Educational Visits
What are Educational Visits?
School trips or visits allow pupils to encounter experiences that are unavailable in the classroom. They can help pupils to develop initiative, resourcefulness, and independence. They also help develop emotional and physical well-being, environmental awareness and interpersonal skills.
Aims of Educational Visits
At Appleton C of E Primary, we value the role of educational visits and opportunities to learn in the outdoor environment. We believe that every young person should experience the world beyond the classroom as an essential part of learning and personal development, whatever their age, ability, or circumstance. Educational visits and outdoor learning opportunities can help children develop a good sense of communication, teamwork, organisation, independence, and leadership, as well as learning and social skills. They can also contribute to a child’s spiritual and personal development, promoting improved understanding and awareness of the environment, other cultures, and real-world learning.
How are Educational Visits planned into our curriculum?
Class Trips
Each year the school will arrange activities that take place on or off the school site, and in or out of school hours. We invest much time and energy incorporating such experiences into the curriculum provision, whether they are local or further afield, gradually building on previous opportunities as the children move through the school.
We aim to make all opportunities accessible to all children, and work to ensure we achieve the best balance between cost and quality.
Residentials
In Year 4, the children are given the opportunity to attend an overnight sleepover at Winchester Science Museum. For many, this is the first time staying away overnight without parents or family, but the rewards are high, and we often see much increased confidence and self-esteem which in turn impacts on the child's learning.
In Year 6, the children are given the opportunity to attend a 2-night, 3-day residential stay at PGL in Liddington. This supports children in developing the resilience, independence and life skills that support their transition to secondary school.
Intent
- At Appleton C of E Primary, we use a high quality, inclusive visits programme to support our school ethos of maximising the potential for all.
- We raise staff competencies through provision of relevant training eg Educational Visits Co-ordinator; Visit Leader.
- We provide pupils with opportunities to experience visits to places to which they would not normally have access.
- We provide opportunities to bring learning to life.
Implementation
- Staff are aware of the importance of, and benefits of, educational visits for all children.
- Each class attends at least one educational visit per year.
- Educational visits are tracked by the Educational Visits Co-ordinator.
- The Educational Visits Co-ordinator supports Visit Leaders in organising visits.
- An experienced Visit Leader will attend a visit to support an inexperienced Visit Leader as required.
- Visit Leaders identify visits that are relevant to their class and cohort of children.
Impact
- All educational visits are linked to an area within the EYFS or National Curriculum.
- They help to inspire children’s learning and support our school vision of Building Wisely for Life and our Growth Mindset approach e.g. through encouraging children to take risks in their learning and by providing opportunities for children to develop their confidence, resilience and independence.
- Teaching staff are aware of the requirements and steps to follow when organising an educational visit in their role as Visit Leader, which helps to develop their confidence.
- All Visit Leaders are asked to complete a Visit Evaluation form to inform practise/ future visits.
- Pupils further their learning and development through attending educational visits. Educational visits create memorable experiences for the children.
/docs/Policies/Administrative/Educatiional_Visits_Policy_.pdf