Trips
Educational visits are an important part of life at Q3 Academy Great Barr. They help students learn beyond the classroom, build confidence, and support academic progress and personal development.
Purpose
We have a long tradition of involving students in trips and visits. In recent years, a growing body of evidence has shown the value of the 'outdoors' in young people's development.
Ofsted (2008) recognise that:
...learning outside the classroom contributed significantly to raising standards and improving students' personal, social, and emotional development
For curriculum-based trips, we only ask for a voluntary contribution towards costs. For extra-curricular trips, there is often a cost, but we aim to keep this as low as possible.
Recent visits have included overseas travel, adventurous activities, and residentials. This variety helps us offer as many opportunities as possible. Feedback from students who take part is consistently very positive, and we use their suggestions to improve future experiences and our overall offer.
Systems
We use several systems to manage educational visits and trips, and you may see these names in our communications:
EVOLVE+
This is the online portal staff use to plan educational visits and trips. It links to national guidance and reporting, is managed by our Educational Visits Coordinator, and is also accessible to Sandwell Local Authority, which regularly reviews the quality of our visits. Staff may choose to request consent electronically through EVOLVE+, in which case you will receive an email directly from the system with clear instructions on how to complete the consent form. Different forms are used depending on the nature of the visit, and some are more detailed than others. The form will ask for your consent to a level of supervision considered suitable for the visit and the age of the students taking part. Where a trip includes remote or indirect supervision, students will not be directly supervised by an adult. However, all Visit Leaders on trips of this kind will carry an emergency mobile phone so students can contact them if needed. Where medication is listed on a consent form, parents/carers must ensure that students bring it with them. Students may be turned away from a trip or activity if they do not have medication that has been declared necessary for health and safety reasons.
ParentPay
Payments for trips are accepted through ParentPay only at www.parentpay.com. The trip will appear in your payment items alongside the option to top up students' ID cards for lunches.
TripAid
We subscribe to the mobile application TripAid to communicate with students and support the remote supervision of students on selected educational visits and trips. Your child will need to download the free app from the App Store or Play Store, and we will provide them with a unique code to enter in the app to join a closed group for the trip.
During the trip, your child will be able to locate their teachers on a map and message them in an emergency. Staff will also be able to use the app to improve safety by locating your child during the trip and sending group or individual messages. This helps students and teachers communicate in a more modern, safe, and convenient way. At the end of the trip, the group will close automatically, ending all communication and location sharing. No phone numbers will be exchanged, and students will not be able to locate or message other students through the app.
Quality and experience
The quality of educational visits and trips is very important to us, and we work hard to choose reputable travel companies and institutions that enrich students' learning. At times, a venue or activity may not meet the standard we hoped for. When that happens, staff can report it through a module in our EVOLVE+ portal, which then shares the information with other schools, academies, and colleges. We can also view reports made by other institutions about venues and activities to help with planning.
We often choose companies and venues that have been awarded the LOtC Quality Badge by the Council for Learning Outside the Classroom. This national award combines the essential elements of provision, safety, and learning into one easily recognisable and trusted accreditation.
The EVC considers applications for educational visits and trips against the desirable outcomes devised by the Outdoor Education Advisory Panel and works to promote:
- Enjoyment
- Confidence and character
- Health and well-being
- Social and emotional awareness
- Environmental awareness
- Activity skills
- Personal qualities
- Skills for life
- Increased motivation and appetite for learning
- Broadened horizons
Payment
The cost of an educational visit or trip is carefully calculated based on expected student numbers. If these numbers change, the cost of the visit may increase or decrease. The same may happen if there is an unexpected change to the itinerary, transport, accommodation, or visit dates. We aim to avoid this, but where it cannot be avoided, the Visit Leader will let you know.
It is essential that payment deadlines and document submission deadlines are met. If a deadline is missed, we may need to cancel the child's place to avoid passing charges on to other students. In this case, there will be no refund of any money paid up to that point. Some travel companies may then require full payment of any outstanding balance for the missing child's place. If so, this will be payable by the parent/carer.
If we need to cancel an educational visit or trip entirely, parents/carers will receive a refund of money paid. Where an alternative option is offered, a refund will only be made if agreed by the insurer.
