Head of Establishment

4.3 Establishing Ratios

It is important to have a suitable ratio of adult supervisors to participants for any visit.

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4.4 Communicating with Parents

The majority of off-site visits are a normal part of educational and other service provision (e.g. youth clubs) and are referred to within this guidance as ‘Routine and Expected Visits’.

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4.5 Parental Consent and Medical Information

A summary of visit types, with recommendations regarding parental consent and medical information, can be found in the matrix in the Toolkit section.

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4.6 Preparing Participants

It is good practice to prepare participants so that they understand the aims and nature of the visit. Risk Education is an important aspect of young people’s development.

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4.7 Supervision

The Visit Leader has overall responsibility for supervision during a trip. All adults in a supervisory role have a duty of care for the group at all times. There is no break from this responsibility during the trip.

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4.8 Remote Supervision

Remote supervision is the term used when the leader is not directly present with participants. Remote supervision comes in varying degrees and is used in a variety of circumstances.

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4.9 Unaccompanied Visits

There may be occasions when young people take part in visits without any accompanying leader for the entire trip.

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4.10 Exploratory Visit

A Visit Leader needs to be confident that the location and facilities are suitable for their plans.

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4.11 Gender of Accompanying Staff

With a mixed gender group it is preferable to have a gender mix of leaders. However there are many circumstances where this is not possible or essential.

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4.12 Vetting Accompanying Adults

Parents and other volunteers are often an essential part of supervision ratios. When they assist on visits they are called “accompanying adults”.

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