Excursions/Incursions Guide

Definitions 

Day excursions

Day excursions are activities organised by the school where the students:

• are taken out of the school grounds
• undertake adventure activities

Incursions

Incursions are activities organised by the school where the students:

• are not taken out of the school grounds 
• undertake an activity (including adventure activities). 

Adventure activities

An adventure activity is an activity that involves greater than normal risk which may include:

• physical activities beyond the scope of the regular physical education curriculum
• travel into a relatively undeveloped area of the country in which vehicle contact is difficult and/or uncertain
• confrontation with natural environmental challenges requiring greater reliance upon personal resources than would normally be required in day-to-day life
• less than normal contact by person or by telephone, with medical and other public services available in normal day-to-day life
• exposure to the natural elements with less than the normal physical protection provided in day-to-day life
• theme parks, fun parks and trampoline centres
• the use and operation of amusement rides, attractions or fireworks via engagement of a third-party operator at non-public (that is, enrolled students only) events on non-school sites (for example, hiring a jumping castle to be operated at a local park). Schools must also follow the Amusement Rides, Attractions and Fireworks Policy
• an activity listed under the adventure activities guidelines, outlined at Excursions: Adventure activities | education.vic.gov.au.

Local excursions

Local excursions are excursions to locations within walking distance of the school and do not involve adventure activities.

Camps or Overnight Excursions

Camps or Overnight Excursions are excursions involving at least 1 night's accommodation (including school sleep-overs on school grounds). There are 2 different classifications of camps:

• Base camps are camps that are undertaken at accredited residential camp sites or camping under shelters such as tents. Camping as an adventure activity has its own specific guidelines.
• Study camps are camps that often involve VCE students. There is a focus on study skills, team building, communication, time management and wellbeing.

Guidelines

For all day, local excursions and incursions (involving an adventure activity) must have the following requirements met:

• All excursions and incursions (involving an adventure activity) must be approved three weeks prior to the excursion/incursion by the principal or their delegate (Robyn) through the creation of a Xuno event. For this to occur the principal or delegate will need atleast 1 week to read through the documentation to have time to approve it.
• An individual Xuno event must be created for each instance (date) of an excursion/incursion.
• If the incursion does NOT involve any adventure activities and does not have any 'greater than normal risk' then the only requirements are to notify the parents of the incursion via a Xuno Event(tick 'no' for parent approval) and ensure all third-party provider requirements are met by sending them an email prior to the event (see Robyn for draft email).
• Each excursion/incursion(involving an adventure activity or greater than normal risk) must have the following completed and attached to the created event BEFORE it can be approved.
  • All Xuno details of the event entered correctly on the form - see details below
  • A completed Risk Assessment using the new DE template attached in Xuno. 
  • A completed Camps/Excursions/Water-based Activities Checklist attached.
  • A completed 'Day Excursion Medical Information Form' if the excursion/incursion includes adventure activites, see information below.
  • Attached Principal Approval Form under certain circumstances. See information below.
  • Any required documentation attached - see Jackson School Summary of Excursion Documentation table link below.
• Parent/Carer consent (through Xuno) must be obtained ideally 1 week prior to the excursion or incursion occurring. If an incursion doesn't involve activities with 'greater than normal risk' then parent permission is not required but parent notification of the event is required through a Xuno event and Seesaw. If the excursion is re-occurring to the same venue, or is a local excursion parent permission can be obtained once each year, ensuring all dates are listed on the initial excursion/incursion permission form that is then sent to parents/carers. 
• A Student Activity Locator (SAL) form must be logged to the Department at least 3 weeks prior to the excursion occurring. Schools are expected to record all student activities and excursions that occur outside the school or are in school but outside normal school hours. A SAL is NOT required for incursions.
• A risk assessment must be completed and attached to the Xuno event prior to the excursion being approved by the principal or delegate.
• For excursions or incursions involving an adventure activity, an emergency and critical incident management plan must be completed as well as a Principal Approval Form and uploaded to the Xuno event prior to the excursion being approved by the principal or delegate.
• An attendance roll must be taken on the day of the excursion through the Xuno event. 
• A photo of all the students attending the excursion must be taken (using a device that is taken on the excursion) and uploaded as an attachment to the Xuno event.
• A teacher must be assigned to have overall responsibility for the excursion or incursion. They are called the Teacher in Charge.
• Staff must ensure there is a minimum staffing ratio of 1 staff member per 20 students with a minimum of 2 staff members attending any excursion. This ratio needs consideration when assessing risks for the excursion or incursion and factored into your Risk Assessment documentation.
• Ensure students are adequately prepared for excursions and incursions.
• Ensure disciplinary measures for students on excursions are appropriate and consistent with the Student Engagement Guidance and the school’s student engagement policies.
• Ensure reasonable adjustments are made for students with disabilities, including students with medical or health conditions that may have an impact on the student's ability to meet expected standards of behavior.
• Prior to the commencement of an excursion or incursion where an external third-party providers provider has been engaged, the school should ensure through email contact, see Robyn for a proforma email, and response that the external provider has:
  • a current public liability insurance certificate (minimum $10 million) provided by an Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) approved insurer
  • demonstrated that staff have the correct qualifications and/or experience for their specific role/s. For information on required qualifications please refer to the specific adventure activity guidelines
  • ensured that students are supervised by either a registered teacher or an approved staff member with a current Working with Children Clearance
  • agreed with the school who has responsibilities for first aid, emergency communications and other specialist equipment
  • agreed with the school who will be responsible for emergency procedures, and that these are well understood prior to the excursion/incursions taking place
  • read the relevant sections of the department's adventure activity guidelines (if relevant) and understood their obligations under these guidelines.
  • ensure parents and carers are not asked to sign a ‘waiver and indemnity’ on behalf of a student if the waiver and indemnity seeks to absolve the provider and its personnel from liability for negligence.
• Staff must have first aid and emergency response knowledge appropriate to the excursion location, the students involved and the activities undertaken by each group of students and ensure a first aid kit appropriate to the excursion location, the activities undertaken and the specific needs of participating students with health or medical conditions is taken on all excursions.
• Staff must ensure that venues for excursions are selected based on the recent and first-hand knowledge (for example, through an inspection of the site) of at least one member of the planning and supervising staff.
• Staff must check weather forecasts and emergency warnings for the location in the days leading up to the excursion and on the day the excursion commences.
• When planning excursions in bushfire prone areas or in areas surrounded by grassland, schools are advised to regularly monitor forecast fire danger ratings for that fire weather district.
• On days of forecasted Catastrophic fire danger rating (FDR), all excursions in the fire weather district of the Catastrophic FDR forecast must be cancelled.
• Staff must determine the most suitable system/s of identification, based on the assessment of the environment, students’ skills, the type of activities to be undertaken and the age and number of students.
• All students must be dressed in school uniform when going out on an excursion.
• For all specific adventure activity guidelines, please see Excursions: Adventure activities | education.vic.gov.au
• If you are requiring parent or other volunteers to assist you on the excursion, you must follow the Volunteers policy requirements (in iNewsletter). These volunteers must have a valid WWC Clearance and read the volunteers induction pack https://newsletters.naavi.com/i/pNpVrpM The process to become a volunteer: Members of our school community who would like to volunteer are required to apply to the Principal by emailing the school email or via the Contact Us FORM on the school website. For excursion support parents can communicate with the relevant classroom teacher to show their WWC Clearance and the teacher will seek principal approval prior to attendance.

