Excursions

Weather and emergency warnings

Staff must check weather forecasts and emergency warnings for the location in the days leading up to the excursion and on the day the excursion commences. If the activity extends overnight, staff must access weather forecasts and warnings daily and monitor and assess the weather throughout, and be prepared to cancel, modify or relocate at any time if a severe weather warning is issued for the area.

Weather warning telephone services

The telephone numbers below may be useful to have available during the activity. Location specific numbers are also available and can be accessed at Bureau of Meteorology – Telephone Weather Services Directory.

• Coastal, Land Weather and Flood Warnings on 1300 659 217
• Full State Telephone Weather Service on 1900 955 363 (call charge applies)
• Coastal Waters Telephone Service on 1900 969 930 (call charge applies)
• Australian Tsunami Threat Information (1300 TSUNAMI) 1300 878 626
• VicEmergency Hotline (Includes bushfire information) 1800 226 226

Online services

Weather and warning forecasts should be obtained from the Bureau of Meteorology. Staff using mobile apps to obtain this information are responsible for checking the source of the apps data.

• Bureau of Meteorology and MetEye
• Marine and Ocean for coastal waters forecast and observations
• VicEmergency
• National Warnings Summary
• Victorian Weather and Warnings

Fire danger or ban

When planning excursions in bushfire prone areas or in areas surrounded by grassland, schools are advised to regularly monitor forecast fire danger ratings for that fire weather district.

On days of forecasted Catastrophic fire danger rating (FDR), all excursions in the fire weather district of the Catastrophic FDR forecast must be cancelled.

In the days leading up to activities in or around bushfire prone areas, schools must regularly check the forecast fire danger rating. If the forecast fire danger rating is identified as extreme, or a total fire ban has been declared, principals must reassess the excursion risk assessment and can seek advice from regional emergency management staff about whether the excursion should be cancelled. Please see the CFA website for information regarding fire bans and fire danger ratings. Additional information can be obtained by calling the VicEmergency Hotline on 1800 226 226.

If an excursion is not cancelled, alternative lower risk activities may be required, depending on the location.

Schools must ensure they consider the risk of bushfire or grassfire at the excursion location when conducting their risk assessment and developing their emergency management plan. Schools should be guided by the department's Bushfire and Grassfire Preparedness Policy.