Excursions

External providers

External providers may be engaged to assist schools to deliver specific activities (such as sporting competitions or adventure activities) in the form of:

• a program for students of a school, or
• a program for small groups of students from multiple schools.

They may provide expertise in a certain activity and can be a valuable addition to a program.

Clear and open communication undertaken well in advance of the planned program is the key to an effective and well-informed relationship between a school and an external provider.

Schools must be aware that school staff still have duty of care for their students, and the guidance in the excursions policy continues to apply, even when they are using external providers for school organised, operated or endorsed activities. When planning an excursion, schools are advised to use the Summary of excursion documentation (DOCX) to ensure minimum documentation requirements are met.

Before an external provider is selected to assist with the delivery of an activity or excursion, the school principal must be satisfied that a thorough check has been completed to ensure that the provider has appropriate expertise to deliver the program, has experience working with groups of children and/or young people and has policies, procedures and practices in place to keep children safe.

Agreements with external providers

The principal must carefully negotiate terms and conditions with external providers (for example, camp providers, specialist instructors, expedition providers) to:

• ensure the external provider has a current public liability insurance certificate (minimum $10 million) provided by an Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) approved insurer
• ensure Working with Children Checks are completed for all adults employed by the external provider who will be in direct contact with students. Note: Working With Children Checks are available in all Australian states. For overseas countries, schools should enquire about what kinds of checks their country does and ask for information to show that staff of the external provider are appropriately vetted
• ensure the provider is aware of and will comply with the department’s Excursions policy and relevant sections of the department’s Adventure activity guidelines (if relevant)
• agree to destroy all personal and health information provided by the school at the end of the contract.

Schools must refuse to sign any waivers of liability where the provider seeks to absolve itself and its personnel from liability for negligence on behalf of students and they must not encourage students or their parents/carers to sign. Refer to Excursions: Liabilitity, waivers and indemnities.

It is recommended that schools obtain travel insurance from VMIA to cover financial loss from cancellation by the external provider. Schools must not rely on insurance offered by external providers. Refer to School travel insurance.

When engaging an external provider, the school must also:

• ensure school staff know who to report any concerns to
• provide relevant information (for example, behavioural, capability, sensory needs) about students to the external provider/s that they need to know in order to look after the students and reduce risk
• clarify roles and responsibilities including for first aid, emergency procedures and communication and the provision of specialist equipment used as part of the activities in the excursion.

Where the external provider is funded by the department (for example, Swimming in Schools initiative), schools must still ensure that they enter into a written agreement which has been reviewed by Legal Division to ensure the above requirements are in place.

Please contact Legal Services for advice on agreements with external providers: Legal.services@education.vic.gov.au

External providers in minimum supervision ratios

If staff from an external provider are included as part of the supervisory team to meet the minimum supervision ratios (rather than as additional staff, over and above the required numbers), the principal must ensure that there is an agreement between the school and the external provider that ensures that the minimum supervision requirements for excursions are always maintained during the activity.

The teacher in charge must develop a supervision plan that lists all supervisory staff including school staff, staff employed by the external provider or volunteers (refer to Excursions: Staffing roles and responsibilities) and submit it to the principal for approval as an attachment to the Excursions – principal approval form (DOCX).

The supervision plan must be communicated to all supervisory staff (including external staff and volunteers) in advance of the activity.

If specialist staff/venue staff are included as part of the supervisory team, they must be informed that they have been listed as part of the supervisory team and their responsibilities must be clearly communicated. The supervision plan must include the following information:

• the role being undertaken by each of the supervisory staff (for example, specialist instructor)
• whether the supervisory staff are VIT registered teachers, volunteers or specialist external staff (refer to Excursions: Staffing roles and responsibilities and the Volunteers in Schools policy)
• relevant qualifications if these are required for particular activities (refer to the Adventure activity guidelines).

