Make Your School Trip Work For Everyone
Leading off-site visits can feel like hard work – and more daunting still when the group includes children with SEND…
- by Marie Smith
…but it needn’t be if you pay attention to the following areas.
Researching and choosing your destination
This is the key to a successful, fully inclusive visit. Carefully list your requirements, and once you’ve established your wishlist begin your research. You’ll probably find that there’s a much wider selection of potential venues available than you might think, many of which will be able to provide for your needs. If you’re unsure, just get in touch with them – additional support can typically be negotiated without additional cost.
Consider the length of your visit, whether it will involve meal times, staying away overnight and the impact that might have on any children with medical, feeding and health conditions requiring specific support. Your school’s nursing team or the child’s regular health professionals will be able to advise.
Preparation and pre-planning
Preparation is your best friend. Complete a site visit by walking around to establish whether the venue will work for you. Ask plenty of questions and take photos – both will be invaluable. Stay in touch with the venue and keep asking questions as and when they come up; when ensuring a successful day out, no query is too small.
Appropriate transport will be critical. For pupils with physical needs this may involve securing an accessible form of transport or a vehicle with wheelchair access. Other pupils might have sensory or behaviour needs and require appropriate support – you may decide that the sensory impact of the journey will be too much, resulting in heightened stress levels and a greater risk of challenging behaviour, and therefore allow them to travel separately.
If pupils have a care and/or management plan, it’s vital that you use it to ensure that you have everything you need. If any medicines or specialist equipment will be needed, ensure that you’ve planned for this and have checked the implications of carrying it with you.
Spend time on your risk assessments, both group and individual. The more detailed and specific they are, the better. This process will ensure that any legalities are covered, but also allows you to be certain that you’ve covered all angles and are prepared for any eventualities.
If you’re concerned that you might have missed something or that your plans are inappropriate, don’t be afraid to seek advice from your LA’s legal team or any outside agencies working with the pupils. This is especially important when supporting children with potentially challenging behaviour.
The final and most important area of planning is to consider your staffing. You need to ensure appropriate ratios and deploy staff with the correct expertise, skills and knowledge of the pupils. Will you require an additional adult to potentially respond to challenging behaviour, intimate care or medical needs? Are you taking the staff member who knows the pupil best and can manage their needs most confidently? Will they be happy to support the pupil in this situation, and what support do they feel they need?
Preparing pupils
Children with physical and medical needs might need reassurance that appropriate facilities will be available for them during the visit, while others may need additional support to prepare for such a big change in their usual routine.
A venue’s website is the perfect tool for familiarisation. Many will often feature YouTube clips that can be viewed and used to create a video or photograph book, perhaps alongside images taken on your initial site visit.
For many pupils, daily familiarisation with the aid of photograph books, slideshows and internet access can help ensure a successful trip. They can be taken home and possibly brought along on the trip itself to mark off landmarks or signal a countdown until the trip concludes in a similar way to a schedule or visual timeline. They can add a sense of structure and routine that helps reduce anxiety and support children who may normally be less less flexible.
Working together with families
Remember that family members will know their children best, and are likely to have been on visits with them before, so ask them for their views and ideas. It’s also important to consider their anxiety levels and emotional response to the idea of a school visit – it can be a worrying time. Be mindful when approaching them for assistance with documents such as risk assessments, which will need to outline all areas of the child’s need. Discussing the contents with them, rather than having them read such documents in isolation will help reduce anxiety and the likelihood of conflict at a later stage.
Some family members may wish to join you on the trip. If this is appropriate and helpful for the pupil, then that’s great – but it can be a difficult issue. If a family member can’t attend because taking time off work or arranging childcare for siblings presents issues, they might feel frustration or concern that their child’s level of participation or inclusion in the trip may suffer as a result.
On the day
On the day itself, ensure that you’ve brought all the appropriate equipment, paperwork and resources with you. Check and double check before you leave.
See to it that the pupils have everything they need, be it their timelines, photograph books, fiddle toys and/or sensory support items. Try to ensure a calm start to the day, as this can have a massive impact on the tone of the visit – and be relaxed and enjoy it! Pupils take their cue from us; if we’re calm ourselves, usually they will be too.
What do your pupils need?
Be sure to carefully consider the specific needs of your pupil group at the planning stage. These might include: How accessible the site is The need for intimate care facilities How safe the site will be for the children The impact of the venue on children with sensory needs The availability or otherwise of safe spaces to help manage sensory overload.
About the author
Marie Smith is a former assistant head for inclusion and designated senior leader for child protection now working as an independent SEND Consultant across early years, primary and secondary. For more information, visit mariesmithsend.co.uk or follow @MarieSmithSEND
