Letter to Community Schools

Block C Barnsbury Complex Offord Road London N1 1QG Tel: 020 7527 5795 Fax: 020 7527 5601 Email: [email protected]

17th October 2005

To all Headteachers of Islington Voluntary Aided Primary and Secondary Schools

RE: Health and Safety for Off Site Activities Purpose of letter To remind head teachers of procedures necessary in the planning of off site activities Target audience Head teachers, Educational Visits Co-ordinators Action Implement procedures

Dear Colleague

In May 2002 a ten year boy, Max Palmer, drowned while accompanying a weekend school visit to Glenridding Beck in the Lake District. As a consequence of this, the teacher in charge of the visit, Paul Ellis, was sentenced to a twelve-month custodial sentence for gross negligence.

These are the bare facts but they do not reflect the details of the incident.

 Max accompanied the group of Year 8 pupils because his mother was a supporting adult at the secondary school. He was not a pupil at the school.  The party were embarking on a “plunge pool” activity where the children jumped four metres into a rock pool in a mountain stream and swam to an exit point  Earlier in the morning, a teacher from another school who was descending from the hills, had advised Paul Ellis against running the activity. Many other activities had been curtailed because of bad weather that weekend.  The teacher had no rope for use in an emergency. He had no qualification for organising such an activity. He said at his trial that it had never occurred to him that anything could go wrong.  The water in the beck was bitterly cold and Max was only wearing a T-shirt and shorts. He was the second boy to jump into the pool.  The leader jumped in to try and rescue Max as did his mother but both were overcome by the cold.  The judge at the trial stated that it was “unbelievably foolhardy and negligent that anyone would venture into the beck……….. or allow any child to plunge from the rocks into the pool below.”

In June 2004, CEA@ Islington issued all schools with guidance procedures for the planning and organisation of off site activities – “Health and Safety for Off Site Activities”. The document clearly states that the responsibility for off site activities lies with the headteacher but authorisation for certain activities lies with CEA@ Islington. These activities are ones that involve residency, visits abroad and those of an adventurous nature – Category C. Authorisation will be given after schools have submitted planning and organisational details along with risk assessments for the activities to the Educational Visits Advisor, Tudor Jenkins.

Unfortunately, there are many schools in Islington who are ignoring these procedures and are embarking on activities without notifying CEA@ Islington and without submitting their risk assessments for checking. Schools who do not follow the procedures laid down in the document “Health and Safety for Off Site Activities” are liable for prosecution should an accident occur during the activity. Schools are asked to submit their paper work for approval at least six weeks before embarking on visits involving Category C activities.

The Departmental Health & Safety Committee, which includes representatives from professional associations, has also endorsed the guidance document and supports the procedures included in it.

The Glenridding Beck incident highlighted the lack of effective planning and its consequences. The Health & Safety Executive carried out a thorough investigation into the tragedy and issued a detailed report in March 2005. The following 10 questions cover the main arrangements that should be in place for a visit. 1. What are the main objectives of the visit?

2. What is "Plan B" if the main objectives can't be achieved?

3. What could go wrong ? Does the risk assessment cover:

 The main activity

 "Plan B"

 Travel arrangements

 Emergency procedures

 Staff numbers, gender and skill mixes

 Generic and site-specific hazards and risks (including for Plan B)

 Variable hazards (including environmental and participants’ personal abilities and the ‘cut off’ points).

4. What information will be provided for parents?

5. What consents will be sought?

6. What opportunities will parents have to ask questions (including any arrangements for a parents’ meeting)?

7. What assurances are there of the leader(s) competencies?

8. What are the communication arrangements?

9. What are the arrangements for supervision, both during activities and ‘free time’ – is there a Code of Conduct?

10. What are the arrangements for monitoring and reviewing the visit?

The above ten points are included in the procedures that Islington schools are required to follow – see attached “Health and Safety for Off Site Activities”. I hope you will see that CEA@ Islington has procedures in place to ensure that there is no repeat of Glenridding. Off site activities are of immense value to pupils offering them first hand experiences of different environments and cultures that are not available in the classroom and supplement their learning. The contribution of adults in schools to these activities is valued. However, if schools do not comply with the above procedures, they are laying themselves open to prosecution. This is something that no one wishes to see.

Please contact Tudor Jenkins, Educational Visits Advisor, should you wish to discuss any issues included in this letter.

Yours sincerely,

Kirit Modi Assistant Director, Education Strategy and Management Support