Outdoor Education Adviser Panel (OEAP) national guidelines
We have adopted the OEAP National Guidance as an operating guidance for the management of visits and Learning Outside the Classroom activities. This guidance has received widespread endorsement from professional associations and organisations, including from the HSE.
Key validations
- The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) provides generic and specific guidance for schools.
- The Learning Outside the Classroom (LOtC) website provides a range of supporting materials and information for visit leaders. It also provides the LOtC Badge scheme, which is an important provider validation.
- The Adventure Activities Licensing Service (AALS) provides statutory inspection for adventure activity providers whose activities fall into the remit set out by the licensing regulations.
- Adventuremark is a safety validation for those activity providers not in scope of AALS Licensing
School based support
Visits audit
Aimed at providing support for the Educational Visit Coordinator (EVC) with monitoring visits programmes. It is primarily a desk top partnership exercise and will focus on reviewing your systems and providing any recommendations as necessary. The audit visit will take place in the school/setting and takes approximately two hours. To arrange an audit for your email the Off Site Visits Officer.
Notification of visits
We delegate the responsibility for approval of all outdoor learning visits and LOtC activities to Heads/Managers who should use the OEAP National Guidance and our policies as their source of advice.
In delegating such approval and in order to meet insurance requirements we require schools/settings to notify the Off Site Visits Officer and OCC insurance if visits and activities fall within the following criteria:
- Overseas visits (day and residential)
- Within the remit of AALA Regulations
- Visits/activities in more remote/demanding settings
- Visits involving access to significant water
If these conditions do apply a visit notification form (doc format, 22 Kb) must be completed and returned in order for the necessary insurance cover to be arranged.
Risk management
We have a duty to ensure suitable, sufficient and proportional risk management processes are in place for employees. This is delegated to schools/settings that must ensure it applies to all those leading, helping or participating in outdoor learning, off-site visits and LOtC activity.
Risk management should follow the principles of an identified risk benefit process as outlined in the OEAP National Guidance. Recording risk management plans is important, but equally, the correct and appropriate actions create safe practice. Heads / Managers should ensure that written policies are accurate and the actual delivery of the visit reflects the policies.
Insurance
For details of insurance for off site visits please consult the OCC insurance LINK
Common issues
Useful links to the OEAP guidance which is regularly updated:
- Having at least two staff members travelling in a school minibus - 4.5a OEAP Guidance.
- Taking a first aider on a school trip - 4.4b OEAP Guidance.
- Ratio of staff to students - 4.3b OEAP Guidance
- Tavelling in private cars - 4.5c Transport in private cars