info centre iconInfo Centre

Curriculum

Sustainble Schools FAQs - new guidance document

A new document of FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) about Sustainble Schools, for Pupils, Communities and the Environment has been issued (June 2007). It answers questions such as:

  • What is sustainable development?
  • What is the Sustainable Schools initiative?
  • What are Sustainable Schools?
  • How does the Sustainable Schools initiative work?
  • Why do we need Sustainable Schools?
  • What does the Sustainable Schools initiative mean to me and my community?
  • What resources are available?

Download a copy here

Scottish Local Authority Provision

Local Education Authorities have responded to their responsibility largely through the production of guidelines and/or procedures for the safe conduct of groups on educational excursions. All former Regional Councils had such procedures and the most recently published was 'Safety and Good Practice in Outdoor Education' by Grampian Regional Council.

Following the establishment of unitary authorities in April 1996 the new Education Authorities generally adopted the former Regional Council procedures in the first instance. Many are now preparing their own procedures to encompass the amalgamation of schools, Community Education, Leisure Services etc which the merging of former Regional and District Council functions has caused.

LEA Guidelines

These guidelines or procedures principally contain detailed information about the safety arrangements for the organisation of excursions. This will include home contact, emergency procedures, responsibilities, supervision ratios, qualification of staff/instructors, insurance cover, emergency procedures and the like.

All Education Authority guidelines tend to be written to similar standards. There are 2 main reasons for this, namely:

  • a) Since 1974 members of the Scottish Advisory Panel for Outdoor Education (ie representatives from all Education Authorities in Scotland) shared their excursion policies/guidelines/procedures. By the start of the 1990's they were all quite similar. They had been reviewed in the light of recommendations following the Land's End accident and the Altwood School accident as well as smaller and more localised incidents within Councils themselves.

    b) In October 1994 the Scottish Office Education and Industry Department (SOEID) issued a circular to all Local Education Authorities entitled 'Guidance on Safety in Outdoor Activity Centres' which became known as Circular 10/94. This Circular confirmed that the earlier SOEID circular 848 (issued following the Cairngorm accident) was still effective. Circular 10/94 was prepared as a result of the Lyme Bay accident and was issued as guidance to Education Authorities and Schools in Scotland. This circular caused Education Authorities to review their guidelines and some were amended.

Implementation and Use of Procedures

Principally Local Authorities implement their excursion procedures in one of the following ways:

Responsibility is totally devolved to schools;

  • Responsibility is partly delivered to schools, Community Education staff etc and partly retained by the local authority;
  • The majority of responsibility is retained by Local Authority with only very safe, simple short excursions being approved in school;
  • Some Education Authorities operate an inspection scheme where an officer visits the centre/provider and makes an assessment, using a checklist, during a site visit. Some of the more remote Authorities (such as Orkney and Shetland Isles Councils) have commissioned inspections of mainland centres from mainland Local Authority colleagues using the criteria set out in Circular 10/94.

Finally, the successor Unitary Authorities of the former Grampian and Tayside Regional Councils have adopted their Agency Agreement schemes. These schemes were introduced in Grampian as a direct result of circular 10/94 being issued, and in Tayside, as a result of a fatal accident enquiry.

In both cases, a contract which stipulates, in some detail, the responsibilities and standards which a provider must meet and agree to be signed and adhered to before the provider is permitted to trade with any Local Authority group (including schools).

Scottish Office Education and Industry Department Circular 10/94

In October 1994, SOEID issued a circular on 'Guidance on Safety in Outdoor Activity Centres' (known as Circular 10/94). It does not supersede SOEID Circular 848 which also remains in force for the time being.

Circular 10/94 was prepared following the Lyme Bay Canoeing accident but prior to David Jamieson's Bill which has become the Activity Centres (Young persons' Safety) Act 1995.

It states that Local Authorities have wide ranging obligations under the Health and Safety at Work Act (HSW Act 1974, Reporting Regulations 1985 and MHSWR 1992). The advice which it contains is designed to help Local Authorities to meet their existing duties in an efficient and effective way. It is aimed at providing schools, Education Authorities, teachers and Community Education workers with advice on procedures they may wish to follow to ensure, as far as is practicable, the safety of pupils attending Outdoor Centres.

Circular 10/94 contains information on the following areas:

  • Guidance on planning and managing visits
  • Preliminary considerations
  • Curriculum
  • Reconnaissance
  • Risk Assessment
  • Selecting participants
  • Staffing the visit
  • Briefing the visit
  • Parental consent
  • Safety during the visit
  • Proposed trips abroad
  • Information for retention at the school

Assurances to be sought from Outdoor Activity Centres

  • Recognition/Accreditation
  • Activity management and staffing
  • Equipment
  • Health, safety and emergency policy
  • Insurance
  • Accommodation
  • Emergency procedures
  • Framework for party leaders
  • Legal responsibilities

Health and Safety at Work Act 1974

  • Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1985
  • Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1992
  • Common Law
  • Guidance on Law Requirements.
  • A recent statement from SOEID has indicated that Circular 10/94 is to be revised and reissued in Spring 1997.

Future Expectations

Recently, as a result of having to comply with the demands of many inspections (AALA licensing, NGB standards, as well as apparent varying Local Authority standards) providers would wish to have fewer inspections and fewer varying standards to meet. This is a laudable objective and if, through the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) the soon to be redrafted Circular 10/94 meets all of the Scottish Local Authorities criteria, then perhaps COSLA could agree that providers approved by one Scottish Local Authority could receive automatic approval for use by every other one. Only time will tell.