Excursions organised by one school for students from multiple schools with an external provider

Each school retains a duty of care for their own attending students and therefore each school must abide by the requirements of the Excursion policy for their students. This means that the Excursions – principal approval form (DOCX) and Camps, excursions, swimming and/or water-based activity checklist (DOCX) must be signed by each principal. Each school must register the location of their own students in Student Activity Locator (SAL) and each school must organise their own VMIA travel insurance (if required).

However, schools may choose to collaborate to complete the requirements of the Excursion Policy in the following ways:

• Victorian government schools may share supervision responsibilities to meet the required supervision ratios.
  • Note: The specific roles and responsibilities of each staff member (teacher in charge, other teachers, instructors, volunteers and so on) must be clarified and understood by all staff prior to the commencement of the excursion and documented in the Supervision Plan. Refer to Excursions: Supervision.
• For excursions that don’t involve adventure activities, the schools may agree to nominate one VIT registered teacher from any of the participating schools to have overall responsibility for the activity. That teacher becomes the coordinating teacher in charge.
  • Note: Adventure activities have specific supervision requirements. Refer to Excursions: Supervision.
• The co-ordinating teacher in charge may choose to include staff employed by the external provider in the supervision plan in order to meet supervision ratios, provided the staff are compliant with the requirements outlined in Excursions: Staffing – roles and responsibilities.
• The co-ordinating teacher in charge may choose to develop a draft Excursions risk register and emergency management plan template (DOCX) for all participating schools to adapt for their own use. Technical information on risk mitigation and emergency management supplied by the external providers can be incorporated into the Excursions risk register and emergency management plan template. Refer to Excursions: Risk Management and Planning.
  • Note: Individual schools must add any risk information specific to their students (as required), the principal must sign their school’s own version of the excursions risk register and emergency management plan and keep a record at their school.
• The co-ordinating teacher in charge may develop standard information to be used in the parent consent form for all participating schools, using information provided by the external provider.
  • Note: Individual schools must obtain consent for their students from parents and carers. Refer to Excursions: Consent.

Non-affiliated school activities

Some students undertake extra-curricular sporting and other activities that are not affiliated with the school or the department, for example, an individual student competing in a dance sport competition run by an external dance provider. These are considered to be non-affiliated activities and are outside the scope of these guidelines if the following conditions are met:

• the student is not competing on behalf of the school
• school staff are not involved in organising the activity
• the activity is not held on the school site
• the activity is not funded by the school or the department
• the activity does not include the school name or logo or anything that would imply that the activity is endorsed by the school or department
• the activity is not promoted as a school excursion or tour to the school community.

Schools must ensure the external provider of the non-affiliated school activity does not represent, in any promotional materials, communications, or online, to parents/carers that the school endorses or is affiliated or connected in any way with the external provider.

If schools advertise or promote non-affiliated school activities they must expressly warn parents/carers of students that the school:

• does not endorse the non-affiliated school activity nor endorse the external provider
• is not connected in any way with the external provider of the non-affiliated school activity
• is not liable in any way for any financial loss that may occur to parents/carers in the event the non-affiliated school activity is cancelled
• recommends that parents/carers pay any costs of the non-affiliated school activity using a credit card to protect against cancellation by the external provider.

Non-affiliated school activities generally occur outside school hours. However, if a parent chooses to allow their child to take part in a non-affiliated school activity during school times, the parent is required to inform the school of the reasons for their child’s absence in advance so that the school can:

• determine if the child’s absence needs to be excused by the principal, in line with school policy and the attendance guidelines
• determine appropriate follow-up to ensure that the involvement in non-affiliated school activities is not negatively affecting the student’s learning. This may include developing an Absence Learning Plan for the student
• record if the parent has a reasonable excuse for not meeting their obligation to ensure their child attends school each day.

Note: For advice on School Sports Victoria (SSV) activities which are department run events, please see Excursions: Supervision.

Related policies

• Attendance
• Insurance for Schools
• Liability, waivers and indemnities