Educational trips have been proven to enrich the learning experience of students of all ages, however, taking children out for a school trip can involve a lot of forward planning. As well as the basics like completing the required risk assessment, figuring out how to keep everyone together and making sure everyone is accounted for at the end of the trip, there are various other factors to bring into consideration before setting off. And this is where wristbands can come in.
Planning ahead for child safety on school trips
From preschool to secondary school age, effectively organised outings can form an everlasting impression on students and can be fun as well as highly educational. However, at times, there are risks involved and accidents do happen.
So, what steps can you take to ensure an enjoyable and incident-free time away from school? And how can wristbands help prevent a problem on your school trip?
Consent and Risk Assessment.
Communication between Teachers, Parents and Kids.
Use of Wristbands in the event of a problem.
Planning your route.
Setting a meeting point.
Supervision on the day.
Adequate first aid.
Use school lanyards for clear staff identification
1- Get Consent and Produce a School Trip Risk Assessment
If your trip will be taking place far from the school grounds, it will be necessary to inform parents of the exact location of the visit. After consent forms are returned, you will be able to carry out an accurate risk assessment based on the number of students and the activities they will be taking part in.
2- Ensure Clear Communication between Teachers, Parents and Kids
Although teachers and parent supervisors may be well versed on the schedule for the day, it’s vital to ensure that the children are aware of what exactly they will be doing for the duration of the trip.
Before you set off, spend time going through what activities you have planned and if you will be using public transport, making sure they know which trains or buses you will be taking.
Children are more likely to cooperate with you during travel if they are confident in their surroundings. If they happen to find themselves lost from the main group, it may also be easier for the authorities to identify your location if the child knows too!
3- Use Wristbands to prevent any problem
Wristbands are a great tool for any school toolkit, and come in especially handy when planning educational trips. Not only can they help teachers keep track of their students and help students to identify who is in their group, but they can also help ease any worries that parents might have about their children going outside of the classroom.
Nowadays, purchasing personalised wristbands for school trips has never been easier and more inexpensive. By ordering in advance, you can ensure that the children will be easily identified, and your school quickly contacted. Younger students might not be able to memorise their parents’ phone numbers or address, therefore making wristbands a more cost-effective and reliable alternative. You can use one of our pre-printed bands or customise your own.
Our children’s ID tyvek wristbands come in a variety of high-visibility colours and attractive designs which can be used to convey key information such as addresses and allergies. The School ID Tyvek Wristbands come in one adjustable size and can be ready printed with your school’s name and emergency contact number. The Tyvek material is incredibly durable and water resistant, so the bands can even cope with the changeable British weather!
If you are looking for a reusable solution our School safety wristbands are an idea solution. These silicone wristbands come in 4 different sizes and many different colours and can be customised with a school name and number. Fully waterproof, reusable and durable these School ID wristbands can give you the peace of mind when on a school trip. They can be ordered in small or bulk quantities and have a lead time of just 1 week!
4- Plan your Route
When visiting busy cities, travelling in crowded areas may be unavoidable. However, when planning your school trip, it may be worth considering taking alternative routes through side streets or avoiding rush hour altogether.
Young children in particular, can struggle with crowds and may find hordes of people or vehicles disorientating and uncomfortable. This can be avoided by contacting parents beforehand to find out whether any students require any special help in such situations. You can also consider hiring alternative modes of transport or travelling specifically during off-peak times.
5-Set a Meeting Point
If your trip is centered around a particular location, such as the British Library, identify a memorable object or feature where they can wait for a teacher to come and collect them.
If the area is complicated to navigate, it is relatively easy to supply the students with an image of the meeting point that they can use when asking for help.
Make sure your meeting point is in an open location and is secure and away from traffic.
6- Ensure adequate Supervision on the day
In the week leading up to the outing, ensure that you have enough teachers or volunteer parents to help you out on the day. Depending on how many students will be on the trip, you should aim to have an equally appropriate number of staff members to chaperone.
Be sure that there is someone available to accompany students to the bathroom and other staff members to keep count throughout the day. Make sure they are easy to identify, with bright clothing or a bright lanyard to separate them from the general public.
7 - Ensure a First Aider is Present
Before your trip, make sure that your team of supervisors are well-versed on what to do in medical emergency situations. There should be a designated First Aider in the group, and it is recommended that you bring a First Aid kit along.
If there are any students with special medical requirements, consider informing students of their condition, as well as staff, so that they can keep an eye out for them. Using our 'I Bumped my Head' wristbands, or 'I received First Aid' wristbands if there is an issue is a really clear identifiable and simple solution to inform parents.
What are the benefits of child safety wristbands on school trips?
There are many advantages of using child safety wristbands to keep track of children on educational trips, so much so that these wristbands can make school trips significantly less stressful.
Benefit 1: Wristbands help supervisors identify children
Wristbands can be a great visual cue for teachers and other supervisors that quickly need to identify students. For example, if children aren’t wearing uniforms, wristbands can help supervisors know exactly who is with their group. If you’re visiting somewhere with children from different schools, or you have multiple groups from the same school, colour-coded wristbands can also help supervisors easily identify who is who.
Benefit 2: Wristbands make staff aware of any allergens
If your educational trip includes catering, using wristbands to identify students with specific intolerances and allergies can ensure they get the right food. Likewise, if you’re visiting somewhere where allergens play a big part in the day - for example, a factory - wristbands can make all staff aware of which students are allergic to nuts.
Benefit 3: Wristbands can include important contact information
Adding contact information for the group leader onto the wristbands can ensure any children that get lost can be found easily. If they are separated from the group, children can approach an adult and ask them to call the number on their wristband to be reunited with the trip leader. If you do want to include contact information on a child’s wristband, make sure not to include any information specific to the student as some parents may feel nervous that their child is wearing something that identifies them.
Above are just some of the many ways child safety wristbands can make educational trips safer, and put both the minds of teachers (and of parents!) at ease. If you’re looking to buy some wristbands for your next educational trip, get in touch today.
What are the benefits of school trips?
When you think back on your school experience, it’s likely that the days outside the classroom will come to mind. Educational trips give students the chance to experience life outside the school gates and socialise with their peers in a completely different way than within the four walls of the class.
Not only will school trips be some of the experiences students will remember the most from their school days, but there are also a wealth of other benefits:
School trips boost self-confidence
Taking students out of an environment where many shy students feel nervous about speaking in front of the class is a surefire way to develop their interpersonal skills and skyrocket their self-confidence. When students bring this newfound confidence with them back to the classroom, not only will their relationships with peers and teachers improve, but they will feel much more at ease with expressing themselves in front of the class.
School trips increase motivation to learn
It’s been proven that educational trips can be essential in re-engaging students who have lost motivation in a particular topic or school in general. For example, if students are learning about a particular artefact during History class and then get to actually see this artefact up close, they’ll likely feel more enthusiastic talking about it back in the classroom. In a nutshell, higher achievement and increased motivation in class is often a consequence of school trips.
School trips help students broaden their horizons
Going on educational trips helps students take part in activities and visit places that they likely wouldn’t have the opportunity to experience otherwise. Not only can school trips help them develop their own personal interests outside the curriculum, but they can also open up students to new interests they didn't know they had.
For more information about health and safety on school trips, take a look at these sites:
Health & Safety on School Trips
Health and Safety on Educational Visits
If you’d like further information on children’s security wristbands for school trips, or lanyards for teachers, contact the team here at ID&C today.
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