Trips and visits policy
Introduction
All visits, trips and off-site activities are planned, organised, conducted and reviewed in line with
the Worcestershire LA Policy. Worcestershire County Council has formally adopted “OEAP
Employer Guidance” as “Worcestershire Employer Guidance for the Management of Visits and
Learning outside the Classroom”. A copy of this Guidance can be found on the following website
www.oeapng.info (Outdoor Education Advisors Panel).
Aims
In accordance with our Mission Statement that everything we do is “For the Greater Glory of
God”, it is the policy of our school to offer students a broad and balanced curriculum that
promotes their spiritual, moral, social, cultural, mental and physical development, and prepares
them for adult life. The Headteacher and Governors recognise the value and importance of
learning outside the classroom, and encourage staff to organise educational visits that enrich
the curriculum and enhance the learning development of our students:
• To strengthen personal development and the process of self-discovery, enhancing selfdiscipline and self-esteem.
• To develop a sense of responsibility towards the environment, as well as the ability to
cooperate with others in a team context.
• To nurture an understanding, tolerance and respect for people from other countries and
cultures.
Roles and Responsibilities
Headteacher: will be in agreement with the Governors for the approval of the high
risk/overseas/residential visits. For further guidance please refer to OEAP e.g. section 3.4g. All
educational visits are given final approval by the Headteacher. Approval will be given based on
consideration of the educational value to the students involved as well as the plans and
information including risk assessments submitted.Approval is also given based on the
competency of staff leading and attending the visit based on the type. For further guidance
please refer to OEAPe.g. section 3.4j.
The Chair of Governors: will be responsible for the approval of educational visits that are
residential/overseas/high-risk/deemed requiring scrutiny. This approval will be in agreement with
the Headteacher. For further guidance please refer to OEAP e.g. section 3.4f.
Educational Visits Co-ordinator: will be responsible for giving advice on how to plan and lead
visits including how to complete the risk benefit analysis.
- Educational Visits Co-ordinator: will communicate with staff who are planning educational
visits, in order to ensure that paperwork is completed within the time frame detailed in the
policy. For further guidance please refer to OEAP e.g. section 3.4j. The EVC will also
communicate with the Headteacher on all aspects of the trip/visits. - The Finance Officer: The Finance Officer will collect and bank payments for visits where
charges are permissible and provide trip leaders with accurate reports. - Educational Visit Leader: Any member of staff who wishes to lead a trip or visit and any staff
who will be responsible for a sub group on a visit must have attended the Visit Leader training
delivered by Worcestershire County Council. The Visit Leader takes full responsibility for the
group they lead and will ensure that they have planned the visit in accordance with their training
and guidance on OEAPNG. The Visit Leader will only lead visits that they are competent to lead
and will only use competent providers. They will also ensure that the visit is fully risk assessed
based on the SAGED method including information on individual students where required. In
addition they will ensure that they have emergency plans in place and will evaluate the visit
afterwards. For further guidance please refer to OEAP e.g. section 3.4k.
Procedural Requirements
• Underpinning Legal framework Duty of Care: Visit leaders must have read and understood the
Underpinning Legal framework and Duty of Care section from the OEAP e.g. section 3.2a.
• Risk Benefit Assessment: A generic risk assessment is available from the Educational Visits
Coordinator and should be completed for every offsite trip/visit. The process of a risk
assessment should be to evaluate the students attending e.g. medical, special needs,
safeguarding or behavioural issues, transport, location and the possible hazards and/or risks
that may be encountered. Visit leaders should consult with relevant staff and refer to documents
such as Head of Year/Designated Safeguarding Lead/Special Educational Needs register,
medical consent forms in order to complete a risk assessment that takes into account individual
needs of students attending. Staff should always be prepared to adapt as necessary according
to unexpected conditions and always have a ‘Plan B’. Risk assessment should be carried out by
the Visit Leader in conjunction with the other staff on the visit and possibly students. Risk
assessments should be shared with all parties on the visit.
To assess the competence of a provider, Visit Leaders should sample their risk assessment to
be aware of risks that may need to be managed prior to the visit. Please refer to OEAP e.g.
section 4.3c.
• Approval of staff to lead activities and visits: All staff that lead off-site activities/trips and visits
or are to have responsibility for a sub group will have undertaken the Worcestershire County
Council Educational Visit leader training and will be deemed accountable, competent and
confident by the Headteacher.
• First Aider: It is school policy that, where possible, a qualified first aider should accompany
students on trips/visits. However a qualified first aider must be present on all residential and
overseas trips or where emergency services may take time to be summoned.
• Mobile Phones: The Visit Leader needs to have mobile phone contact, live and accountable to
the school, at all times of the visit, except in certain circumstances eg whilst driving, in areas of
poor reception or at venues such as churches or theatres. However the Visit Leader, when it is
safe to do so, should check for messages or missed calls on a regular basis. Visit Leaders
should ensure that the mobile phone is fully charged and operational. This area of the policy
must be read in conjunction with the school Minibus Policy. For residential visits: pupils will be
given an ID card with the visit leader’s school mobile phone number on it so that they may call
them in an emergency. Parents will also be given this phone number.
