It is well known that children, young people and adults involved in educational visits benefit enormously from their participation. This document and the accompanying guidance have been produced to enable those involved in the planning and delivery of such visits, do so thoroughly. Visits that are carefully planned and delivered, maximise educational potential, minimise accidents and ensure all involved, enjoy visits safely and happily.
Wigan Council’s Educational Trips & Visits Policy & Guidance offers such support by providing a planning framework that clarifies and address’s the concerns for the health, safety and welfare of all involved in an educational visit.
The duty owed by the Council to ensure the health, safety and welfare of employees and others who may be affected by the Councils work is extended to any group member involved in educational visits where there is a responsibility for care.
Informal arrangements for the organisation of visits that take place within a school closure period or where the visiting party is comprised of pupils and staff from more than one school must still meet guidance within this document and the DCSF Standards for Adventure (2002).
Health and safety considerations supersede educational aims at all times. Suitable & sufficient risk assessments must be in place.
Wigan Council's Educational Visits Policy comes under the umbrella of Wigan Council's Health and Safety Policy. It should be considered alongside existing emergency procedures such as the Council's 'Managing School Emergencies' and used in conjunction with the DCSF guidance document:
Health and Safety of Pupils on Educational Visits (external link)
.
Wigan Council has adopted the HASPEV guidance as best practice. It is informative and offers excellent advice. CYPS Visits approval requirements are based on supplement Part 2 guidance - Standards for Adventure (2002), which states that there are categories of activity ranging from those with no significant hazards to those that are most demanding with a high risk. Categories are broken down depending on the type of visit and element of risk involved.
The
Category Framework
gives examples of visit types, which category they fall into and explains the approval & notification procedure.
CYPS advice contained in this document applies to all educational visits. Parents and governors require different levels of involvement depending on the category of visit - see the
Quick Guide
.
All CYPS School educational visits benefit from insurance cover arranged through Wigan Council's Finance and IT Department. See
Quick Guide - Insurance
for further details. Other departments and organisations within CYPS delivering Category C visits must ensure that they are adequately insured. In the first instance, it is advisable to contact the Finance and IT Department before purchasing insurance from any insurance company or travel agent.
It has been identified that well executed visits need thorough planning and preparation. To support this, it is recommended that each school/establishment should have a named School's Educational Visits Co-ordinator who has had extensive personal experience of leading visits, it is also recommended that each visit is lead by an experienced Group Leader supported by competent adults. More information can be found in the main guidance regarding their function and responsibilities.
This Policy includes a
Visit Category and Approval Framework
, and a number of
forms
, and as previously mentioned above, it also includes a
Quick Guide
for Group Leaders, Educational Visit Co-ordinators’s, Head Teacher’s, Governor’s and others who have responsibility for educational visits. It should be used in conjunction with the
Guidance
section.
Whilst the policy is addressed to schools, the terms equally apply to the Youth Service, other departments and organisations who are involved with providing Educational Visits.
The policy & guidance in the main refers to teaching staff, however anyone within Children’s and Young Peoples Service involved with young people on educational visits is subject to this guidance; ‘Head Teacher’ may apply to Youth Service senior practitioners and other Managers. ‘Teacher’ may apply to youth workers, children’s workers & others who work with children & young people. It refers to ‘pupils’ rather than children, students & young people.
This policy is a living document, and as such will be regularly reviewed and updated by CYPS in light of any pertinent developments in statutory duties, national or local codes of good practice.
The Council have appointed an Educational Visits Advisor (EVA). The main role of this person is to support those delivering educational visits by providing information, advice, training and endorsement of visits.
The EVA must be informed of category B & C visits/activities, the forms for which can be found on the
Educational Visit Forms
page. Both should be sent to the EVA (Frank Edwards)
via email
.
