Educational Visits Policy
Associated Documents and Policies
Aims for Educational Visits:
Every Child Matters
Roles and Responsibilities
Health and Safety
Organisation of Educational Visits
Residential Visits
Inclusion
Associated Documents and Policies
The following documents are available in school and must be referred to by the Group Leader.DfES: A Handbook for Group Leaders: Health and Safety of Pupils on Educational Visits (HASPEV)
Sheffield LEA Educational Visits Guidelines Quick Start Summary
Sheffield LEA Guidelines for Educational Visits (CD Rom)
Manor Lodge Community Primary School Health and Safety Policy Back to top
Aims for Educational Visits:
- to enrich the curriculum and broaden children?s experience- to provide a range of first-hand experiences, using a variety of venues
- to provide opportunities for pupils to work alongside, or learn from, ?experts?.
- to utilise facilities and resources off site e.g. Kelham Island Industrial Museum
- to fulfil National Curriculum requirements e.g. swimming lessons Back to top
Every Child Matters
The school believes that giving children the opportunity to participate in educational visits can contribute significantly to the five outcomes:- Being Healthy
- Staying Safe
- Enjoy and Achieve
- Positive Contribution
- Economic Well-being Back to top
Roles and Responsibilities
The School?s Education Visits Co-ordinator (EVC) is Cath WhittinghamThe LEA Outdoor Education Officer (OEO) is Adge Last
The Group Leader: generally the teacher organizing and taking charge of the visit
Supervisor/s: other members of staff or volunteer helpers supporting an educational visit.
The group leader is responsible overall for the group at all times during the visit. It is good practice for the group leader to:
- make an exploratory visit to the venue and carry out risk assessments
- have a clear plan of the activity to be undertaken and its educational objectives
- carry a list/register of all group members
- regularly check the entire group is present
- continuously monitor the appropriateness of the activity, the physical and mental condition of group members, and the suitability of the prevailing conditions
- allocate supervisory responsibility for named pupils to each adult
- ensure that each adult knows who they are responsible for
- ensure that all adults understand that they are responsible to the group leader for the supervision of pupils assigned to them
- ensure that all adults and pupils are aware of the expected standards of behaviour
It is good practice for each supervisor to:
- have prior knowledge of the venue
- have a reasonable prior knowledge of the pupils, including any special educational needs, medical needs or disabilities
- be competent to exercise appropriate control of the group and to ensure that pupils abide by the agreed standards of behaviour
- clearly understand the emergency procedures and be competent to carry them out
- have appropriate access to First Aid, and inhalers/emergency medication for individual children
- have the means to contact the group leader/other supervisors if help is needed
- anticipate potential risks by recognizing hazards and acting promptly Back to top
Health and Safety
Educational visits include:- Local area visits e.g. swimming lessons, activities at local schools, walks in local area
- Day visits/part day visits requiring transport e.g. Kelham Island, Crucible Theatre, Jorvik Museum
- Residential visits e.g. Thornbridge
For all educational visits:
- there must be a clearly identified group leader who is sufficiently experienced and competent to assess the risks and manage the proposed visit and associated activities (usually the class teacher, although could be a teacher other than the class teacher)
- there must be a clearly identified purpose for the visit that is appropriate to the age and ability of the group
- the location must be suitable for the activity and manageable for the group
- risk assessments must be carried out before the visit takes place, with copies attached to the Educational Visits Form (see Appendix), which needs to be completed and handed to the headteacher before the visit.
- in accordance with Manor Lodge Community Primary School?s No Smoking Policy, there will be no smoking in the presence of pupils Back to top
Organisation of Educational Visits
- All educational visits must be discussed with the headteacher prior to booking: the majority of topic linked visits should be planned, with approximate costs, at the beginning of each school year so that they can be ratified by the Governing Body. If a visit is arranged between Governing Body Meetings, the headteacher will seek the approval of the Chair of Governors before the visit, and the Governing Body will be informed at the next meeting.- Draft letters to parents must be proofread by headteacher: use pro forma (see Appendix) for guidance re contents of letter.
- Approved letters can be handed in to the office for typing: please give at least one week?s notice whenever possible.
- Please send all permission slips and money for educational visits to the office in a separate plastic wallet. The plastic wallet will travel between the office and the classroom with the dinner register each day.
- Each child?s money should be put into a labeled envelope before it is placed in the plastic wallet: please make some available for parents/ carers/ children to use. Also keep some spare letters in the wallet in case children lose their original copy.
- Office staff will record permission slips and money on a class list enclosed in the educational visit wallet: teachers/TAs should not record on the list, to avoid confusion.
- Teachers are responsible for checking whether permission for all children has been received by the date stated on the letter to parents/carers. If children do not have written permission in advance of the visit, they will not be able to go: please make sure that children are fully aware of this.
- Any concerns about the level of voluntary contributions should be discussed with the headteacher as soon as the final date for permission slips is reached (2 weeks prior to the visit date whenever possible) so that a decision can be reached regarding the viability of the visit. Some money has been allocated in the school budget to subsidise educational visits, but visits may still have to be cancelled if sufficient resources are not available.
- As soon as the final date for permission slips is reached, please inform the headteacher of any children who say that they do not wish to take part in a visit, so that parents/carers can be contacted and encouraged to appreciate the value of educational visits.
- Carry out and record risk assessments: refer to Sheffield guidelines re generic/specific/ongoing risk assessments.
- Make sure that sufficient adult help is available and that all adults involved have clear instructions and guidelines about the visit in advance of the visit. DfES ratios = 1 adult for every 6 pupils in school years 1 to 3 (under 5s reception classes should have a higher ratio), 1 adult for every 10-15 pupils in school years 4 to 6.
- Ensure that the Educational Visits Form (see Appendix) is used as a checklist. Back to top