School trips and outdoor learning

“School trips and outdoor learning activities: Tackling the health and safety myths” HSE

The Health and Safety Executive have published a statement tackling the health and safety myths surrounding school trips. The statement stresses the clear benefits of school trips, and recognises that the application of health and safety law may have discouraged schools and teachers from organising trips. 

They stress that they fully support schools arranging a wide range of out-of-school activities, which of course include visits to our canals and rivers. They wish to encourage all schools and local authorities to remove wasteful bureaucracy – so that focus is on how the real risks are managed and not on the paperwork.

Have a look at the full statement

http://www.hse.gov.uk/services/education/school-trips.pdf

Our education team provides health & safety advice to schools and groups who are planning to visit our canals and rivers through the Visit Planning Document. This can be found at http://www.wow4water.net/grownups/resources/2 along with many other water safety and children’s resources.