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Benefits of learning outside the classroom.

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1. The 2 main types of trips

1.1 Routine visits

These involve no more than an everyday level of risk, such as slips and trips and are covered by a school's current policies and procedures. They only need a little extra planning beyond the educational aspect of the trip. They can be considered as lessons in a different classroom.

1.2 Trips that need a risk assessment and extra planning

These are trips not covered by current policies. This could be due to things like:

the distance from school

the type of activity

the location

needing staff with specialist skills

Sometimes a school may just need to review its current plans or arrangements that were successful on previous trips. However, some trips will need risk assessments, detailed planning and informed approval of headteachers or governing boards. The person given the job of managing this should:

Plans should be proportionate and sensible, focusing on how to manage genuine risks.

2. When to get consent from parents

A school must always get written consent for nursery age children.

For children over nursery age, written consent is not needed for most trips, as they're part of the curriculum. However, it's good practice to tell parents about them.

Written consent is usually only needed for trips that:

need a higher level of risk assessment

are outside normal school hours

Ask parents to sign a copy of our consent form when their child enrols. This will cover them for their whole time at the school.

Schools should still tell parents about these trips and give them the opportunity to withdraw their child.

3. Using outside organisations

Schools using an outside organisation to provide an activity must check they have appropriate safety standards and liability insurance.

The Council for Learning Outside the Classroom ( LOtC) awards the Learning Outside the Classroom Quality Badge to organisations who meet nationally recognised standards.

If an organisation does not hold the badge, the school must check that they're an appropriate organisation to use. This could include checking:

their insurance

that they meet legal requirements

their health and safety and emergency policies

their risk assessments

control measures

their use of vehicles

staff competence

safeguarding

accommodation

any sub-contracting arrangements they have

that they have a licence where needed

The school should have an agreement with them that makes it clear what everyone is responsible for. This is especially important if they'll be taking over supervision of the children.

4. Adventure activities: caving, climbing, trekking, and watersports

These kind of activities should be identified and risk assessed as part of the visit beforehand. Staff managing or leading visits must not decide to add such activities during the trip.

Always consider the abilities of the children when assessing risk.

Organisations need a licence to provide some adventure activities. Organisations who hold the LOtC Quality Badge should hold a licence for the activity they provide.

Find out more about licensing on the Health and Safety Executive ( HSE) website.

Watersports

When planning watersports, consider the need for:

Schools should take particular care when using hotel swimming pools and other water leisure activities which may not have a trained lifeguard. Although there are no swimming pool specific health and safety laws, the Outdoor Education Advisers' Panel ( OEAP) provides advice when undertaking adventure specialist activities, including swimming.

5. Trips abroad

Trips abroad can have extra risks and need a higher level of risk assessment.

Schools should make sure any organisation that is providing activities holds the LOtC Quality badge or similar local accreditation.

The HSE does not cover incidents overseas. However, it can investigate work done in Britain to support the trip, like risk assessments. School staff could also be liable under civil law for any injuries to the children due to negligence.

If the trip includes significant risks, such as challenging terrain, going to remote places or extreme climates, follow the guide to the British Standard for adventurous activities outside the United Kingdom as the basis for the planning and risk assessment. Organisations employed by the school should follow this too. If they have LOtC Quality Badge then they follow this standard.

Schools should consider the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's detailed guidance on safer adventure travel and volunteering overseas when organising adventure visits abroad. A teachers' pack is also available.

6. Knowing what to do in an emergency

Schools should have an emergency response plan that covers what to do if there is an incident away from school. Schools should also have a communications plan that covers how routine communications should be handled, including regular check-ins and calls to reassure people.

Trip leaders should be familiar with these plans.

Schools can get advice on these plans from their outdoor activity adviser or the OEAP website.

7. Evaluating trips

Set up a clear process for evaluating all visits once they have been concluded from the planning through to the visit itself. Schools should keep a record of any incidents, accidents and near misses.

This will help the school:

evaluate whether its planning has worked

learn from any incidents which took place

8. Educational visits coordinators

Schools should appoint an educational visits coordinator and make sure they have the training they need. The headteacher has this duty if there is no coordinator. Local authorities or academy trust outdoor education advisers can advise on appointing and training coordinators.

