School trips

Our team can help you plan accessible school trips. Please contact the team for more advice.

The following guidance is to support schools and settings and is to be used alongside existing policies and procedures for planning school trips.

Planning the trip

Top tips:

Start planning well in advance of the event
Talk to the children or young people
What do they want to get out of the trip?
Do they want to do all of the same activities as their peers?
Are they worried about some aspects of the trip?
Talk to those who have done the trip before; staff and children and young people

Mandatory documentation required for school trips;

Parent or carers need to complete an SOE3 form – This is the parental consent form for an offsite activity.
A Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) document. This is a step by step set of instructions to enable staff to perform tasks in a consistent manner. They should be brief and easy to understand.
An ‘Enhanced Risk Assessment’, specifying physical or medical needs (considering transport, the destination, activities, any stop-offs on the way).
The above needs to be agreed within the school and then uploaded to the Evolve online system. This is an online educational visits planning and approval system. Adventurous or overseas trips need to be approved by the Local Authority advisor.

Additional Documentation that will be needed for the day:

Staff and Helpers considerations:

Ratios: How many adults are needed to support the children and young people on the trip?
Training: Do the adults have the correct training (Moving and Handling, Medical) to support the child or young person with a physical difficulty.
Safeguarding: Are the adults attending DBS checked, if not how will they be supervised

The Venue:

Make sure they can offer a suitable experience considering the needs of the children and young people attending.
They may be able to provide examples of the paperwork you need e.g. Risk assessment, PEEPs.
Ask if staff are trained to facilitate the activities.
They may have suitable equipment available to borrow e.g. adapted wheelchairs

Accessibility of the venue:

Check the venue is accessible. Consider Stairs/Ramps, Doors, Toilets, Car Parking. Think about the access to the activity e.g. Rough/uneven/unmade paths and tracks. Consider where you will eat or drink – is this accessible?
Are the activities accessible? Consider getting on/off rides in theme parks, adventurous activities such as climbing, surfing, swimming, boating/kayaking.
Access in museums or exhibitions: Consider the exhibit height above ground. Could the child or young person handle the object etc.

The following links provide information about accessible venues or changing places:

Transport:

Transport availability:

Does the school have suitable transport. Can suitable transport be borrowed from other local schools / within the MAT.
Will transport have to be hired, who can provide it locally. What will the cost be, will drivers be supplied.
If staff/parents transport has to be used, you will need to check that their insurance covers the journey and has been risk assessed for safeguarding.

Accessible transport:

Consider the stairs to get onto buses / coaches.
Do you need a vehicle with tail-lift for wheelchair users?
Does the vehicle provide; appropriate supportive seating, seat belts, ISOfix for car seats, space to use a supportive harness. Points to secure and seatbelts for wheelchairs / powerchairs.
Are staff trained in securing wheelchairs or children or young people on transport?
A list of Devon taxi firms who supply accessible transport is available using the following link: Wheelchair accessible taxis and private hire vehicles – Travel Devon
Many local coach and minibus hire firms also have accessible vehicles. You can view them using the following link: Current approved bus and coach operators – Support for schools and settings
If using a wheelchair as a vehicle seat it needs to have a DCC tag to indicate it is safe and suitable. If it does not it will have to be verified and tagged. Email fleet-mailbox@devon.gov.uk for details of this process

Storage:

Contact information