• Continuing Faith Development whilst on visits: Whilst on visits, the school shall actively
encourage Catholic students to attend Mass and arrangements should be made to remove all
conceivable barriers.Where this is not possible, a service must be conducted including the correct readings
for the time of the liturgical year.
• Evaluation of external providers: It is good practice that Visit Leaders have prior knowledge of
the location they are visiting. This will assist with risk benefit management. If a visit prior to the
arranged date is not permissible, then full research on the location should be carried out.
Evaluation of competence can be carried out by researching websites or brochures, by using a
provider with a quality badge (LOTC (Learning Outside the Classroom) or adventure mark), by
looking at visitor risk assessments or by sampling the risk assessments, by accessing data on
past visits or by consulting other schools (evolve), preliminary visits or Governing Bodies for the
activity. The WCC Offsite Visit Adviser must always be consulted.
• Parental Consent: No student will be allowed off the school premises for any off-site activity,
visit or trip without full parental consent. It is the responsibility of the Parents/Carers to inform
the school of any changes e.g. medical needs, contact numbers and address.
• Residential Visits: A Parental Information Meeting must be held before any residential visit
takes place. This should be included in the visit planning process of that particular visit.
• Information about participants, medical conditions special needs etc: Students should be
identified and the appropriate measures put in place to deal with emergencies and/or incidents.
An appropriate staff- to-student ratio should exist on every trip to include cover, should a
member of the trip/visit team be drawn away to deal with a specific situation. Visit leaders
should consult with relevant staff and refer to registers or records held by HOY/DSL/SENCo.
Medical consent forms should be consulted in order to complete a risk assessment that takes
into account individual needs of students attending. This information should be shared with all
staff in attendance.
• Prior notification and approval of visit plans: All visits which are more than 50 miles from the
college, residential ot involve a hazardous activity should be entered onto Evolve and no visit is
allowed to proceed unless the visit has been approved by the appropriate person(s).
• Registers: A register of students must be taken prior to departure, during and after all visits,
trips and off-site activities.
• Emergencies: Visit leaders should take with them at all times the designated emergency
contact numbers for the school and Worcestershire County Council. This information must be
shared with all sub leaders. A first aid kit must be taken on all off-site activities, visits and trips.
A First Aider must be present on all overseas travel and residential trips. Staff are to be made
aware that the emergency number 112 called from a mobile phone acts as a GPS location
signal for emergency services in the UK. All incidents are to be reported immediately upon
return to school. For critical incidents please refer to the school’s Critical Incident Policy which
can be found on the and is available on the college website and from the Education Visits Coordinator.
• Levels of supervision: Effective levels of supervision should be in place throughout the visit.
For effective levels of supervision to be put in place the visit leader and other staff in attendance
should consider SAGED:
· STAFF – Competent? Trained? Experienced? Ratio of staff to students?
· ACTIVITY – Simple? Complex? Training required? Consent? Insurance? Licensable?
· GROUP – Prior experience? Age? Behaviour? Medical and/or Special Needs?
· ENVIRONMENT- Location and familiarity? Same as previous times? Weather Forecast?
· DISTANCE- How Far? Transport Required? Residential? Distance from base?
It is the expectation that staff in attendance should get involved with activities or observe
activities so that they know what is happening and can stop them if unhappy. Pupils should
never feel unsupervised (including on coaches being driven there and back) they should know
where a member of staff is located and available at all times. Staff should be visible and
patrolling.
Where female/male students are in attendance on a trip/visit, there must be the corresponding
gender of staff where practicable. Any implications arising from this will be reported on the Visit
Risk Assessment if necessary.
• Expectations of Students and Behaviour: The College’s Behaviour Policy applies on all trips
and educational visits and where necessary students and parents may be asked to sign an
additional code of conduct in conjunction with certain trips and visits. Alcohol, drugs,
psychoactive substances and any other illegal substances are not permitted on any trips or
visits by students or staff. Appropriate sanctions will be applied on the visit or on the return
should any issues occur. Parents will be informed, as soon as possible, of any significant
issues. Poor behaviour on or prior to any trip or visit may result in students being excluded from
future trips or visits. Student attendance may also be taken into account when deciding if a
student can participate in a trip or visit. All students are expected to have attendance above
95%. The Headteacher’s decision on this will be final.
• Inclusion: The school will endeavour to include all students in trips and educational visits
where reasonably possible (venue access, behaviour, all medical needs etc.). Each case will be
assessed for each trip/visit. The experience of a Visit Leader will also be taken into
consideration. Where there are specific behaviour or medical needs, which may deemed to be
problematic, a preliminary conversation will take place with parents/carers and, where
applicable, medical consent will be sought from doctors/consultants (the cost of this will need to
be met by the Parent/Carer if required). A separate risk assessment may be necessary for
medical/safeguarding reasons. If a student is deemed to be too high risk to themselves and/or
other students the school may decide to withdraw that student from the trip. When this is the
case the Headteacher, Chair of Governors and parents will be involved in the decision making
process.
