Here's a page with tips and suggestions for school trips, borne of many years finding out the hard way!
Visitors, not visits
So much can be gained from having visitors to school - you don't always have to go out on a trip. It's generally cheaper for one thing, and you get the whole day rather than having to allow for travelling time. Author visits are probably the most common (and I'll be posting a list of tips and hints for this later), but think creatively about who else you might get to come into school. Artists, craftspeople, past pupils, members of the armed forces or the local British Legion, health professionals, the police, museum outreach, theatre staff (acting or backstage), musicians, etc. etc. And seek out parents with particular talents. They may need a little persuading...
Do bear clearly in mind though that not all these folk will be experienced or confident in working with children - don't expect them to be teachers, so make allowances. Maybe arrange for them to work with small groups rather than the whole class; assign a Teaching Assistant to take care of any potential behaviour or resource issues. Give children name badges to wear. Meet them well beforehand and outline what you'd like them to do, alongside what they are willing to offer. Give them time to think of further questions between the initial meeting and the event itself. And don't leave them to get on with it when they're in - YOU are responsible for the class and the visit and the visitor, so you MUST be evident, without being overbearing. Consider the message you are giving to your class when any visitor comes to work with them - if you disappear to do other things, or sit in the corner doing your marking (I have seen this!), you are publicly undervaluing the visit and the visitor. And it's bad manners!
Where do we go?
No doubt your school has a list of tried and tested places that you visit. That's fine, but don't let that stop you from branching out a little. Actively seek out alternatives. Maybe you always travel to the south and east but neglect the north and west? Maybe there's somewhere just a little further than your normal radius that's worth the extra journey time? Or, look more locally but think more about usage - for instance, you may have a local museum that you use to support an aspect of history, but why not go there for a literacy stimulus, or observational art, or even devise a maths trail? There was a great initiative in Plymouth where children were read stories that linked to the venue, e.g. 'Cleversticks' at the Chinese restaurant. You could read extracts from 'Wind in theWillows' near a river, or 'Burglar Bill' at the police station; a bible story in the church - you get the idea. Think creatively!
Keep a record
As time goes by from one school year to the next it's easy to forget which children went where on school trips, particularly when there are staff changes. So it's good practice to keep a log of trips year on year. That way you can be sure you're (a) not taking children to a place they visited three years ago, and (b) giving everyone as wide a range of off-site trips as possible.
Alongside the log, keep a note of comments that would be useful for another visit. It's up to you how simple or detailed this is - though don't make it too unwieldy or no-one will complete it. Consider where the log is kept and who is responsible for ensuring it's filled in - if it isn't brought to staff's attention, it won't get completed and then is of no use at all. Once it's drummed into staff to complete, it will become second nature. Then make sure it's referred to, particularly when you're planning a new year's round of trips - and more about that later!
Weather plans
It goes without saying really, but you should ALWAYS have bad weather contingencies. Even just walking from the coach to a museum isn't much fun in a sudden rainstorm. And consider hot weather as well as wet and windy. Much of this consists of telling families in advance to provide/dress children in suitable clothing, but you also need to consider where they can eat lunch for example, in an outdoor location, if the weather should turn bad. (I have vivid memories of children chasing yogurt pots and sandwich wrappers along a windy promenade in north Norfolk. We threw ourselves on the mercy of the sea-life centre!)
School uniform?
It sounds trivial, but it can make a difference to your trip - should you insist on the children wearing school uniform? (If your school has one!) The main advantage is that they're easy to spot in a large location, so less easy to lose and if they do get lost, easier to find again! Where that isn't an issue, it's part of the fun for them not to have to wear uniform, and old clothes are a distinct advantage in some cases -eg. pond-dipping! Make it clear on your letter home what the 'dress code' is going to be for the trip. And always carry spares!
Risk assessments
These are a necessary evil for any trip nowadays, for obvious reasons,but they can also be a pain to compile. Your school should develop its own generic risk assessments,e.g. for walking and coach trips, so that part of the trip doesn't have to be done every time you go out of the door. After that, always check with the venue to see if they have their own risk assessment that you can use - again this will save you work. If you do have to write your own, make sure it's kept on file for future reference.
Worksheets?
I'm not a fan of having worksheets on trips. They can diminish the possibilities of what the children might gain, they can get in the way, get lost, and usually end up looking a mess. Then what do you do with them when you're back at school? It depends, of course, on the purpose and nature of the visit, but I'd do without them whenever possible. If you do want a focus and/or record of the visit, better to have blank paper (with clipboards that have pencils tied on to them!), for the children to draw/note their own observations. If you feel the need for more structure than this, then give broad headings, eg. Draw/write about:
- something beautiful
- something unexpected
- something you'd like to take home with you
- the most unusual thing you saw
- the oldest thing you can find
- the most exciting thing you noticed
- the best view
- the most interesting thing you found ....etc.