All payments made for educational visits and trips are non-refundable in all circumstances. The consent form confirms that parents/carers are aware of the cost of the visit and are confident that they can meet payment deadlines. Where a student cancels their place on a visit, this must be confirmed in writing by a parent/carer. All payment deadlines remain payable up to the date of the cancellation letter, plus any additional charges imposed by the travel provider.
Documentation
Where a visit includes any overseas travel, parents/carers must ensure that students have a passport or other valid travel document, including any relevant visas. We cannot confirm entry requirements and recommend that you seek advice from the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office.
For any visit outside the UK, all students must also have a valid EHIC (European Health Insurance Card) or GHIC (Global Health Insurance Card). The card can be ordered free of charge by a parent/carer from the NHS.
Students without the relevant travel document will be unable to travel and will lose any funds paid.
Insurance
All off-site visits and activities are covered by our Risk Protection Arrangements through the Department for Education.
The extent of cover is shown below:
| Cover | Basis | Limit |
|---|---|---|
| Medical expenses, repatriation, and emergency travel | Per person | £10,000,000 |
| Baggage | Per person | £2,000 in total (limits apply) |
| Money | Per person | £750 |
| Money | Per event | £5,000 |
| Cancellation, curtailment, replacement, rearrangement, and change of itinerary | Per person | £4,000 |
| Cancellation, curtailment, replacement, rearrangement, and change of itinerary | Per trip | £250,000 |
| Political and natural disaster evacuation | Per person | £10,000 |
| Political and natural disaster evacuation | Per trip | £80,000 |
| Missed departure | Per person | £1,000 |
| Disruptive student expenses | Per event | £5,000 |
| Loss of passport/travel documents | Per person and/or trip | £2,000 |
| Search and rescue expenses | Per event | £100,000 |
| Kidnap Consultants costs | Per person and/or trip | £250,000 |
| Piste closure | Per day per person | £35 per full day of closure |
| Piste closure | Total per person | £350 |
| Legal expenses | Per person | £50,000 |
| Personal liability | Per occurrence | £5,000,000 |
| Personal accident | Per person | Death and capital benefits: £100,000 |
- Indemnity is subject to the RPA Membership Rules.
- Cover applies to any trip, excursion, or work experience placement anywhere in the world which is related to education, commences during the RPA Membership Year, and involves travel outside of the school boundaries. This includes winter sports trips.
- Correct as of 1st September 2024.
Conduct
Student Behaviour
Educational visits and trips usually involve a higher level of risk than activities within the school. They are a privilege rather than an entitlement, and are run by our staff out of goodwill rather than obligation. For the safety and enjoyment of everyone involved, only students with positive behaviour records and no conduct concerns will be invited to participate in visits and trips. If a student is registered to take part in a trip and later concerns arise about their conduct and/or behaviour, they may be removed from the trip or visit without notice.
Code of Conduct
To have an enjoyable time and make the most of educational visits, all students must follow the code of conduct set out below. In the case of a serious offence or repeated poor behaviour, we reserve the right to send students home or have them collected at the expense of parents/carers. This may also result in a ban from future educational visits.
Students must:
- Participate to the best of their ability in all activities and attend all sessions and meals;
- Listen carefully to all instructions and follow them;
- Be punctual and meet all deadlines and meeting times;
- Not purchase, bring, or consume age-restricted products (alcohol, tobacco products, vapes, etc.);
- Never enter any bedroom other than their own allocated bedroom;
- Keep areas clean and tidy, and pay for any damage or breakages;
- Behave sensibly and safely at all times;
- Adhere to bedtimes, lights-out times, etc.
- Read all signage and adhere to instructions given.
Further information
For information about a specific educational visit or trip, please contact the Visit Leader named on the letter and/or paperwork you have received about the visit. For general trip enquiries, please email [email hidden].
Whilst the Academy is supported by the local authority with educational visits and trips through a Service Level Agreement, we are an Academy rather than a school. As such, all enquiries relating to educational visits and trips must come directly to the Academy.
National guidance, best practice, and other information that may be of interest can be found on the OEAP Parent Site.
For general information or guidance, our Educational Visits Coordinator is: Mr L Price, Assistant Headteacher