• Monitoring: It is the responsibility of the Headteacher to ensure that all staff are adequately
trained to lead and organise a trip; training will be revalidated where necessary and kept on
record. For further guidance please refer to OEAP e.g. section 3.2b.
• Evaluation: Forms will be sent to visit leaders on their return by the Headteacher’s PA. These
forms are to be returned within 7 days.
Volunteers
It is school policy that volunteers are to be over the age of 25 years old and will hold a relevant
DBS. Volunteers are, under no circumstances, to assume the positions of Visit Leader or
Assistant Visit Leader. Volunteers can be Governors, or any other person deemed responsible
at the Headteacher’s discretion.
Insurance
The school is covered by insurance as arranged by Marsh. Employer’s liability Insurance is a
statutory requirement and Blessed Edward Oldcorne Catholic College holds a policy that
indemnifies it against all claims for compensation for bodily injury suffered by any person
employed by it. This cover should extend to those persons who are acting in a voluntary
capacity as assistant supervisors. Blessed Edward Oldcorne Catholic College also holds
public liability insurance, indemnifying it against all claims for compensation for bodily
injury from persons not in its employ, as well as for the accidental loss of, or damage
caused to, property. Employees (as agents of the employer, acting within the course of
their employment) are indemnified against all such claims, as are voluntary helpers
acting under the direction of staff. The school also has a Personal Accident and Travel
Insurance Policy arranged through Marsh and insured by American International Group
UK Ltd. The indemnity covers activities such as offsite activities and visits organised by
all establishments and settings for which the employer is responsible.
Charging for School Visits
It is college policy to:
• Ask for contributions from parents for school trips and visits, for which compulsory charges
cannot be made, but which are not viable otherwise. Students will not be excluded from such
activities because of inability to make a contribution.
• Apply a charge for all board and lodging costs on residential visits except where students are
entitled to free school meals.
NB
The following statement must be used in all correspondence relating to charging of activities to
students
Parents/carers or guardians of children receiving Pupil Premium funding are eligible through the
Pupil Premium Grant for assistance with the cost of Educational Trips and Visits. The preferred
method of payment for all trips, revision guides, and college ties is via Parent Pay. This is a
secure on-line payment system where payments can be made using credit or debit cards. If you
have lost your login details please contact Mrs Stock in Finance on 01905 361889 who will be
able to generate a unique login username and password.
For further guidance please refer to the OEAPeg section 3.2c Charges for outdoor learning.
Procedure for staff Organising an Educational Visit
Please follow the procedure below to ensure that:
• You are supported in planning the visit
• You receive information to enable you to plan a safe and effective visit
• Risks are minimised or eliminated
• Communication between all interested parties (office, Principal, LA, parents, Academy
Representatives, children) is effective and efficient
Please inform the following people about proposed visits out of school before booking:
• Headteacher
• Educational Visits Co-ordinator (EVC)
Procedures - Risk Benefit Analysis and other documentation (e.g. itinerary) should be completed and
attached to the application form. - Complete finance form and submit to Finance for checking.
- Arrange for affordable payments to be made and collected in at the Student Finance Office.
Deadlines for payments must be set in place and adhered to. This will be reviewed with the
possibility of using ParentPay in the future. - Book relevant transport, tickets and accommodation if required. For good practice it is
advisable to follow the OEAPeg guidance Visit Leader Checklist section 3.3e. - Ensure that draft letters to parents are authorised by the Headteacher before distribution to
students. - Communicate with Finance with regards to numbers and payments made.
- Collect the medical consents for students attending the visit prior to departure and
familiarise themselves with medical needs, plus ensure all other student needs have been
taken into consideration such as special needs, behaviour and safeguarding.
On the day of the Visit
• Refer to the checklist
• Collect first aid kit(s)
• Take asthma pumps and Epipens as necessary
• Brief supervising adults
• Ensure mobile phones and tablets/e-readers are working and charged, that the office has the
number(s) and that they are switched on during the whole visit
• Count number of students regularly, and always when changing locations
• VAT receipts must be obtained for all spending or purchases which use school funds or are
expected to be claimed back from school funds. It is the expectation of the Visit Leader to
ensure this procedure is followed by him/her and any other team member on the visit.
After the Visit
It is important that after each visit a proper debrief takes place. This should take place within a
week of the visit date, and should involve the Visit Leader and accompanying staff. Complete
the visit evaluation and return it to the headteacher. The purpose of the de-brief is to identify
what went well and what could have been done better, in order to inform future planning.
If the Headteacher and EVC have not agreed to the visit, and the necessary forms are not
completed, then THE VISIT MUST NOT GO AHEAD