School Trip Risk Assessments: A Practical Guide for Teachers

What is a Risk Assessment?

A risk assessment is a process used to identify potential hazards, evaluate the likelihood and impact of them, and put sensible measures in place to reduce risk.

The purpose is not to remove all risk. Educational visits often provide valuable opportunities for students to experience new challenges, environments and activities. Instead, risk assessments help schools understand significant risks and manage them appropriately.

Examples of areas commonly considered include:

• Travel arrangements
• Accommodation
• Planned activities and excursions
• Student welfare and medical needs
• Supervision arrangements
• Emergency procedures

What Does National Guidance Say?

The Department for Education’s guidance on educational visits, which references the Outdoor Education Advisers’ Panel (OEAP) National Guidance, promotes a proportionate approach to risk management. Schools are encouraged to focus on genuine risks and avoid unnecessary paperwork. Plans should be sensible and proportionate to the nature of the visit. The guidance recognises that many routine visits involve no more than everyday levels of risk and may already be covered by existing school policies and procedures. More complex visits may require additional planning depending on factors such as location, distance travelled, type of activity or the need for specialist skills. National guidance also highlights the importance of ensuring that visit leaders have the skills, competence and understanding required to manage the visit safely and are familiar with the activities being undertaken.

Risk Assessment vs Risk Management:

What’s the Difference?

The terms are often used interchangeably, but they are not quite the same.

Who is Responsible for Risk Assessments?

Schools retain overall responsibility for approving educational visits and ensuring suitable risk management arrangements are in place.

Many schools manage this process through their Educational Visit Coordinator (EVC) and their organisation’s educational visits approval system.

Experienced educational travel providers can support this process by supplying safety information, destination guidance and activity-specific risk management resources, but responsibility for the final assessment remains with the school.

At Rayburn Tours, safety management is embedded throughout the planning and delivery of our tours. Our Safety Management System is supported by comprehensive guidance documents, including our Generic Risk Management Handbook, Snowsports Risk Management Handbook and Activities Risk Management Handbook, helping schools plan trips with confidence.

Can a Tour Operator Complete a School’s Risk Assessment?

This is one of the most common questions we receive from teachers and Educational Visit Coordinators.

The simple answer is no.

While educational travel providers can supply extensive safety information, support documentation and destination-specific guidance, the final risk assessment must be completed and approved by the school.

This is because every group is different. Factors such as the age of students, supervision arrangements, medical needs, SEND requirements, behaviour considerations and previous travel experience can all influence the level of risk and the control measures required.

As the school knows its students, staffing arrangements and individual requirements best, it is responsible for determining how those factors should be reflected within the visit’s risk assessment.

However, that doesn’t mean schools have to start from scratch.

Rayburn Tours is an assured member of the School Travel Forum (STF) and proud holder of the Learning Outside the Classroom Quality Badge, kitemarks that give you the assurance that the necessary considerations are being made as standard practice. We can support group leaders by providing detailed safety and risk management information to help inform their own assessments. This includes information relating to transport, accommodation, destinations, excursions and activities, together with access to our Safety Management System and specialist risk management handbooks. These resources are designed to help teachers make informed decisions when preparing their own visit-specific risk assessments. We see our role as supporting schools through the information-gathering and risk management process, providing the tools and resources teachers need to complete assessments that reflect the individual needs of their group.

What Should a School Trip Risk Assessment Include?

Every visit is unique, but schools will typically consider the following areas:

Do Different Types of Trips Require Different Risk Assessments?

Yes. While many considerations are common to all educational visits, some trip types require additional planning.

Where Can Schools Find Risk Assessment Support?

There is no single risk assessment template that is suitable for every educational visit.

The Department for Education and OEAP National Guidance encourage schools to take a proportionate approach to risk management, focusing on the significant risks associated with a visit and the particular needs of the group. OEAP National Guidance provides a range of planning resources, checklists and model forms to support Educational Visit Coordinators and Visit Leaders. However, schools should also follow the procedures, approval processes and documentation required by their employer, academy trust, local authority or governing body.

Useful sources of support include:

• OEAP National Guidance planning resources, checklists and model forms. – Department for Education guidance on educational visits. – Your school’s Educational Visit Coordinator (EVC) and local approval processes.
• Educational visits management systems used by your school or trust.

As every visit is unique, the final risk assessment should reflect:

• The age and experience of the group
• Medical and welfare requirements
• SEND considerations
• Staffing and supervision arrangements
• The destination and planned activities
• Any specific environmental or travel-related risks

At Rayburn Tours, we provide detailed information about accommodation, transport, activities and destinations, together with access to our Safety Management System and specialist risk management handbooks. These resources are designed to support teachers and EVCs when completing their own visit-specific risk assessments.