Educational Visits and Trips

We use a combination of systems at the Academy to manage educational visits and trips, and you may see these terms crop up in communication:

EVOLVE+

This is the online portal that staff use to plan an educational visit and trip, it’s a system that links in to national guidance and reporting, is managed by the Educational Visits Coordinator in the Academy, but also accessible by Sandwell Local Authority who regularly review the quality of our visits. Staff may choose to request consent for visits electronically through the EVOLVE+ portal in which case you’ll receive an e-mail directly from EVOLVE+ with clear instructions on how to complete the consent form; there are different types of form depending on the nature of the visits, some more detailed than others. The form will ask for your consent to a level of supervision for the trip deemed suitable for the nature of the visit and the age of the students participating, where a trip has an element of remote or indirect supervision, students will not be directly supervised by an adult. However, all Visit Leaders on a trip of this nature will carry an emergency mobile telephone in order to be contactable by students if necessary. Please note that where medication is detailed on a consent form, it is the responsibility of the parent/carer to ensure that students have this with them for the visit, students may be turned away from a trip or an activity if they do not have medication that you have declared necessary for health and safety reasons.

ParentPay

For some visits, Visit Leaders may offer the option to pay through the ParentPay system, the trip will show up in your payment items section alongside the option to to-up students’ ID cards for payment of lunches. Where cash is accepted, this may be paid to the nominated Year Office as with cheques (payable to ‘Q3 Academy’ unless otherwise specified). Please note that it is the responsibility of students to return to Year Offices to collect receipts once the payment has been processed, if a payment made by cheque fails for any reason then any administration costs incurred by this will be charged to the person who presented the cheque.

Online payments made be made at: www.parentpay.com

Quality and Experience

The quality of educational visits and trips is of vital importance, and we work as hard as possible to choose reputable travel companies and institutions to enrich the learning of our students. At times the quality of a venue or an activity may not be as we’d hoped, in which case we have a system where staff can report this through a module in our EVOLVE+ portal which then shares this information with other schools, academies, and colleges; likewise, we are able to view reports made by other institutions about venues and activities to help when planning.

We often choose companies and venues that have been awarded The LOTC Quality Badge awarded by the Council for Learning Outside the Classroom; it’s a national award combining 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 as devised by the Outdoor Education Advisory Panel, working to promote:

1. Enjoyment;
2. Confidence and character;
3. Health and well-being;
4. Social and emotional awareness;
5. Environmental awareness;
6. Activity skills;
7. Personal qualities;
8. Skills for life;
9. Increased motivation and appetite for learning;
10. Broadened horizons.

Payment

The cost of an educational visit or trip is carefully calculated to anticipate student numbers; where these fluctuate there may be an increase or decrease to the cost of this visit. This may also be the case if there is an unpredictable change to a visit itinerary, mode of transport, accommodation, or to the visit dates. We do aim to avoid this, but where unavoidable the Visit Leader will communicate this.

It is imperative that deadlines for payments and submission of documents are met. Where a deadline is missed, we may need to cancel the child’s place in order to avoid the imposition of charges to other students; there will be no refund for any monies paid to this point. Some travel companies will then insist on full payment of any outstanding balance for the missing child’s space, if this is the case, this will be payable by the parent/carer.

In the unlikely event that the Academy needs to entirely cancel an educational visit or trip, a refund of monies paid will be made to parents/carers. Where an alternate option is offered, a refund will only be paid if agreed by the insurer.

All payments made against educational visits and trips are non-refundable in all circumstances. The consent form confirms that parents/carers are aware of the visit cost and are confident that they can meet payment deadlines. Where students cancel their place on a visit, this must be confirmed in writing by a parent/carer; all payment deadlines are payable up to the date of the cancellation letter, plus any additional charges imposed by the travel provider.

Documentation

Where a visit includes any element of overseas travel, it is the responsibility of parents/carers to ensure that students have a passport or other travel document that is valid for travel (including any relevant visas). The Academy are unable to confirm entry requirements and recommend that you seek advice from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office at: www.gov.uk/guidance/foreign-travel-checklist

For any visit outside of 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 by a parent/carer free of charge from the NHS here.

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 under our Risk Protection Arrangements through the Department for Education.

The extent of cover can be seen below:

The impact of COVID-19 on educational visits and trips has been catastrophic. We are slowly returning to providing offsite activities for students and resuming international travel. COVID-19 may still continue to impact on trips and visits.

Students may be required to demonstrate their COVID-19 vaccination status at some venues and certainly for international travel. You can read about how to obtain a NHS COVID Pass here.

Code of Conduct

In order to have an enjoyable time and to 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 from students, we reserve the right to return students home/have students collected, at the expense of parents/carers, this may also result in a ban from all 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/or meeting times;
• Not purchase, bring, or consume any age-restricted products (alcohol, tobacco products, vapes, etc.);
• Never go into any bedroom other than their own allocated bedroom;
• Keep areas clean and tidy, and pay for any damage/breakages;
• Behave in a sensible and safe manner at all times;
• Adhere to bedtimes, lights-out times, etc.
• Read all signage and adhere to instructions given.

Further Information

For information relating to a specific educational visit or trip, please contact the Visit Leader who will be identified on the letter and/or paperwork that you have received detailing the visit. For generic trip enquiries, please contact us here.

Whilst the Academy is supported in educational visits and trips by the local authority we are independent, and as such, all enquiries relating to educational visits and trips must come directly to the Academy.

National guidance, best practice, and information that may be of interest can be found at: oeapng.info/parents 

For general information or guidance, the Academy’s Educational Visits Coordinator is: Mr L Price, Assistant Headteacher