The coordinator works with the local outdoor education adviser to help their colleagues in schools to assess and manage risks.

The coordinator should:

be an experienced visits leader

have the status to be able to guide the working practices of other staff

be confident in assessing the ability of other staff to lead visits

be confident in assessing outside activity providers

be able to advise headteachers and governors when they're approving trips

have access to training, advice and guidance

Coordinators can also get guidance on the OEAP website.

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These involve no more than an everyday level of risk, such as slips and trips and are covered by a school's current policies and procedures. They only need a little extra planning beyond the educational aspect of the trip. They can be considered as lessons in a different classroom.

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Outdoor Education Adviser's Panel

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Are you leading outdoor learning, off-site visits, and/or learning outside the classroom?
The documents below give essential guidance to you for your role and responsibility. We have kept these documents to a minimum. If you do not find what you are looking for, please use the search facility.

Category 1 - Basic essentials

Category 2 - Making the case

Category 3 - Legal framework and employer systems

Category 4 - Good practice

Category 6 - Frequently asked questions

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Are you leading outdoor learning, off-site visits, and/or learning outside the classroom? The documents below give essential guidance to you for your role and responsibility. We have kept these documents to a minimum. If you do not find what you are looking for, please use the search facility.

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LOtC's evidence based report on benefits of fieldwork.

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Allowing students from disadvantages backgrounds to access fieldwork.

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For over 75 years, the Field Studies Council has shared the benefits of environmental education at our locations across the UK.

Our charity lifts the attainment and aspirations of young people and teachers through our courses. So it's upsetting when people face barriers to taking part. Often these barriers are financial.

That's why we offer grants to schools to help everyone access the benefits of environmental education. Over 10 years, we've given nearly half a million pounds to hundreds of schools.

We give grants to state schools where at least 10% of their students receive pupil premium. We help these schools access first hand environmental outdoor education.

Applications for 2023 grants closed on 24 th October 2022. Applications for 2024 grants will open in 2023.

To discuss other ways our charity can help your school access environmental learning, please email [email protected] Thank you.

The grants we provide are only possible thanks to the generosity of donors and charitable trusts. If you would like to help disadvantaged school children missing out on environmental education, please consider donating to our charity to fund grants.

Read on to find out

What grants are available?

Field Studies Council offers grants to schools wishing to book courses at our Centres in the UK.

These grants reduce the cost of a course for primary, secondary and/or further education courses from our existing range as published on our website.

Most schools which receive a grant from us use the reduced cost of tuition to help fund travel and reduce the cost paid by parents.

Grants for Schools are paid over three years. The grants can support the same or different Field Studies Council courses each year. This means that your school will have financial support to arrange environmental education for multiple year groups, rather than just one, and unite school classes in shared experiences.

Our grants offer fixed grant amounts per school (not per class) for day or residential courses. This means your school can more easily budget for field trips. This also makes communication with parents easier knowing the grant is secured.

The grant totals are:

Day courses - £300 in year one, two and three (£900 grant in total). This represents a saving of up to 50% for a typical course booking.

Residential courses (1 or more overnight) - £2,500 in year one, two and three (£7,500 grant in total). This represents a saving of up to 30-50% for a typical course booking.

Before applying, please take a look our available courses for primary schools and secondary schools. This will help you complete the form. If you'd like to discuss, please email [email protected] or phone 01743 852100.

Note - Thanks to feedback, our latest offers bring together and improve our past grants programme, including Bursary Fund, Kids Fund and Young Environmentalists Fund, which closed on the 31st December 2021.

What do past grant recipients say?

Since 2010, we have supported 4,788 students to experience outdoor education through our grants.

Schools shared the positive impact from attending our courses

95% of schools mentioned positive health and well-being impacts, especially resilience, confidence, and teamwork.

83% said their group learned environmental knowledge, especially understanding of topics after seeing them in real life.

49% reported the positive impact on the outcome of examinations and improved curriculum success.

76% of teachers said they directly benefitted from the course, especially their improved knowledge of their subject and how to improve their own lessons.

