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Wellington Public School

Wellington Public School

Where every child is known, valued and cared for.

Telephone02 6845 4080

Emailwellington-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au

Conducting Excursions Procedure

Aim

Preschool excursions are conducted in line with the Department's Excursion Policy Implementation Procedures' (Preschool Handbook). To ensure adequate supervision, Wellington Public School Preschool have developed the following procedure to include the specific requirements of the preschool, which adheres to the National Law and Regulations.

Legislative Requirements

            Education & Care Services National Law

            Education & Care Services National Regulations 2011

Links to the National Quality Standard

Standard 1.1 – Program – The educational program enhances each child’s learning and development

Standard 2.2 – Safety – Each child is protected

Who is affected by this Procedure?

Families and staff members at Wellington Public School Preschool

 

Implementation

1.         Appropriate adult to child ratios must be maintained when conducting preschool excursions.

•          The minimum ratio for preschool children is 1 adult to 5 children.

•          If the excursion involves crossing a major road the ratio is minimum ratio is 1 adult to 4 children.

•          If the excursion is to a beach, river, pool, lake or other place where there is a significant water hazard then a 1 child to 1 adult ratio must be applied, including if the purpose of the excursion is to teach swimming or water safety.

2.         Parental permission is required for preschool children for each excursion (as with all DoE school children). If the outing is a regular occurrence, one permission note and risk assessment is sufficient in a 12 month period, unless there is a change.

3.         When preparing information about an excursion for parents, the names of educators and total number of adults accompanying the children must be recorded.

4.         All volunteers must complete a DoE Working with Children Check (WWCC) form 1 week prior to the excursion, or provide their current approved Working with Children Check number.

5.         Appropriate Fist Aid equipment, including Epipens and asthma medication, must be taken on preschool excursions and staff must be trained in Emergency Care and resuscitation procedures.

6.         Transport arrangements for excursions must be planned and managed to ensure the safety of children that will include child restraints (vehicles under 9 seats) and a First Aid kit.

7.         The educator in charge of organising the excursion must complete a Risk Assessment prior to the excursion and have this checked by the School Principal (Nominated Supervisor, Educational Leader and Responsible Person).

8.         A school-developed ‘Event/Excursion Checklist’ must also be completed and provided to the Nominated Supervisor, to ensure that all processes are being followed. 

9.         Visits to the primary school are exempt from this procedure, as stated in the Preschool Handbook - "It should be noted that visits to the school are not regarded as excursions unless the school is on a completely separate site and the children need to cross a major road to access the school".

10.       For Incursions, or visitors to the service, please refer to the ‘Volunteers, Visitors and Students Procedure’.

11.       In the occurrence of a major evacuation, in which the whole school site is to be evacuated, the preschool children will be required to leave the site with the remainder of the school.

All excursions are organised and implemented following the above procedure and as stated in element 2.3.2 of the National Quality Standard, 'Every reasonable precaution is taken to protect children from harm and any hazard likely to cause injury'.

Related Policies/Procedures

All WPS Preschool procedures are based on information provided in the following documents;

•          The Preschool Handbook

•          The Early Childhood Australia Code of Ethics.

•          National Quality Standard

•          WPS Preschool's Philosophy

•          DoE Policies and procedures

Review

This procedure will be reviewed annually.  Review will be conducted by School Principal, Preschool Staff, parents/carers and any interested parties.