Health and safety on Educational Visits

The policy changes affect all schools and will come into effect on 22 April 2025.  Academies / Academy Trusts.

The updated policy makes a clear statement that these schools/organisations should ensure they have their own policy and procedures in place to meet their own obligations as employers. 

Academies are recommended to: 

• Adopt OEAP National Guidance
• Appoint appropriately trained people e.g. Educational Visits Co-ordinator (EVC)
• Operate approval processes with appropriate reference to an external competent person e.g. Accredited member of OEAP. 

Academies wishing to buy-back an Educational Visits traded service from OCC can find out more on the Education Services store.

Community, Voluntary Aided and Voluntary Controlled Schools

Educational Visit plans for Category C* visits taking place after 22 April 2025 must be prepared and submitted for review and endorsement by OCC on the new OCC eVisit system. (* Residential, International, Adventurous and those involving the planned use of water outdoors) 

This new, robust Educational Visits planning system provides enhanced scrutiny and support of these higher risk visits and replaces the current Visit Notification Form. 

To ensure your school is ready for the transition to eVisit, each OCC-maintained school must ensure that the school EVC (or appropriate substitute) books onto OCC eVisit training. There are 6 training courses available on Education Services with places remaining. If you need EVC training for your school, here are the details of forthcoming training courses.