"The experiences allow children freedom to learn in a way that the confines and rules of the classroom cannot."
Primary

"The course opened a box of new skills and strategies to further develop and pursue outdoor learning in my school"
A-Level Biology

"They come away with a better understanding of ecological techniques and this undoubtedly improves their exam results "
A-Level Biology

"This has changed their outlook about the living world around them" Biology and Geography

"Staff learned a great deal and are now more confident in the course delivery"
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"One student, who planned to leave college permanently, came back to college on Monday with a completely new outlook. He said that he 'loved it, it's inspired me' and that the trip helped him to 'gain focus for what I want to do in the future'. His teachers have all mentioned what a turnaround this is."
Teacher

Is your school eligible?

We give grants to welcome more people from a wider range of communities, especially those who face barriers to attending courses.

Schools and other formal education institutes in the UK which are state funded. This includes alternative provision institutions. This excludes universities. The word 'schools' is used as shorthand.

Schools receiving at least 10% pupil premium* to support children who are disadvantaged.
*Or equivalent externally verifiable indicator of disadvantage

Schools wishing to book our primary, secondary or further education courses from the existing range as published on our website. This excludes non-curriculum and non-Field Studies Council led courses.

Since we have limited funds, we award grants to schools who best meet our criteria, as below:

If you're not eligible for a grant, but would still like your school to visit, please contact us about the courses we offer for primary and secondary/further education groups.

Grants are per school, not per class group.

Grants cannot be redeemed against existing bookings when any payment has been made.

We cannot assess applications received outside of open periods or applications which don't follow our procedures. This is to keep administration costs low so we can maximise the number of grants.

We reserve the right to close applications early if demand considerably exceeds the available grants, so we encourage you to apply early.

We will offer grants to schools who receive the highest assessments from the information they provide and based on available funding. Our decision is final and there is no appeals process.

We don't offer grants to cover cost of travel to the delivery site, although our grants are intended to reduce the overall cost of the trip and this can help fund travel.

We will regularly review and amend the design and timing of its grants based on feedback and available funds.

Grants can be used alongside any off-peak prices or subsidies that we sometimes offer schools.

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The small print

How to apply

Applications open for grants each year when schools typically look ahead to the next academic year (and trying to avoid exam periods!). If you represent a school that is eligible, please apply.

Applications for 2023 grants closed at midday on 24 th October 2022. Applications for 2024 grants will open in 2023. Please email [email protected] to discuss other ways our charity can help your school access environmental learning.

The form takes about 15 minutes to complete using information we think teachers will have to hand. We don't like unnecessary paperwork.

To make a school booking separate from your grant application, please contact our Schools Bookings team to enquire about options.

If you would like help disadvantaged school children missing out on environmental education, please consider donating to our charity to fund grants.

What happens after I apply (and if I get a grant...?)

After applications close, we assess each application using a scoring criteria. We'll then let schools know if they were awarded a grant within four weeks of applications closing.

Schools awarded a grant will be invited to contact the Schools Bookings team to book the first of their three annual visits for the following term or year.

To reduce paperwork, schools will not be paid the grant into their bank account. Rather, we will deduct the grant total from the cost of their course, so reducing the balance of costs paid by the school. Our usual booking terms and conditions will apply.

After a school has visited us, we'll help them share their story to benefit the school community and inspire others through publicity/social media. This also helps us share the impact of our grants. Once we have received feedback about the first course, schools can book then next, and same again for the third course.
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Schools not awarded a grant will invited to apply again and directed to other sources of funding.

What else does Field Studies Council offer?

We believe in the benefits of environment education by experiencing the outdoors and related experiences online and using our wildlife guides.

Our grants for schools are one type of support we offer. We also offer discounts, subsidies, scholarship, and placements; all generously funded by donors and charitable trusts.

Find out more here

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Grants For Schools - Field Studies Council

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For over 75 years, the Field Studies Council has shared the benefits of environmental education at our locations across the UK. Our charity lifts the attainment and aspirations of young people and teachers through our courses. So it's upsetting when people face barriers to taking part. Often these barriers are financial.

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Customer Information Customer Information Document: FSC is proud of its long history of safe, enjoyable educational visits. The enthusiasm, and commitment | FSC Centres

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Review of literature supporting learning outside the classroom.