The Government now supports the role of adventure as part of active education especially in learning to manage risk. Pupils may no longer take risks unknowingly but need to learn to manage them. Before this can happen, risk needs to be assessed by competent persons.
SJA was a consultee on the 1998 publication and has considered later Supplementary Guidelines. School visits always have a potential for risk that needs analysis and planning by staff as part of their normal preparations. The details of this process must be recorded by the school staff and submitted to their Local Authority (LA) for approval.
The record will be in the form of Risk Assessment report (obtained from the LA) which should be written before a trip is approved. The Risk Assessment will contain details of the risks that have been identified, and the level of technical expertise needed by the accompanying staff, in order to control pupil activities safely. The steps taken before and during a visit should be all planned.
SJA has always carried out generic Risk Assessment reporting. It has prepared its own adaptation of the DFES publications aimed specifically at teachers.
To help you with organising your school trip safely, please download a copy of our guide ‘Organising Educational Visits’ and follow the link to the ROSPA School Visits Guide http://www.rospa.com/rospaweb/docs/advice-services/school-college-safety/school-visits-guide.pdf