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Tuesday, 16 April, 2013 - 00:00
Category:
Activities
School excursions and activities outside the school gate give students and teachers a fantastic opportunity to bring the classroom curriculum alive with a unique learning experience in a novel setting.
Whether you’re visiting a local museum or planning an overnight bush walk, like most expeditions the success of a school excursion relies on thorough planning and preparation.
But, more importantly, all states in Australia have strict guidelines covering school activities that take place away from the school campus. Here’s a rundown, state by state, of website links pointing to detailed information about what to consider when planning school excursions:
South Australia
The Camps and Excursions Guidelines for Schools and Preschools is available as a PDF document at the Department of Education and Children’s Services (DECS) website at www.decs.sa.gov.au/policy
The document outlines in detail health and safety guidelines for camps, excursions and related sporting and recreational activities, including the qualifications and experience of leaders, the nature of the student group, individual needs such as health care, local terrain and weather conditions, communication facilities and emergency action plans.
Victoria
The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development has a dedicated Safety Guidelines for Education Outdoors website at http://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/principals/safety/Pages/outdoor.aspx
The website outlines the full planning and approval process for overnight excursions, camps, interstate and overseas visits, excursions requiring sea or air travel; involving weekends or vacations; and adventure activities.
New South Wales
The policies and procedures which apply to excursions in New South Wales are found at the New South Wales Department of Education & Training website at
More specifically the Excursions Policy Implementation Procedure (available as a PDF document at the site) has detailed information about the principles found in the department’s Excursions Policy, including educational value, inclusivity, duty of care, teacher to student ratios, parents, caregivers and volunteers, child protection, risk management, consent and transport, student behaviour. The implementation procedure includes additional information about overseas excursions, accounting and administration, briefing students and billeting.
Tasmania
The Department of Education in Tasmania contains Outdoor Education Guidelines on its website at
The guidelines, which are designed to help schools develop and implement outdoor education programs, including excursions, include extensive information about safety and risk management; leader qualifications and experience; student supervision; first aid; choice of venue; program preparation; professional development and equipment.
Australian Capital Territory
The Department of Education and Training in the ACT has an Excursions Policy on their website at http://www.det.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/17635/ExcursionPolicy.pdf
The policy, which covers local and overnight excursions, except overseas excursions, outlines the principal and teacher’s responsibilities and sets out requirements to help ensure the health and safety of students.
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory Department of Education and Training policy and guidelines for educational excursions are found on their website at
The guidelines include guidelines for police checks of accompanying adults, use of private vehicles, insurance, duty of care, safety and risk assessment, a checklist of excursion paperwork and a guidelines for overseas travel.
Western Australia
The West Australian Department of Education’s policy and guidelines for educational excursions are found at
The policy covers the responsibilities of the principal and teacher-in-charge; supervision; risk factors; communication requirements (consent forms); an emergency response plan and insurance and liability.
Queensland
The procedures for school excursions in Queensland are found at the Department of Education and Training website at
The procedures cover records management; injury, illness and dangerous event recording and reporting; workplace health and safety; student protection; risk management and first aid.