School Trips for Management Online Training Course

The course is split into three sections.

Teachers are required to do all that is reasonable to protect the health, safety and welfare of pupils; this arises from both the Common Law Duty of Care, and also The Children Act 1989.

This is the case not only at school, but also on school trips.

In this section the course looks at the rules and regulations that apply to school trips and the responsibilities of the different people involved.

There are basic legal requirements for school trips which help to ensure the health and safety of everyone involved.

The basic legal requirements include risk assessments, ensuring safe environments, ensuring suitable supervision, communicating to the pupils clear instructions with regards to their health and safety and that this has been understood, ensuring education or activity centres have the correct licenses and are appropriately staffed and that everyone understands their own responsibility in looking after their own health and safety. 

The responsibility for health and safety on school trips falls on many people including the employer, the Headteacher, the Educational Visits Coordinator and The Group Leader.  The course takes a look at each one of these roles individually and explains the responsibilities for each of them.

One of the key responsibilities of the Group Leader is to do a risk assessment.

The risk assessment must show that they have carefully considered any hazards,
difficulties or risks of the trip, and made arrangements to manage any risk which would put a child in a dangerous situation.  

For in-depth step by step training on how to create a risk assessment please see our Risk Assessment in the Workplace online training course.

The Education Act explains what schools can and can’t charge parents or guardians for, in relation to off-site activities.

There are three funding options for school trips including, schools can cover the costs themselves, they can ask for voluntary contributions from parents or guardians, and they can charge parents or guardians for Board and Lodgings and Optional Extras.

Parents or guardians don’t usually need to give their consent for activities that happen during school hours, but they do need to know about any activity that takes their child out of the normal school environment, or if there are any increased risks to the safety of their child.

If an off-site activity takes place outside normal school hours then parents and guardians must be fully informed in writing.

They must be told about the risks and any steps that have been, or will be, taken to reduce these.

They can use this information to help decide whether or not they want their child to take part and give their consent.

Keeping parents and guardians informed throughout is an important part of managing trips effectively.

This section also covers the legal requirements with regards to types of insurances that are required for conducting school trips, namely Liability Insurance and School Journey Insurance.

Liability Insurance protects schools and individual teachers or volunteers against claims for damages arising from legal proceedings brought by a third party.

School Journey Insurance provides cover for a number of risks including cancellation, loss of personal possessions and money, personal accident and death, medical expenses, and any costs arising from causing damage or injury to another person or property.

At the end of this training course you will understand how to plan, risk assess and conduct a school trip successfully.  

There’s a lot to consider when planning a school trip, and it can seem quite daunting, but the potential benefits far outweigh the concerns.

As long as the trips are well-planned and the risks carefully explored, the opportunities can be extraordinary and give pupils experiences they may never otherwise have.

The course finishes with a test to ensure that you have understood the content.

If you are organising a school trip, or accompanying children on a school trip, you may also be interested in the second of our programmes on school trips - School Trips for Organisers and Support.

School Trips for Organisers and Support covers the planning and delivery of a school trip, from choosing a location right through to bringing the pupils home.

It’s been designed for anyone who is organising or running a school trip and is also very useful for anyone accompanying a group of pupils on a school trip, including teachers, and other school staff, and volunteer helpers, including parent and guardian helpers.

This School Trips for Management online training course looks at how you manage school trips - making sure they are carefully planned, appropriately risk assessed, and well conducted.

This is the first of two training programmes on School Trips.

It’s been written for anyone in a school who has responsibility for school trips or visits – including Headteachers, Governing Bodies, Educational Visits Coordinators and anyone in charge of organising a school trip.

The programme particularly looks at roles, responsibilities, legal requirements and risks.

All the online training courses are:

• High quality, video based online courses.
• Compatible on any device and very simple to use.
• Thoroughly researched, accurate in content and filmed in an interesting way in order to fully engage the learner.
• Accredited and approved and can be counted towards CPD.

Discounts are available for purchases of 25 courses or more.