Policy statement
United Education recognises the educational and social significance of excursions for young people and therefore offer the option for full day excursions where possible.
Excursions are split into two categories:
- Raising cultural understanding and enhancing exposure to British culture. Such excursions include visits to nearby cities.
- Allowing students to spend time with their new friends and developing their social skills. Such excursions include visits to theme parks, sporting venues and events (.e.g. Football Academy Athletes may have the chance to visit the Emirates stadium, tennis players to attend Wimbledon etc.)
By planning and operating excursions in accordance with this policy, everyone involved will understand their duties and can participate fully in promoting learning outside of the classroom.
Our Responsibility
Under Common Law, staff members accompanying campers on an excursion have ultimate responsibility for their safety and are deemed to be acting ‘in loco parentis’, where staff are held to the same standard of care as would be deemed a reasonable parent. Occasionally, this duty of care can be temporarily be transferred to others such as an instructor at an activity centre where the activities are controlled by those instructors/experts.
We recognise and accept that excursions may present risks to the health and welfare of our campers and will therefore ensure that:
Adequate safeguarding procedures are in place and the needs of the campers and staff have been considered:
- A risk assessment has been completed and appropriate safety measures are in place
- The Excursion Manager is suitably competent to lead the excursion and able to instruct the other excursion staff of their duties effectively
- The student to staff ratio on excursion is appropriate
- Parents have given excursion consent
- Adequate first-aid provisions will be available and medical information of campers and staff is shared on a need to know basis
- The mode of travel is appropriate and pick-up and drop-off times and points have been confirmed
- The Excursion Supervisor has the names of all students and staff on the excursion and the group leaders will have contact details for all campers in their group.
The Excursion Supervisor / Group leaders must ensure the students are aware of their responsibilities which include:
- Not to take any unnecessary risks
- Following the instructions of United Education staff and other supervisors, including any excursion destination staff
- Dressing and behaving sensibly and responsibly
- Adhering to British laws and customs
- Looking out for anything that may threaten the health or safety of any student or staff and reporting this to his / her Group Leader or Excursion Supervisor.
- Any students whose behaviour may be considered to be a danger to themselves or others may be stopped from participating in the excursion.
The Excursion Supervisor
The Excursion Supervisor has the overall responsibility for the supervision and conduct of everyone whilst on excursion and has to be approved by the Centre Manager. Furthermore, the Excursion Supervisor must ensure that the principles of this policy are adhered at all times whilst off-site.
Risk Assessments
Risk Assessments should be completed well before the excursion and should be approved by the Centre Manager. The aim of a formal assessment is to identify any risks the students and staff may meet, how to prevent or reduce them. Students or staff must not be placed in situation which expose them to an unacceptable level of risk.
Transport
Each venue has dedicated transport providers who will supply the necessary vehicles for the planned excursion.
Some of the transport provider’s obligations include:
- Comply with all national, local, trade and other relevant laws, regulations and codes of practice
- All vehicles must be on roadworthy condition and meet all legal requirements, e.g. road tax, insurance, MOT certificate and maintenance logbook
- A PCV operator licence or small bus permit must be in place for vehicles carrying more than 8 passengers
- All vehicles must carry a fire extinguisher and first aid kit and be fitted with seatbelts
- Drivers are suitable vetted, take sufficient breaks and do not exceed their maximum daily driving time of 9 hours
- For a full list of obligations and driver vetting details please refer to the transport companies hire terms & conditions.
Student groups on excursion
The Excursion Leader must consider the number of staff necessary for supervision in the planning stages. Supervision requirements should be considered as part of the initial and final risk assessment. Any departure from the recommendations above must be supported by a risk assessment which records the reasons for the decision. The factors to take into consideration include:
- sex, age and ability of group
- those with additional support or medical needs
- nature of activities
- experience of adults in off-site supervision
- duration and nature of the journey
- type of any accommodation
- competence of staff on specific activities
- requirements of the organisation/location to be visited
- anticipated behaviour of participants
- First Aid requirements
Excursion Ratios
Students attending an excursion will be split into smaller groups and allocated a Group Leader. The groups will be split into the following age ranges:
- 3-4years Minimum 1 adult for every 4 children
- 5-7years Minimum 1 adult for every 6 children
- 8-11years Minimum 1 adult for every 10 children
- 12 – 14 years Minimum 1 adult for every 15 children
- 15 – 17 years Minimum 1 adult for every 20 children
For higher risk activities, consideration will need to be given to greater adult supervision, as appropriate, for example 1-6 on river activities, 1-3 in dinghy sailing etc. In the case of higher risk activities, the advice of the Team Leader, Sport and Outdoor Education should be sought.
In addition to the different group sizes, the amount of unsupervised free time also varies between the age groups.
- 9-11years = no free time
- 12 – 14 years = 45 minutes in groups of minimum 4
- 15 – 17 years = 90 minutes in groups of minimum 2
Partner Agency Group Leaders
Some partner agencies will send a Group Leader with their students whose role it is to update the student’s parents with their children’s progress and to be a local point of contact for them at camp. Should Agency Group Leaders join an excursion, they will only be put in charge of their students. They cannot take responsibility of another United Adventure Camps campers outside of their agency group.
Security procedures
During excursions children will be registered:
- Before boarding the coach
- On the coach just before departure
- At excursion destination drop-off point
- At various times during the day depending on age and group size
- At the end of the day before departure and once on the coach before departure
What to do if a child is missing
All students are required to provide their Group Leader with a mobile phone number on which they can be contacted during excursions, whether this is their own or that of a friend. In addition to these students wear wristbands and/or ID cards with the company contact information on it, the head office phone number. The Centre Office is staffed at all times while students are offsite and can provide support to searches were necessary.
Procedure in the event of an injury
- Assess the injury to see whether it needs treatment immediately
- If necessary, contact the Excursion Supervisor who can either take care of either the remaining group or the casualty, depending on the situation
- Please note that theme parks, stadiums, zoos, etc. have First Aid posts and all shops are required to keep First Aid equipment
- Procedure in the event of an emergency
- Get help immediately by phoning 999
- Contact the Excursion Supervisor
- Stay with the casualty
Procedure in the event of a missing student during off-site registration
- If a student has not reported after 10 minutes, call their mobile (or a friend’s mobile that is in the same group).
- Allow another 10 minutes and then notify the Excursion Supervisor who will take any necessary steps from this point.
- After another 30 minutes, the police will be notified by the Excursion Supervisor
- If a student who is not in your group asks for any help or guidance please contact the Excursion Supervisor who will have a record of all groups and reunite the student with his Group Leader.
- Do not take any responsibility for any student not in your group without first speaking to the Excursion Supervisor.
