teams formed. |
| 2 | Discover | Joint lessons, then a community walk led by partner-school students. |
| 3 | Compare | Teams research how young people in both towns spend their time, get around and get involved. |
| 4 | Culture | A cultural day chosen with the partner school and linked to the project. |
| 5 | Create | Teams design a community action idea for one of the two towns. |
| 6 | Share | Presentations to students and staff from both schools, with structured feedback. |
| 7 | Reflect & close | Reflection, evaluation, certificates and departure. |
What students come home with
A community idea built with students from another country, a short presentation, a photo and reflection diary, and evidence of teamwork, communication and language use that your school can record.
This is only one example. A week can be built around languages, geography, history, sustainability, STEM, sport or the arts.
Your teachers lead the group. We organise the rest.
Your staff stay with the students and guide their learning. We look after the arrangements around them.
Tell us your aims
Share the year group, the subject, what you'd like students to gain and your preferred dates. One short call gets things moving.
Shape the trip together
We suggest a programme and you decide what goes in. Under Erasmus+, you design it with your partner school.
Get ready
A staff pack, confirmed bookings, risk assessments for your visits coordinator and information you can share with parents and carers.
Travel and capture the learning
Your teachers lead the group on the ground, our coordinator is on call for anything practical, and students record what they learn as they go.
Safeguarding, planned with you
Your school leads on safeguarding, and your staff look after the students at all times under your policies. We keep our own safeguarding duties alongside yours and plan the practical side with you before anything is booked.
What KCSIE 2026 changes for trips from schools in England
- Volunteers and parent helpers who help overnight, frequently, or on more than three days in a 30-day period are now in regulated activity, so your school should obtain an enhanced DBS check with children's barred list information. Allow time for these checks when you plan.
- Schools must not allow a student to share overnight accommodation with a student of the opposite biological sex. If a student does not want to share with another student of the same biological sex, alternative arrangements should be sought where possible. Your school sets the room plan, and we check the accommodation can deliver it before we book.
What we provide
- Risk assessments for every trip, ready for your visits coordinator and designated safeguarding lead to sign off
- Written confirmation of the checks on the staff we deploy with your students
- Accommodation checked against our accommodation standard, with the results sent to you before departure
- Round-the-clock support from a senior member of our team, and a written emergency plan for each trip
- Pre-departure information for you to share with parents and carers
Six reasons schools work with Global Horizons
Evidence for inspection and governors
Student reflections, learning programmes and impact records collected throughout the trip — useful for self-evaluation, governors and inspection.
Careers learning that counts
Encounters with employers and workplaces abroad that strengthen your careers programme and support the Gatsby Benchmarks.
Inclusion from day one
Students with SEND, students who have never travelled and students facing financial barriers are part of the plan from the first conversation.
Safe & compliant
Every member of staff working with learners holds an enhanced DBS with barred-list check before any trip runs — alongside safeguarding-trained leaders and full risk assessment packs.
Ready for your visits coordinator
Risk assessments, accommodation checks and an emergency plan in the shape your educational visits approval process expects.
Less load on your trip leader
Partner introductions, bookings, transfers and day-to-day logistics are ours, so your staff can concentrate on the students.
More than a school trip. A launchpad.
International work experience
- Employer-hosted placements in hospitality, creative, digital, engineering and health
- Sector shadowing and structured employer briefs
- Live projects co-designed with host businesses
Wider skills development
- Cross-cultural communication and confidence in unfamiliar settings
- Problem-solving, teamwork and resilience under pressure
- Language exposure, digital portfolios and sustainability literacy
- Peer leadership, mentoring and UCAS-ready storytelling
Not just for the students who'd go anyway
Time abroad often matters most to the students least likely to get it: students with SEND, students from families under financial pressure, and students who have never left the country. They're part of our planning from the first conversation.
Both schemes help. Turing funds "readiness to travel" costs for disadvantaged students, such as passports and travel insurance, and specialist support for students with SEND. Erasmus+ can add inclusion funding for students with fewer opportunities, which can cover extra staff who travel to support them.
Three ways to take your school abroad
Erasmus+ funds three types of mobility for schools, and one project can include more than one.
Group exchanges
A group of students and their teachers spends between 2 and 30 days at a partner school abroad, learning alongside its students. Our school programmes are built around this format.
Individual student stays
One student spends 10–29 days studying at a partner school or on a traineeship abroad, or from 30 days up to a year on a longer stay, each with an individual learning programme.
Staff mobility
Teachers, leaders and support staff can shadow colleagues, teach or take training abroad, then bring ideas back to their school.
Professional mobilities for staff →How a school exchange works under Erasmus+
An Erasmus+ group exchange takes place at a partner school abroad, which plans the learning with your school, and your students learn alongside its students. Your teachers travel with the group for the whole visit and guide the learning. Trips to cultural venues can be part of it, but only as a smaller part of a programme the two schools design together. We introduce suitable partner schools and handle the practical arrangements for the plan you agree.
Two ways for schools to apply
Which suits you depends on how often you plan to travel. For a first project, most schools begin with a short-term project.
A short-term project (KA122-SCH)
Designed for schools new to Erasmus+. Each application is for one project lasting 6 to 18 months, with no more than 30 participants (accompanying teachers don't count), and a school can hold up to three within five consecutive call years.
Erasmus accreditation (KA120-SCH)
For schools that want international learning to become a regular part of school life. Your school sets out its goals in an Erasmus Plan and, once accredited, can request funding through accredited projects (KA121-SCH). Experience isn't required. It takes longer to secure, and current accreditations run to the end of 2027, so using one after that depends on the UK's place in the next programme.
These rules come from the 2026 Erasmus+ Programme Guide; the 2027 edition should appear around November 2026. Always check erasmusplus.org.uk for the current rules before you apply.
Good to know before you call
Erasmus+ is the next route: UK schools can apply from the 2027 call, due to open in November 2026. The thinking behind your Turing bid — your aims, your students' needs, the trip you had in mind — puts you ahead. We'll explain how Erasmus+ works for schools and introduce partner schools that fit.
For an Erasmus+ group exchange, yes. The visit takes place at a partner school, which plans the learning with you, and your students learn alongside its students. We introduce schools that suit your subjects and age group, and the choice is yours.
Both schemes are designed so that cost isn't a barrier, with grants towards travel, living costs and organisational support, and extra help for disadvantaged students and students with SEND. Erasmus+ works on a co-financing basis: grants are designed to cover most typical costs, not all of them, and any contribution your school asks of families must not stop students with fewer opportunities taking part. We'll show you a costed plan before you commit.
For schools in England, yes, if they help overnight, frequently, or on more than three days in a 30-day period. Since 1 September 2026, changes made by the Crime and Policing Act 2026 put these volunteers in regulated activity, and KCSIE 2026 says your school should obtain an enhanced DBS check with children's barred list information. Allow time for this in your plans.
Start now if you want to apply in the 2027 call: finding a partner school, agreeing a plan and registering your school all take time. If your school already has Turing funding for 2026/27, send us your travel dates and we'll plan backwards from them.
Further reading
Looking for colleges, training providers or adult education? For Colleges · Youth or sport organisation? Youth & Sport Organisations
Based in Europe and want to send pupils to the UK? Mobilities in the UK →
Last reviewed: 10 October 2026. Rules and dates can change: check erasmusplus.org.uk, gov.uk and the current KCSIE before you act.
Let's get your school's first international trip funded.
A short call is all it takes to plan your Turing trip or scope an Erasmus+ application.