EVC Webinar

Marie Towns

Educational Visits Coordinator of the Year – St Edmund’s College

As Educational Visits Coordinator at St Edmund’s College and Prep School, an independent Catholic school in Hertfordshire, Marie Towns believes the most valuable lessons often happen beyond the classroom. Whilst academic performance matters, she has seen time and again how educational visits allow children to demonstrate qualities that grades alone can never capture. Away from the timetable, pupils build confidence, resilience, independence and friendships, often surprising both themselves and their teachers.

Winner of the Evolve Advice’s Educational Visits Coordinator of the Year award, Marie oversees a diverse programme of UK and overseas visits, balancing educational value with the practical realities of running trips in a Catholic school, including planning around religious observances and Mass. Working alongside colleagues across safeguarding, finance, learning support and senior leadership, she coordinates an 18-month planning cycle that helps prevent trips from overlapping, spreads opportunities more fairly across year groups and makes the programme more manageable for families.

In this webinar, Marie will share how schools can build a strategic programme of educational visits that is safe, affordable and enriching for every pupil. She’ll explore how careful long-term planning, cross-curricular trips and strong collaboration across the school can increase participation, while explaining why educational visits remain one of the few places where teachers see children not as grades, but as individuals with unique strengths, interests and potential.

Hannah Pilgrim

Educational Visits Coordinator – Downe House

As Educational Visits Coordinator at Downe House, an independent girls’ boarding school in Berkshire, Hannah Pilgrim oversees an ambitious programme of educational visits designed to make enrichment as inclusive and impactful as possible. From Japan and Kenya to Canada, Auschwitz and UK residentials, the school’s evolving cross-curricular approach has expanded trips beyond individual subjects and year groups, opening opportunities to more students. At a school where many pupils come from privileged backgrounds, these experiences also play an important role in broadening perspectives through exposure to different cultures, communities, and ways of life.

Working closely with the school’s Senior Leadership Team, Hannah leads the planning and approval of every visit, delivers staff training, and has helped develop a three-year plan that gives families greater visibility of upcoming opportunities and time to budget.

In this webinar, she’ll share how this approach has increased participation, supported parents’ budgets and enriched learning. Hannah will also provide practical advice on planning trips up to two years ahead, securing approvals, training staff, and delivering successful, meaningful educational experiences.

Andy Smith

Director of Advice – EVOLVE Advice

As Director of Advice at EVOLVE Advice, Andy leads a team of Educational Visit Advisers, working with schools, trusts and local authorities to help Educational Visits Coordinators plan educational visits that are safe, inclusive and well managed. Through training and expert advice, he supports schools in overcoming the day-to-day challenges of trip planning, from risk management and compliance to making educational visits accessible for every learner.

In this webinar, Andy will explore the practical challenges EVCs face in delivering inclusive educational visits, including supporting pupils with additional needs, making reasonable adjustments and balancing safety with meaningful participation. He’ll share practical advice to help schools approach these situations with confidence whilst creating positive outcomes for all pupils.

Andy will also discuss how schools can streamline educational visit planning through robust digital processes, using systems such as EVOLVE to strengthen oversight, simplify documentation and provide a clear evidence trail for Ofsted. He’ll share how these approaches can reduce administrative burden whilst giving staff, parents and school leaders confidence in every visit.

Clare Carlin

Education Programme Manager – Council for Learning Outside the Classroom (CLOtC)

As Education Programme Manager at the Council for Learning Outside the Classroom (LOtC), Clare Carlin works with schools across the UK to help them create strategic, inclusive and high-quality enrichment programmes.

She supports schools in identifying gaps in provision, expanding learning beyond the classroom and ensuring every student has access to meaningful educational experiences.

In this webinar, Clare will explore how Educational Visits Coordinators can take a more strategic approach to enrichment, using the LOtC Mark and the national Enrichment Framework to strengthen provision and prepare for the future of learning outside the classroom.

Like Evolve Advice, CLOtC also helps schools combine enrichment with effective planning and risk management. Clare will share practical guidance on evaluating your school’s enrichment offer, increasing participation and choosing trusted LOtC Quality Badge providers to help deliver safe, impactful educational visits with confidence.