How to plan a residential school trip

3. Legal and Safety Responsibilities

As the trip organiser you have a duty of care for your students. It is therefore a good idea to take the time to ensure you are familiar with official guidance for school trips. Health and Safety on Educational Visits is the DfE-approved guidance on planning and conducting safe educational trips. While HSE School Trips Advice shares practical advice on managing risks. Consent forms will be needed due to the higher level of risk assessment for overnight stays, and for the trip being outside of school hours. Depending on school policy, parents may already have signed one of these. You can find more information in our health and safety checklist for school trips.

4. Get your trip approved

As soon as you have sketched out what type of residential trip you would like your students to experience, seek approval from the Senior Leadership team. You may already have an amazing plan, but don't go too far down the planning process before you seek approval and check there is budget from the powers that be. If you have one, your Educational Visits Coordinator (EVC) will be able to provide some help with the school procedures for organising trips.

5. Choosing a residential activity centre

Sometimes sticking with what you know works makes sense. It can certainly make the planning side slightly easier. But if you don't look at what else is available, how do you know you are still getting the best value, or that there isn't another product better aligned with your learning objectives? Always shop around - national guidance says you should get the best value for your residential. Find out what in available in your area or within the distance you are willing to travel. And when you do start to narrow down your choice, look for activity centres that have a good reputation, glowing reviews and who sound able and keen to help you organise your residential. Working with a helpful and friendly company will save time, stress, and paperwork.

Not all residential school trips are the same. You might be choosing the typical activity centre who will show you where to park the coach, feed you, get you doing activities from dawn until dusk, and provide a comfy bed. Alternatively you may be booking hostel accommodation and heading off for the day to explore a city or look at coastal processes. The second option may have a slightly more complicated set of risk assessments and insurance requirements, but as long as you know what to look for, every trip can run smoothly.

A couple of the biggest things to look for are: the LOtC or Learning Outside the Classroom badge. Some LEAs are keen that your school trips are to places that hold this award. To get one, beyond paying for it, the venue does have to meet a set criteria that will demonstrate that they are good for school visits. The other thing is Public Liability Insurance. Some LEAs may require your intended residential to have a minimum level of cover. There are other licences and awards which show that a centre meets the crieria for instructing or teaching a variety of activities. Some of the most popular include AALA (Adventure Activities Licencing Scheme), British Activity Providers Association, and Artsmark.

Some other things to check your activity centre can offer:

• Booking and cancellation terms - if you have organised any kind of trip before you may well know that things can and do go wrong, despite everyone's best intentions. Last minute additions or subtractions from the party list, a forced change of venue, or activity - make sure your residential centre has everything clearly documented for you to communicate to parents from the start to avoid any issues.
• Offer 24/7 support while you are with them - this often forms part of the health and safety obligations and many centres have a duty officer available should you need help during the night.
• Previous clients willing to sing their praises. Maybe ask to speak to someone at another school who have visited them, to see what they thought of the experience.

6. Communicate With Parents and Guardians

Definitely run a parents evening to let them know what they children will be doing, how much they will benefit from the experience, and how much it is going to cost them. Many residential school trip centres will be able to help you be providing letter templates explaining the trip and what it involves - especially useful when it is your first visit and you aren't completely sure what to expect. Communicating the details of your residential school trip to parents helps avoid any confusion about what is expected from them - when they need to pay deposits, what kit they need to buy, etc.

7. Gather Risk Assessments

One of the most important bits of paper you are going to need is the risk assessment. These documents help you identify the potential hazards of taking someone else's children on an exciting adventure. Some of the assessment you will need to do yourself, but much will be provided by the centre itself. You won't be the first to ask for one, so what you will receive from them will be a big help in your planning. Visiting the venue in advance is advisable. Most companies offer schools the chance to do a pre-visit inspection. This is a great opportunity to add to any existing risk assessments that they provide for you. Use the guidance we have linked to below to ensure you are covering everything you need to account for. Get started with our handy risk assessment template for school group visits.

8. Prepare Students

If you are aiming to do preparatory work relating to your residential, this is a great opportunity to make sure they get the best out of the experience, especially if your trip is more along the lines of fieldstudies than adventure activities. Make sure they understand the behaviour expected from them. Give them a consise packing list - 'what do I need to take', is always going to be one of the first questions you will get. The more students know, the smoother the experience will be for everyone.

9. Check you are expected

It really doesn't happen often, but we have heard a few stories. Ring the venue a week or two before you are due to travel to double check they are expecting you. The last thing you need is having to make a last minute venue change because somewhere in the process the wrong date was requested or allocated. Make sure your itinerary and emergency contact details are safely with your school and parents know how to contact you through the school if necessary.

10. Enjoy Yourselves

You can only plan so much. Sometimes the weather is less than kind, or an activity that you were looking forward to is not available for some reason. Even the best laid plans can go slightly awry. But it is more than likely that your students will have an amazing experience and though they may not stop to thank you for all the effort you have put into planning, you'll be able to tell how much they have enjoyed it by how noisy they are on the coach home!

Organizing a residential school trip is a big responsibility, but by following a plan and starting the process early enough, it can be a relatively smooth process.

Here are a few links you may find helpful:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/health-and-safety-on-educational-visits
https://www.hse.gov.uk/services/education/school-trips.htm
https://oeapng.info/