To see a summary of required documentation for any excursion, click on this link.

For further guidance, please see Excursions: Guidance | education.vic.gov.au. 

Process

Step 1: Plan the Excursion/Incursion 

• Develop educational purpose of excursion through PLT/Termly Planning 
• Research and book the venue and other requirements 
• Raise Purchase Orders on the Purchase Order System
• Book Buses / MyKi sets on Xuno through Book Rooms and Resources
• Assign a staff member (teacher) to have overall responsibility for the excursion or incursion (TIC)
• Ensure third-party providers meet the compliance listed above by contacting them via email. See Robyn for proforma email templates. If the excursion/incursion/camp involves 'adventure activities' (i.e. swimming program), send the 'Documentation of Staff qualifications and experience' document for them to complete and return to you. This document also needs to include school staff members if they are instructing students during the adventure activity.

• For excursions/incursions/camps that involve any adventure activity, including Swimming Programs, please complete the Principal Approval Form

Step 2:  Lodge Student Activity Locator form with DE (Excursions only)

A SAL must be submitted at least 3 weeks prior to your excursion happening

Step 3:  Complete Risk Assessment Register (All Excursions and for Incursions where there is a greater than normal risk)

 Step 4: Complete Emergency and Critical Incident Management Plan (For excursions or incursions involving an adventure activity only, this includes swimming programs)

 Step 5: Complete Camps, Excursions, Swimming and Water Based Activity Checklist

Complete by either inserting a tick or N/A alongside each line for the whole form even if you aren't doing Swimming and or Water Based Activities. Then upload this completed doc into your Xuno excursion event.

Step 6: For Adventure Activities including Swimming and Water Based Activities

Complete Documentation of participant preparation, pre-requisite skills/knowledge 

Step 7: For Adventure Activities, including Swimming and Water Based Activities

Complete Pre-Activity Check Statement - a compulsory on the day check before embarking on any adventure activity.  

Step 8: Create an Event on Xuno

We want all event notifications to be sent and received back electronically. Only if specifically required, permission and medical forms can be printed.

Once the event is created and you have attached all the required documentation, please Karen to let her know that the event is ready to be approved. Events can't be approved until all required documentation is attached to the event.

Karen and a Principal Delegate will approve all events on Xuno.

Once your approved, parent permission forms can be sent out. 

Log into Xuno >School tab>Event & Fees>Add Event/Fee

Details tab

Select Event & Category

Name = Provide appropriate name i.e. 5/6 Swimming Program

Date & time to and from

Purpose: Insert your educational purpose for the excursion from discussions with your PLT/Termly planning meetings.

