The following guidelines are to help staff members planning a school tour and to guide anyone who may need to respond to parental queries or concerns.
1. Preliminary planning
1.1. Approval process
A meeting to discuss specific details should be scheduled with the Director of Activities prior to submitting a proposal. A Staff member wishing to plan a school tour should then detail the pertinent information on a Tour Proposal Form and submit the information in the first instance to the Director of Planning and Co-Curricular (Senior School) or the Director of Pastoral Care, Planning & Co-Curricular (Prep School) for comment (on proposed dates, staffing, etc.). This will be returned to the relevant staff member with a comment to confirm or otherwise, approval of the tour.
The staff member submitting the documentation for approval and engaging in this process will become the ‘tour leader’ and therefore take ultimate responsibility for co-ordinating all aspects of the tour. This will in many cases necessitate delegation of certain tasks to accompanying staff to facilitate the tour coming to fruition.
NB: Any expressions of interest from Staff and Students, as well as tour promotions, should only proceed after the Tour is approved.
1.2. Staff/student ratio
Each tour will have a minimum of 2 staff travel with students unless there are exceptional circumstances, which has been approved by the Director of Activities (Senior School) or the Director of Pastoral Care, Planning & Co-Curricular (Prep School).
For example:
0 – 10 students = 2 staff (this number is negotiable depending on other adults on tour)
10 – 20 students = 3 staff
20 – 30 students = 4 staff
Ratio nominally = 1:8
NB: Ratios are conditional on the nature of activities on the tour and should be discussed. Higher risk activities normally require a higher staff/student ratio.
1.3. Costing
Trips must be self-funding. Supervisory staff relief costs are to be built into the budget. You will need to contact the Academic Administrator in the Studies office to sort out the costing of bringing in a relief teacher while you are on tour. (This obviously would only apply during the school terms). Department budgets or teacher relief budgets can not be used. Sensible levels of staffing (see above)will vary according to factors such as the number of boys involved and the nature of the activity and should be determined for budgeting purposes in consultation with the Director of Activities (Senior School) or the Director of Pastoral Care, Planning & Co-Curricular (Prep School).
Trips involving heavy expenses are to be budgeted well in advance. This will be based around a proposed itinerary, including fights and accommodation inclusions, along with reasonable allowances for meals and spending money. Staff who have conducted tours and reputable travel agents can assist in this process. A minimum and maximum number should be agreed upon to make the tour viable. Contingency should be in place for both under and over subscription and the action to be implemented in either case.
Tour leaders should obtain two quotes for the proposed tour for the flight/travel and the accommodation components. In selecting a travel provider, price may not be the only reason for selection, but an explanation/justification as to why a particular travel agent has not been selected must be provided to the Director of Activities (Senior School) or the Director of Pastoral Care, Planning & Co-Curricular (Prep School) before a company is engaged to make bookings for the proposed tour. If the justification is based on pricing, the tour leader will need to provide evidence of both quotes.
A copy of the Finance instructions and guidelines for school tours document is available to download from Nexus.
1.4. Finances
Trip leaders, as agents of the school, are accountable for the use of trip funds. There is nothing new in this, but it is important to stress that it is sensible to keep a progressive record of actual costs, compared to expected ones, in order to respond readily to proper parental questions about expenditure. In some cases there will be refunds of some portion of trip monies after the event. In these cases the refund should be sent to parents with a summary of tour finances. A budget template can be found via School Tours and Excursions on Nexus here
All accounts are to be arranged through the Finance Officer.
Before any monies are collected, a Finance Activity Form (Appendix 1) needs to be completed to set up an active account for monies within the school accounting system and/or via Consent2Go. This will make it easier to account for all monies for which the school is ultimately responsible and to satisfactorily answer parental questions about the use of funds.
1.5. Promotion
The tour will need to be advertised to the school community to secure enough students to make it viable. Promoting the tour to student and parents via Nexus and the e-Newsletter is the initial approach.
It might be appropriate to have a promotional meeting with interested boys and parents to ensure that questions can be answered effectively and better gauge support and levels of commitment to a tour. To secure genuine interest a refundable deposit should be sought in the first instance so that viability of the trip can be ascertained in a relatively short period.
1.6. Confirmation of the tour
The tour will need to be determined as viable within a reasonable period after promotion so that resources can be secured and bookings can be confirmed. This period will vary but usually within a month to six weeks viability can be determined given appropriate promotion. Once a decision is made the Director of Activities (Senior School) or the Director of Pastoral Care, Planning & Co-Curricular (Prep School) need to be informed of the decision for planning purposes in a whole school context. This will include an approximate itinerary for the tour.
2. Preparation for the tour
2.1. Database of touring party/tour cards
Once you have a final list of tour members, the Trip leader will:
- Email the surname and preferred name of all the tour members on a CCGS data template form
- Tour staff names need to be submitted with accommodation details and contact numbers for construction of tour tags.
- Email a final list of tour members to all Heads of Houses, the Director or Planning & Co-curricular and the Director of Activities. If the tour occurs during the school term, the tour leader is also required to notify the Director of Sport and the Academic Administrator.
- Obtain Head of House feedback, as required.
Tour Cards
The Tour Organiser needs to send a list of students and staff to the EA of the DoPCCC with their ID numbers along with the names of the Tour Leaders and mobile contact numbers. The organiser is also to provide the name of the tour, tour dates, tour host and contact number along with host address. EA will then collate information in a format for Facilities Management to create the tour cards.
This card is then used as a basis for ID tags which carry emergency contact details and medical information. These cards will be carried by all tour members during the tour.
All touring members’ passports (inside covers) must be copied and carried by a staff member on the tour. Copies of these passport details are submitted with the documentation left at School.
In the event of an emergency, the tour leader will manage the tour group to ensure the group is safe and then contact the Director of Planning and Co-curricular or the Director of Activities, for further directions once the situation is contained.
2.2. Insurance
The school has an insurance policy in place, which will be used. The cost of any additional insurance must be borne by the tour and it needs to be arranged well beforehand. Please check with the Business Manager. Please note for all school tours/activities only Christ Church students are covered by our insurance policy. Any participating non-CCGS students will need to obtain their own insurance. Currently, all overseas tours must embed an additional $200 (inc GST) per student (insurance premium charge) to cover the substantial rise of overseas travel insurance. This additional charge will be reviewed annually in October/November.
Appropriate contact numbers in case of emergency of the insurer, must be carried by the tour leader as part of your tour file.
2.3. Emergencies/risk planning/Consent2Go (C2G)
Tour leaders need to make assessments of the risks involved in carrying out their tour. To assist in this process, an Activity Risk Assessment (ARA) Form must be completed and uploaded to C2G as part of your C2G Planning. Depending on the nature of a tour and the activities being included, the ARA form will vary. Please refer to examples on Nexus and discuss with the Risk and Compliance Officer to ensure that documentation is acceptable.
The school All Tours: Information & Code of Conduct form must be signed by each student and staff member going on tour. Tour leaders are to ensure the student’s Consent2Go medical forms are up to date, downloaded and reviewed prior to departure, so staff are aware of any medical conditions of tour members.
This will form a major part of your Tour file. All staff must have copies of the medical forms whilst on tour and a “set” must be lodged with the information submitted prior to departure.
All volunteers involved in a tour must have a current Working with Children (WWC) card. Photocopies of which must be included in tour documentation.