School Visits and Health and Safety

"Pupils can derive a good deal of educational benefit from taking part in visits with their school. In particular, they have the opportunity to undergo experiences not available in the classroom. Visits help to develop a pupil's investigative skills and longer visits in particular encourage greater independence."

Health and Safety on educational visits.

The aim of this project is to encourage teachers to bring children, of all ages, into woodland areas. The woodland environment provides many opportunities for learning across the range of the National Curriculum.

The first priority of teachers and parents must be that all visits are conducted as safely as possible. All schools have a Health and Safety policy which will include school visits. The link below leads to the DfES publication quoted above, it can be read using Acrobat Reader. It is an excellent document for both experienced teachers and those new to the profession.

"…the group leader should undertake an exploratory visit, whenever that is possible, to:

Advice on organising educational visits can be found in the Department's 1998 good practice guide Health and Safety of Pupils on Educational Visits.

The above advice is particularly relevant to woodland visits. It enables the teacher to ensure a high level of safety, optimise planning for learning activities and maximise the use of human resources.

You might also like to download a copy of The Countryside Foundation for Education's
Guide for Teachers visiting countryside events involving schools

ENJOY YOUR VISITS!