Requirements: i.e. Students are required to wear full school uniforms. Students are required to bring snacks, lunch and drinks. 

Risk Assessment: Insert - Staff have completed a detailed risk assessment for this excursion which is available for parents to review at their request.

SIS Code: Leave blank

Add students and cost items by: Select - Manual

Location: Where is the event being held?

Location Contact Details: Address and phone details

Departure and Return Details: i.e. 9:30 from school

Transportation Mode: select option

Rego: Leave blank

Private Vehicle Insurance: Select 'Not Applicable

Requires Scheduled Absence: Select 'No'

Schedule As: Not specified

Show in Daily Org: 'No'

Periods: Select applicable periods you will be on excursion/incursion

Allow Parent to Decline Event: Select either Yes or No

Parent Approval Required: Select Yes (SMS or signature approval) if approval is required and No if no approval required eg: An incursion notification where you are letting parents know the details but don't need their permission to attend. Or when you are doing a recurring event to the same location and you only need permission once from parents.

Parent Approval Due Date: This should be atleast 1 week prior to the event happening.

Form Due Date: This should be atleast 1 week prior to the event happening.

Payment Due Date: We don't charge for excursion but if there was a charge then this date would usually be the same as the above 2 dates.

Allow Receipt Export:  Just leave this and the next 2 as the default setting. 

Allow Overdue Payment: 

Allow Payment Only After Parent Approval & Form Completion: 

Available Instalment Plans: Leave blank

Additional Notes to Parents: Add any extra info for parents here. You also need to include all the below. Please read through to edit where needed, however the bottom 4 paragraphs need to be included where applicable i.e. if an incursion certain details won't apply.

If the excursion/incursion/local excursion is a recurring event to the same location, then please include the sentence below and itemise each date the event will occur. i.e. For recurring events with the same location you will only need to get parental permission once if all the dates are listed on the signed parental permission form.

This excursion re-occurs each Thursday on the following dates: 9/2/2024, 16/2/2024, 23/2/2024, 2/3/2024, 9/3/2024, 16/3/2024, 23/3/2024, 30/3/2024 & 6/4/2024

All below also need to be in this section.

A risk management plan for this program has been developed by staff and is available for parents to review on request.

Name and contact details for emergency contact: (Enter staff contact details here)

Student behaviourI understand that in the event of my childs misbehaviour or behaviour that poses a danger to himself/herself or others during the excursion, he/she may be sent home. I further understand that in such circumstances I will be informed and that any costs associated with his/her return will be my responsibility.

Student illnessI understand that in the event excursion staff determine it is necessary for my child to be sent home early due to illness, any cost associated with his/her return will be my responsibility.

Cancellations or AlterationsI understand that the principal may need to cancel or alter excursion arrangements at short notice, for safety reasons or due to circumstances beyond the control of the school, and while the principal will try to minimise inconvenience or financial losses to parents, these may be unavoidable.

Student accident insurance and ambulance cover The Department of Education does not provide student accident insurance or ambulance cover. Parents may wish to obtain student accident insurance from a commercial insurer and/or ambulance cover, depending on their health insurance arrangements and any other personal considerations.

Select Yes to both of these.

Pin This Item to Parent/Student Portal's Dashboard: Yes No

Show This Item in Parent/Student Portal's Calendar: Yes No

Once you click SAVE then new tabs will show up.

Forms tab

This section will pre-populate the required Medical Information Form that is needed for Day excursions(that include adventure activities), Adventure Activities and Interstate travel.

To insert it just press the green 'Save as new template' button and the form will load. Only press this button once.

Who will fill out this form? Click- Parents/Guardians 

Students tab

Add Students - click the button and add all students

Once the event is approved and on the day of the event, you will use this page to send messages to parents to ask them to approve the event, mark the roll and keep up to date with parents' approvals as well as many other functions. Most of these functions are available when you click 'ticked options'. We will show you how to use these functions in a video, which will be attached soon.

Staff tab

Add staff- click the button to add all staff attending event.

Also, tick who the supervising teacher/s are as well as if they have their first aid qualifications.

Costs tab

As we don't charge for excursions, this section can be left blank. 

Attachments tab

Under the 'Staff' section, please attach all required documentation - see Jackson School summary of documentation table for guidance.

Attach student medical plans and any other relevant information.

No event will be approved without all required documents attached.

Before taking any student offsite on a day excursion 

• You must have the event approved and entered it on SAL
• You must have a signed permission slip for each student on your list evidenced in Xuno Event as parent approval received.
• You must have a completed and signed Medical Information Form - Day Excursion Form evidenced in Xuno, if the excursion includes adventure activities.
• You must have marked the roll for all students on your student list
• You must take a photo of the students prior to departure and attach it to the excursion event in Xuno. This must be redone for each new occurrence of a recurring event.
• You must have access to medical plans and any medication on your person for any child that requires it.
• You must have access to all documentation you have completed for this excursion.
• Follow the checklist items for During Event items.

Camps (overnight excursions)

Please read through the above to discover what is applicable to camps/overnight excursions.

Extra Resources

 Documentation/resources that may be required/helpful for events are found here: