School Educational Visit Planning and Approval Procedure

This procedure applies to educational visits organised by maintained and academy primary and secondary schools in England. Use it alongside the school’s existing policies and arrangements.

1. Classify the visit

Identify whether the visit is a routine visit covered by the school’s current policies or a visit requiring risk assessment and extra planning.

Consider whether the visit is outside current policies because of the distance from the school, the type of activity, the location, or the need for staff with specialist skills.

Record the classification as [educational visit classification] and identify the relevant current school policy or arrangement as [relevant school policy].

2. Decide the planning required

For a routine visit covered by current policies, review the existing plans or arrangements and confirm whether they remain suitable for the proposed visit.

For a visit not covered by current policies, prepare a proportionate plan and complete an appropriate risk assessment. Plans should be sensible and focus on managing genuine risks.

Record the planning decision as [planning decision] and retain the proportionate visit plan and, where required, the risk assessment.

3. Confirm competent leadership

Identify the person responsible for managing the visit as [visit manager].

Confirm that the person managing the visit has the skills, status and competence needed for the role, understands the risks involved, and is familiar with the activity.

Record the basis for this confirmation as [competence confirmation].

4. Obtain approval where required

Where the visit requires informed approval, submit the proportionate visit plan and appropriate risk assessment to the headteacher or governing board, as applicable.

Record the approval decision, including the approving body or person, as [visit approval decision].

If informed approval is not required for the classified visit, record the reason as [approval not required reason].

5. Record the decision before departure

Before departure, record the final decision for the visit as [final visit decision] and retain the classification, planning record, risk assessment where required, competence confirmation, and approval decision where applicable.

6. Review changes to the visit

Review the current plans or arrangements if the proposed visit changes or if arrangements that were successful on previous visits may no longer be suitable.

Where the change places the visit outside current policies, reclassify it, prepare the additional planning and risk assessment required, and obtain informed approval from the headteacher or governing board where the visit requires it.