A second alternative could be a simple check-list of things to look for (a bit like the I-Spy sheet for the journey - again see below). This would be used if you absolutely need them to find specific things. So, if it's a museum visit for instance, your list might include things like:
- a flint tool
- a deer horn pick-axe
- a stone quern
- a coin hoard...etc
Sometimes venues will provide their own worksheets. These can be great, but do evaluate them carefully. Ask yourself what value they have for the learning, or are they just time-fillers?
Parent helpers
Both a blessing and potentially a curse! In practice it's very difficult to manage an off-site trip without parent helpers, and it certainly helps them realise what a hard job you do! But there are health warnings:
- Choose your parents with care! They should be reliable, friendly, and fully aware of confidentiality issues.
- Ask your colleagues for information and advice.
- Decide whether it's best to let them have a group with their own child - usually it works really well, and it does seem only fair, especially from the child's point of view. The overbearing parent who is likely to show favouritism to their own child is best avoided if possible.
- Help them to help you - let them know in advance exactly what their role will be, and what is and is not expected of them. Give them a clear, simple timetable for the day. Encourage them NOT to give the children too much information, rather to let them investigate and find out for themselves.
- Parents usually get round places more quickly than teachers - they are likely to be inexperienced in talking children through things like you do. Give them some guidance, and maybe a few key questions.
- Give each helper a list of all the groups, with their own highlighted. Hand these out on the day, not in advance, then there's no arguing!
- If your trip involves each group being out of sight of one another, give the helpers your mobile number, and ask for theirs if they have one.
- Have them in the room at the start of the day, so they can hear the instructions you are giving to the children.
If you have a coach journey of more than a few miles, it's a good idea to give the children something to focus on that's fairly constructive. (And help avoid travel sickness). Instead of them bringing books/paper & pens/hand-held games, set them an 'I-Spy' challenge. (It helps if you know the route at least a little).
Give pairs of children a sheet with things to look out for whilst they are on the journey. Easy things to spot are worth 5 points, with more difficult things increasing in value. So, you might have things like a dog, a garage, a motor bike, a bridge etc. for 5 points, with less likely things such as an oil tanker, a pond, a church spire or tower for 10 points, and so on. I once put 'volcano' on an I-Spy challenge (I know - very bad indeed), but several children claimed to have seen one. It was a garden bonfire! I gave them the 50 points for spotting it and showing initative!
Packed lunches
Never allow sweets or fizzy drinks on trips. They're bad news on several fronts - bascially sickness and general mess!
Tidy up!
Leave a good impression wherever you go - train the children to tidy up after themselves; don't leave lunchtime litter behind (take a black plastic sack, but there's no reason why they shouldn't put their rubbish back into their own lunchboxes). And always check the coach when you get back to school - leave no litter - or personal belongings. Don't let them off the coach til they've checked the space all around (and below!) them.
Toilets!
ALWAYS find out in advance where the toilets are! And bear in mind places where there aren't likely to be any - like churches, wide open spaces and beaches (more of a problem for girls than boys!).
Travel Sickness
- Ask parents to let you know in advance if their child suffers from travel sickness, and get them to dose up their child with travel pills beforehand. If necessary for the return journey, get written permission to give them another pill.
- Sit sufferers at the front of the coach, and tell them to look out of the window - this really does make a difference - it's something scientific that I don't understand; I just know it works! It's the same on the sea - look at the horizon and sea-sickness isn't so bad.
- Have a piece of magic brown paper and tell the child to sit on it - the magic is that it stops them from feeling sick. Now, I don't know if there IS a scientific explanation to this, or whether it's just a placebo effect, but it has worked for me with some children!
- Never forget the sick bucket! Also take paper towels and newspaper, wet wipes and a bottle of water for the child to drink afterwards. One experienced coach driver taught me the trick of carrying an air freshener - a godsend! And if your school has some of that absorbent granular stuff - you're blessed!
Never sit in the front seat - you can't see what's going on behind you. Choose a seat two-thirds of the way up the coach. That way you can see everything in front of you and hear what's happening behind. Also, your proximity to the back-seat-sitters will diminish their tendency to muck about!
Get there first
NEVER take your class to visit somewhere that you haven't already been to yourself (foreign trips possibly excluded!), or that a colleague already knows well. Your pre-visit is to check out all sorts of things:
- what the children will get out of the visit (or there's no point in going!)
- suitability for children - specially if they're small - can they see things high up?
- safety issues - crossing roads, keeping the children in sight, any possible overcrowding, etc. (You'll need a Risk Assessment for any visit - the venue may have their own, but don't forget you'll need to add everything you need for getting there and back)
- access issues for any disabled pupils
- whether there's an education department with services to offer
- where the class can eat lunch and leave their coats and lunchboxes - and of course where the toilets are
- what you'll do if it rains
- anything you particularly want to point out to the class when you're there
- anything that could be potentially 'tricky' (I was very glad that I'd visited the Museum of Classical Arachaeology before taking my Y3 children there - it's full of large, male, nude Greek and Roman statues...)
- to assess how much time you'll need for the visit
- to decide whether you want to give the children specific tasks while they're there
