Off-site Learning and Educational Visits

1. Purpose

Our city-centre site gives learners free, high-quality outdoor and cultural spaces a short walk from the door. We use them as timetabled classrooms with learning objectives and risk assessments, never as somewhere to go when the day is going badly. This policy sets out how every off-site session is planned, approved, run and reviewed, so learners get the benefit and the risks are managed.

2. Scope

This policy covers every activity an AP learner takes part in away from 37 Townhead Street during the Care Cove day, whoever commissions their place. That includes outdoor classrooms, cultural visits, sport, college and post-16 visits, and independent travel training. Work placements and vocational tasters are covered by the Work Experience and Vocational Placements policy, and journeys by the Transport and Escorting policy. On every off-site session, the group is signed out and back in, counted and supervised as this policy sets out (sections 7, 10 and 12).

3. Law and guidance

• Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, which require suitable and sufficient risk assessment.

• DfE, Health and safety on educational visits.

• Outdoor Education Advisers' Panel (OEAP) National Guidance, which we use as good practice for planning, leadership and approval.

• Adventure Activities Licensing Regulations 2004, which require some providers of adventurous activities for under-18s to hold a licence.

• Keeping Children Safe in Education 2026, including contextual safeguarding.

4. Roles and responsibilities

• The Director approves higher-risk visits and adventurous activities (section 6) and checks insurance cover for any new type of activity.

• The Head of AP owns this policy, approves routine sessions, keeps the venue register and generic venue risk assessments, and reviews every new venue.

• The session lead is a named member of Care Cove staff who plans the session, completes the risk assessment, checks learner-specific risk, leads on the day and records the session on Care Cove Connect.

• Accompanying staff follow the lead's instructions and the risk assessment. Volunteers never count towards ratios.

• The on-site contact is the member of staff who stays at 37 Townhead Street as the emergency contact point.

• The DSL advises on contextual risk, exploitation and known conflicts.

• The Clinical Advisor advises on medical needs and medication off site.

5. The city as a classroom

These venues are used on foot as regular outdoor classrooms:

Each venue has a generic risk assessment covering the route, hazards, toilets, meeting points, public use and areas to avoid. It is reviewed every year, and after the first session at any new venue.

6. Categories and approval

Adventurous activities are always led by a provider that holds an Adventure Activities Licence where the activity is in scope of the licensing scheme. Otherwise, we use a provider that can show its own risk assessments, qualified instructors and public liability insurance; the Learning Outside the Classroom Quality Badge is one acceptable form of assurance. Care Cove staff stay with the group and remain responsible for safeguarding and supervision throughout.

7. Planning every off-site session

Every off-site session, however short or familiar, has:

1. A written risk assessment. The venue's generic assessment plus anything specific to this group, activity and day, held on Care Cove Connect.

2. A named lead.

3. A ratio no lower than on site. That means groups of 6 or fewer with at least 2 adults, and 1:1 or 2:1 where a learner's plan requires it. Ratios are increased for learners with known contextual risk or for whom a public space is difficult.

4. A defined route there and back, with a meeting point if anyone is separated.

5. Learner-specific risk checked first. Before leaving, the lead checks each learner's record for exploitation risk, known conflicts with other learners or people likely to be in the area, areas to avoid on their contextual risk map, absconding risk, and medical needs. If the check shows the session is not safe for a learner, the lead adjusts the plan or the learner does an alternative activity on site. This is a safety decision, never a sanction.

6. One member of staff who stays on site at 37 Townhead Street as the emergency contact point.

8. What staff carry

• A charged work mobile phone, with the on-site contact's number and Care Cove's main number.

• A first aid kit. At least one member of staff in the group is a trained first aider.

• Emergency contact details for every learner and the session plan, available offline in case the phone has no signal.

• Each learner's prescribed medication that may be needed, such as inhalers or adrenaline auto-injectors, with their medication records.

• Contact cards for learners showing Care Cove's phone number and the meeting point.

• Water, and kit suitable for the weather.

Learners' own phones stay in their lockers during off-site sessions, as they do all day, unless the learner's plan sets out an exception under the Mobile Phones and Digital Devices policy.

9. Consent

At admission, parents and carers are told about our use of the venues in section 5 and their consent is recorded on Care Cove Connect. This covers routine sessions. Parents are told in advance about day visits. Specific written consent is obtained for every higher-risk or adventurous activity, for any visit outside Sheffield, and for any visit that runs beyond the taught day. Learners are involved in planning, and their views are listened to. Where a parent withdraws consent, the learner does an alternative activity on site and the Head of AP discusses the reasons with the family.

10. Signing out and back in

Before leaving, the lead signs the group out on Care Cove Connect with the learners, staff, destination, route and expected return time, and confirms it with the on-site contact. The lead counts learners before leaving, at every crossing and change of place, and before returning. On return, the lead signs the group back in. If a group is more than 15 minutes overdue and has not been in touch, the on-site contact phones the lead and tells the Head of AP if there is no answer.

11. During the session

• Staff keep every learner in sight. Agreed boundaries and check-in times for older learners are used only where the risk assessment allows it and the Head of AP has approved it in advance.

• Staff position themselves so the group is supervised at all times, including toilet visits.

• Staff watch for contact from people outside the group, including anyone a learner seems to know, and move the group on if they are concerned.

• The Respect Code applies off site. If a learner becomes dysregulated, staff use the same calm approach as on site. If needed, one member of staff returns early with the learner, but only where ratios for the rest of the group stay safe; otherwise the whole group returns.

• Photographs are taken only on Care Cove devices, and only of learners whose photography consent is recorded on Care Cove Connect.

12. A learner goes missing off site

1. Count the group again and check the meeting point. One member of staff stays with the rest of the group, keeping them safe.

2. Phone the on-site contact, who tells the duty DSL and the Head of AP immediately.

3. The DSL or Head of AP phones the parent or carer and the referring school immediately.

4. Search the immediate area, using the contextual risk map. Staff do not chase a learner into danger or leave the group below ratio.

5. Call 999 straight away if the learner is at known risk, such as exploitation, self-harm, a medical need, a threat from others or previous missing episodes. Otherwise, if the learner has not been found within 30 minutes, the DSL calls the police. A learner counts as found only when a member of staff, or a parent who is with them, has confirmed they are safe.

6. The DSL makes a children missing education notification where needed.

7. Record every step and time on Care Cove Connect.

This follows the missing learner procedure in the Safeguarding and Child Protection policy. When the learner is found, the key mentor checks they are safe and well, and the risk assessment is reviewed before their next off-site session.

13. Accidents, illness and emergencies

The first aider gives first aid and calls 999 for anything serious. The learner is never left alone. The lead tells the on-site contact, who tells the Head of AP and the parent or carer. Accidents and injuries are recorded on Care Cove Connect the same day, investigated, and reported to the commissioning local authority's contract manager and, where required, under RIDDOR, as the Health and Safety, including Fire and First Aid policy sets out. For a major incident, such as a serious injury or a threat in a public place, the lead puts the safety of the group first, follows instructions from the emergency services, and the Director leads the response under the Business Continuity and Emergency Closure policy.

14. Weather and daylight

The lead checks the forecast and any Met Office weather warnings on the morning of the session. In heavy rain, ice, high winds, extreme heat or a weather warning, the session moves indoors, for example to the Winter Garden, the galleries or the library, or is postponed. In winter it gets dark around the end of the taught day, so sessions are planned to be back before dusk. In hot weather, learners have water, shade and sun protection.

15. Independent travel training

Travel training uses the same routes as our outdoor learning and follows the stages in the Transport and Escorting policy. Solo stages take place only on the learner's journey to or from Care Cove, when they have their own phone.

16. Residential visits

Care Cove does not currently offer residential visits. If we plan one in future, it will need its own risk assessment, approval by the Director, written consent from each parent or carer, and the agreement of the referring school or commissioning local authority. This policy would be updated first, using the OEAP National Guidance.

17. Evaluation and review

After the first session at any new venue, the lead and the Head of AP review the risk assessment within a week and update it. Every near miss or incident off site is recorded on Care Cove Connect and leads to a review of the relevant risk assessment. The Head of AP reviews off-site activity, incidents and near misses each term, and includes them in the termly report to the Social Work Management Committee. Learner feedback on outdoor learning is gathered through the half-termly learner voice survey.

18. Monitoring and review

This policy is ratified by the Social Work Management Committee and reviewed every year, or sooner after a serious incident, a change in law or guidance, or a contract change. It is available to the commissioning local authority on request at any time.

19. Related policies

• 01 Safeguarding and Child Protection
• 07 Behaviour, Rewards and Restorative Practice
• 08 Positive Handling and Physical Intervention
• 10 Mobile Phones and Digital Devices
• 11 Attendance and Children Missing Education
• 13 Curriculum, Teaching and Assessment
• 15 Health and Safety, including Fire and First Aid
• 16 Transport and Escorting
• 20 Business Continuity and Emergency Closure
• 24 Supporting Medical Needs and Administering Medicines
• 27 Work Experience and Vocational Placements

Appendix A: Off-site session checklist

Document control and ratification

This policy is signed off by the Designated Safeguarding Lead and the Head of Alternative Provision, and ratified by the Social Work Management Committee. It is reviewed every year, or sooner after an incident or a change in law, statutory guidance or contract requirements, and it is available to any commissioning local authority on request.