Planning school visit

[wottawottawotta]

If you were a school group going to a venue to watch a play (not a theatre, but another public venue hosting a performance), what kind of things would you
a) like to know in advance
b) have to know in advance (if anything) from a legal / safeguarding / H&S point of view?

Accessibility for those with mobility problems
Is there a designated area for the group to have lunch
Are the toilets at the venue segregated by sex not gender
Do you offer free adult places eg 1 place per 10 children or whatever
Running time / end time

When I was teaching we had a LA risk assessment tool to use for trip planning which gave all the questions that needed to be asked. It also registered all school visits - this was after the 7/7 bombings in London when there were groups in Londin and the LA didn't know about them.

When I retired I volunteered in a place that offered its own risk assessment paperwork. Are you a teacher? I would have thought a lot of the work would be done for you these days.

Otherwise:
Adult to child ratio and DBS for volunteers
Transport options
Getting from Transport into venue and back
Toilet arrangements Inc staff
Lunch arrangements Inc hand washing
What could go wrong and how to prevent this or react afterwards eg accident, missing child

That's off the top of my head. I have been retired for 9 years.

@CaptainMyCaptain I assumed the OP was from a venue, trying to work out what information to put onto a leaflet or similar for schools, rather than a school itself. (Mainly because schools know what they need to know, and the OP doesn't iyswim?)

But I may be wrong.

That sounds very plausible.

thanks for your replies.
My situation is that I work for a venue where we have a regular children's activity so I am their safeguarding officer. I make sure we, with this activity, are all trained, staff briefed etc. When we go on trips, I follow guidance and do risk assessments. We have a safeguarding policy. etc. I take it very seriously.

Now, other users of this venue (so, semi-colleagues) are putting on a performance where school groups are attending. I've asked them if anyone from the schools have been in touch asking lots of the above questions (especially about toilets!) and it seems not. I'm very surprised as I know that, when my own kids were at school, their teachers did prior visits in order to do a risk assessment. Although it's not necessarily my role (I work for the children's group, rather than the venue, and definitely not for these semi-colleagues) I had expected someone to visit or ask questions, and was ready to help. Because I think it's important.

I thought that schools had really strict rules and would be needing to fill in lots of paperwork in advance, but it seems not.

In the meantime, I've pointed out to the semi-colleagues the things that I would expect the schools to want to know. And advised which toilets I thought they should use, which route to get there, that the routes should be clear of obstacles, and that the children should be accompanied, and the loos and routes clearly labelled. Access is flat so that's ok.

I don't even know the numbers or the ratios (but that's really not my job) but I would trust that the schools have that sorted. Same with the transport.

There is a designated lunch space.

Would you expect schools to be given an evacuation talk once there? Fire exits are marked (as they always are in buildings) but - when I lead a group somewhere - I go over it with staff and children on arrival.

I think the point of my post was that it seems a bit odd that, a week before this event, nobody has been in touch. And those organising the event don't seem to know if anyone has any questions.

Perhaps one or more of them has been before and knows the layout. Perhaps they have a standard risk assessment for this kind of thing.

When I volunteered with school groups I had to do a H and S talk as the visit included live animals so it involved hygiene and being safe around animals. Most of the visit took place outdoors so there were rules about that. It would be useful to know of escape routes in the event of a fire but if the children are very young they should be staying with the adults they came with and following their lead. Any children with SEN tended to have a 1-1 and also children with mobility issues came with staff who were familiar with their needs.

To be honest, I expect the school staff would have the risk assessment covered. If not it is very remiss of them.

@CaptainMyCaptain - I do hope the school has had it all covered. I realise it is probably all fairly standard. I think it's unlikely any of them would have been before as it's not the kind of thing the venue does very often. Which has led me to want to have a proper policy / standard info for anyone coming through the doors, but I'm not quite in the position of power/responsibility to do this. It's funny how people can get quite pissed off by others interfering in things that are of utmost importance!

Ultimately I think it's down to the school to have their paperwork in place. If there are any minor issues when they come you can make a note of them for future reference.