School and student transfers from Deal: term dates, luggage and airport meetings

What school transfers from Deal include

The service uses the same pre-booked cars and licensed drivers as the airport journeys, booked by a parent or guardian for a pupil or student. It covers home to school or college and back, home to a university hall at the start of the academic year, and school or home to Gatwick, Heathrow, Stansted, Luton or London City.

It is transport, not supervision. The driver is not a chaperone, so who meets the pupil at each end stays something the family and the school arrange between them.

Every driver holds a current private hire driver's licence from a local authority, which requires an enhanced DBS check, and every car is a council-licensed private hire vehicle.

Kent term dates for 2026–27

Kent County Council sets the dates for community and voluntary controlled schools. Term 2 runs from Monday 2 November to Friday 18 December 2026. Term 3 begins on Monday 4 January 2027 and ends on Friday 12 February; Term 4 runs from Monday 22 February to Thursday 25 March; Term 5 from Monday 12 April to Friday 28 May; and Term 6 from Monday 7 June to Wednesday 21 July 2027.

Academies, foundation, voluntary aided and independent schools set their own calendars, so boarding schools in particular may break up on different days. Check the school's own dates before booking the car.

The first days of a holiday are busy on the motorways: Friday afternoons and the start of school holidays can add 30 to 45 minutes on the M25. Build that into the time you choose.

Boarders flying in and out

For a pupil landing at Heathrow or Gatwick at the start of term, put the flight number in the booking. The flight is tracked, the driver waits in the arrivals hall holding a name board, and free waiting lasts 45 minutes after an international landing, counted from touchdown.

Airlines have their own rules for children flying without an adult, including who may collect them in arrivals. Check those with the airline and agree with the school how the handover will work before you book the car.

At the end of term the collection runs the other way, from the school or from home to the terminal, with the pickup time worked back from the airline's check-in deadline.

A term's luggage: picking the right car

A term away rarely fits in two suitcases. A saloon carries 2 large cases; an estate takes 3 to 4; an MPV has room for 4 or more large cases with up to 6 passengers, which suits a trunk, a tuck box and a bag of sports kit, or two siblings travelling together.

• Count the cases, boxes and bags, and mention anything long, such as a cello or a hockey stick bag
• Say whether a parent is travelling too, so the seats are right
• Ask for a child seat for any younger brother or sister coming along

University moves and student journeys

Students from Deal heading to university, or coming home for the holidays, often travel with more than a train can comfortably take: bedding, a desk lamp, boxes of books. A long-distance journey to a university city is quoted as a fixed fare for the car, just like an airport run, and a stop on the way can be added to the booking.

For students flying out to study abroad, the airport transfer works as described above, from the family home to the terminal.

Exchange trips

A pupil going abroad on an exchange is taken to the airport in the same way. A visiting exchange student arriving to stay with a host family in Walmer or Kingsdown can be met in arrivals and driven to the host family's address.

For a group larger than six, ask how many cars will be needed before you confirm.

How parents book and pay

Book online, by phone on 01843 247247, on WhatsApp at +44 7783 973058 or by email. Give the pupil's name, a mobile number for the pupil and one for a parent, the addresses, the flight details and the luggage.

The fare is fixed for the car before you confirm. Online payment takes card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Klarna and Revolut, and the code ExpressTravelKent gives 10% off. Cancelling more than 24 hours before the pickup costs nothing; between 6 and 24 hours up to half the fare may be charged, and the full fare inside 6 hours or once the car has set off.