Are you organising a field trip for your school? Most school excursions are simply left to administrators or teachers to organise, so if this is something that you have no experience doing previously, then you might be feeling a little bit out of your depth. Making sure that the students are transported on time and safely is one of the key elements of arranging any school trip. It can help to work with professional transport operators who are experienced in taking students from schools and colleges on all types of trips and excursions, with experience transporting young people safely.
Planning the Trip
For teachers and school staff, taking students on a field trip could either be a great day out for everybody, or a nightmare. And if you want your trip to run as smoothly as possible and be a fantastic experience for everybody involved, then it’s important to carefully plan all the details of the day. Transporting a bus filled with students to a public place can be a tricky undertaking, so it’s important to ensure that you start planning early, to ensure that everybody gets through the trip and back home safe and sound.
There are several factors to consider when it comes to arranging an educational field trip, no matter how many students will be attending, or where you are travelling to. It’s important to ensure that the field trip ties in with your school’s curriculum before you start planning, so get the approval of the school administrator and decide on the location for your field trip. Book transportation that you are certain is reputable, of high quality, and has experience with taking students on school trips, such as a minibus from The Minibus Centre, where you can purchase and lease minibuses for your school.
You’ll also need to ensure that adequate supervision is provided, especially if there are younger students on board. This could involve teaching assistants or asking parents to volunteer. Work out eating logistics, too.
Risk Assessment
When it comes to planning a good school field trip, it’s important to have a detailed, well-considered risk assessment. In this instance, you might benefit from the assistance of a good tour operator, as they will usually offer round the clock emergency support throughout the trip. Before heading on the trip, it’s important to have a detailed risk assessment in place including information on what to do if any students are sick of injured, how the tour operator or transport company you are using deals with emergency situations, what to do if any of the students become lost, and anything else that is relevant. While hopefully you won’t have to use it, it’s crucial to have these plans in place.
Organising the Transport
The transport for the school outing is one of the most important elements to consider during the planning process. The whole trip could end up being at risk if the transport does not arrive or turns up to collect the students late. Because of this, you should spend some time finding and choosing a reliable, affordable group transportation company that has a good track record.
Try to find and use a transport company that not only has the vehicles that are suitable for your requirements available, but also has experience with school trips.
Access
Education is covered by the SEN and Disability Act 2001, which was an extension to the Disability Discrimination Act. Under this law, schools are required to make sure that students with special educational needs or disabilities are not treated less favourably than other students both in the classroom and during extra-curricular activities such as school field trips. Because of this, it’s important to ensure that you have a plan in place to ensure that there is reasonable access on school trips for children that meet these criteria.
For example, you will need to ensure that there is wheelchair access on buses and check ahead to any destinations that you are planning to visit to ensure that they are accessible. It is also important to include any students with disabilities in any risk assessments that you carry out, in order to ensure that any necessary reasonable adjustments can be made. For example, you may need to consult with or bring along specialist teaching assistants in order to ensure that certain students’ care plans can be continued.
Ensuring Supervision
It’s often necessary to make sure that there is adequate adult supervision on the trip, especially if you are transporting younger students on a field trip. There is no general rule to follow, although you should certainly check if there are any policies regarding the supervision of field trips that are unique to your school while planning.
How much supervision you are likely going to need for the students will depend on several factors such as where you are going, how many students you will be taking, and the ages of the students that you are taking. It is often a good idea to ask some of the students’ parents if they would like to volunteer to supervise on the school trip if they can. Parents can act as third-party witnesses if any problems occur, and students are more likely to behave along the way if their mum or dad is there.
Meals and Logistics
When planning a school trip, meals are likely going to have to factor in somewhere, especially if you are doing an all-day excursion. You may have to think about how the students are going to get breakfast, lunch, and dinner so think about how long the trip is expected to last and how you are going to ensure that food is provided. It can be worth asking the parents of the students who are going on the trip to provide packed food for them to eat. Other options include booking a catering service to provide meals for students for a trip that lasts the entire day or providing vouchers that students will be able to use to get food from local restaurants or fast-food outlets.
Along with food, it’s also a good idea to take water with you. If the trip involves a long journey, then it’s important to keep everybody hydrated. A cooler with several bottles of water inside is always a must on a long school trip.
Activities
Some school trips involve a long trip on a coach or minibus that might be very boring for the students, especially if you are planning a trip that involves younger kids. Because of this, it can be a good idea to weave activities and things to do into your overall plan for the trip. If the last thing that you want is boisterous, excited children without anything to focus on for several hours on a bus, it’s a good idea to come up with some games or things that they can do while travelling to your trip destination. Or you could come up with a fun ‘lesson’ on the destination that you are going to visit along the way, including quizzes to test the students’ knowledge of where they are going.
As a teacher or another educational professional, planning a school trip can be exiting yet daunting. These are just some of the main things that you might want to think about when planning your next school field trip.
