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.). For international tours this should be 12 – 18 months in advance. This will be returned to the relevant staff member with a comment to confirm or otherwise, approval of the tour.
NB: Any expressions of interest from Staff and Students, as well as tour promotions, should only proceed after the Tour is approved.
1.2. Staffing
For international tours, a brief presentation to the Risk/Management Committee may be required as part of the approval process. 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. Clear delegation of certain tasks and roles for accompanying staff to facilitate the tour coming to fruition need to be established. Tour staff must complete the tour in its entirety.
1.3. Staff/student ratio
Each tour will have a minimum of 2 staff travel with students unless there are exceptional circumstances, which have been approved by the Director of Planning and Co-Curricular (Senior School) or the Director of Pastoral Care, Planning & Co-Curricular (Prep School).
For example:
0 – 10 students = 2 staff
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.
1.4. 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), the Director of Pastoral Care, Planning & Co-Curricular (Prep School) and the School’s Business Manager.
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 School’s Tours Finance instructions and guidelines is available to download from Nexus. This document needs to be read and followed carefully
1.5. 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 School’s Business Manager. 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.
1.6. 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.
1.7. 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 Planning & Co-Curricular needs to be informed 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 is required to:
- 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.
- Email the surname and preferred name and id of all the tour members on a CCGS data template form to the EA of the DoPCC along with the names of the Tour Leaders and mobile contact numbers.
- Provide EA with 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.
The tour cards contain emergency contact details and medical information and are to 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.
2.4. Tour clothing
All tours need to make use of current school clothing items. The school gold/blue polo, along with the school tracksuit are key clothing items for all tours.
Using these two items will eliminate the proliferation of tour tops that affect the integrity of the current school uniform.
3. Setting guidelines for the tours
3.1. Behavioural expectations
It is important to set out an agreed set of acceptable behaviours which are outlined for students on tour. This should include acceptable practices in regards to airport check-ins, accommodation and free time. Students and parents are asked to sign and date the ‘All Tours: Information and Code of Conduct’ document to indicate their acceptance of standards and the consequences for non-compliance whilst on tour.
3.2. Communication guidelines
It is a school policy that each tour leader checks in by either phone or email every 24 hours. This contact is to be with either the Director of Activities or the Director of Planning and Co-curricular. A Tour Blog will be required to be set-up through Communication and Engagement.
3.2.1 Staff leaders mobile phones
All tour leaders will need access to a mobile phone. Any tour group will carry 2 phones at a minimum. One of these will be a school phone (with international roaming set up), configured by ICT.
NB: All number prefixes need to be ascertained and confirmed before departure. An allowance for phone calls needs to be included in the tour budget.
3.2.2 Student mobile phones
All students on tour carry a mobile phone where appropriate that has international roaming set up. This phone is for emergency use only and is to be carried by boys at all times. Considerations about costs need to be explained to students and parents.
3.3. Electronic items
It is recommended that clear guidelines are set for the use of items like iPhones and electronic game units. It is the tour leader/s who will make the final decision on these items.
3.4. Alcohol/drugs
3.4.1 Staff
It is fair and reasonable that during a tour staff will consume alcohol but not in the presence of students. At any time whilst on tour, one of the staff will have a blood alcohol level of 0.00 (i.e. will abstain from consuming alcohol). Staff may consume alcohol on a rotation basis, in moderation. At no time should staff drive vehicles having consumed alcohol. It is also expected that staff will not take any non-prescription drugs whilst on tour.
3.4.2 Students
The consumption of alcohol or use of tobacco/vaping or any other non-prescription drug is prohibited by students when on tour.
3.5. Billets
On the rare occasion boys are being billeted, it is essential that all the billets are approved by the school that CCGS is visiting. The same standards that CCGS expects (ie WWC) should be in place. It is also essential that a list of billets, the boy being billeted and the phone number of the billet is available to both tour leader (and other tour staff) and the contact staff member at the school being visited.
3.6. Hosting visiting groups: guidelines for billeting families
It is now a requirement by law that all members of the exchange household over the age of 18 hold a Working with Children. Please download the Working with Children card requirements document here for families who are hosting students from other schools.
During their stay with the billet family, the same duty of care as for the billet family’s own children applies. Parents should expect high standards of behaviour from visiting students and have the same degree of authority as with their own children. The billet family parents must familiarise themselves with the visiting students’ itinerary and note when meals and transport may be required.
Invitations to social events or any other activity not outlined on the official itinerary should be carefully checked out and the billet family’s parental permission must be sought by the visiting students to attend such events or to go anywhere unattended by an adult.
- No visiting student may go anywhere alone at any time.
- If the billet family’s parents allow their billets to go anywhere not attended by the host parents apart from official itinerary activities they must go in groups of two or more. The billet family’s parents must also know where they are going, who they will be with and when they will return.
Please ensure that the visiting students have the billet family’s parent’s contact telephone numbers and address. Billet families are asked to allow their billets to telephone their own parents occasionally. You may ask them to pay for the calls. The Christ Church Grammar School rules apply to visiting students, the most important being the Common Sense Rule.
3.7. Tour deviations
Deviations from tour travel arrangements are not permitted, except for a student arriving at the start with family or departing at the conclusion of the tour with family. The DoPPC must approve such arrangements.
3.8. Tour blog reports
3.8.1 Senior school
A tour blog needs to be created prior to departure and updated on a regular basis by staff throughout the tour.
During the tour it is important to nominate a group of students to produce a brief audio visual report of the tour for the school community. The report will be presented on return to school at a Principal’s Assembly, as determined by the Director of Planning & Co-curricular, and also submitted to the coordinator for Mitre. The verbal report should be 3 – 4 minutes in duration and a set of pictures should be selected and grouped in a file for electronic transfer to the AV co-ordinator prior to the assembly. These pictures can then form a backdrop to the report.
3.8.2 Prep school
Tour reports will be presented as determined by the Director of Planning & Co-Curricular (Prep School) and also submitted to the coordinator for Mitre.
3.8. Incidents, accidents and injuries
3.8.1 Any problems, which occur on tour (behaviour, injury, sickness or critical incidents), should be immediately reported to the co-ordinator on tour, the Director of Planning & Co-Curricular/Director of Activities (Senior School) or the Director of Pastoral Care, Planning & Co-curricular (Prep School) and a course of action discussed and implemented.
3.8.2 Any incident resulting in a tour member visiting or being referred to a hospital is to be communicated to parents/carers/guardians by the co-ordinator on tour and an Injury/Incident form is to be completed as soon as practically possible.
4. Documentation to be submitted prior to departure
4.1. Tour File
The tour leader needs to download the final Tour Checklist and Signatures document and create a file of the following items to be submitted two weeks prior to departure for review and checking.
This list includes:
- An Activity Risk Assessment (ARA) Form (or during the transition period the RAMS Excursions & Tours Form is still acceptable) identifying risks and procedures.
- An Excel Spreadsheet of all tour participants, staff, students (ids included) and others with all contact details.
- An Itinerary including all flights, on ground transport, accommodation and visits etc.
- Copies of C2G documents; students.
- Copies of all medicals for staff.
- Copies of parent/student declarations (if required)
- Passport copies (overseas trips only).
- Deviation from Tour (if required)
NB: A digital file should also be accessible via Teams for Staff