Excursions, incursions and regular outings policy and procedures

This policy supports Early Learning Victoria's commitment to providing children with opportunities to engage and build connections with their local community through excursions, incursions and regular outings.

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Children’s safety, health and wellbeing is Early Learning Victoria’s key priority.

Early Learning Victoria is committed to providing children with opportunities to engage and build connections with their local community through excursions, incursions and regular outings.

1. Scope

This policy applies to children, families and staff of Early Learning Victoria centres. This includes volunteers, students on placement and contractors or labour hire employees of Early Learning Victoria.

2. Policy statement

This policy provides guidelines and procedures for Early Learning Victoria staff to plan and conduct safe and appropriate excursions, incursions and regular outings. It outlines Early Learning Victoria’s commitment to thorough planning, a risk assessment for any excursion, incursion or regular outing, and to ensuring appropriate authorisation is obtained prior from families if children are leaving the centre premises.

2.1 Requirements

Under the Education and Care Services National Law Act 2010 (the National Law) and Education and Care Services National Regulations 2011 (the Regulations), services must have policies and procedures in place for managing excursions.

All excursions, incursions and regular outings must be planned with the intention to extend the educational program and further develop the current interests of children, in line with the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework.

2.2 Background and information

Excursions, incursions and regular outings are an important part of the Early Learning Victoria educational program, providing opportunities for children to build connections with the local community and supporting their sense of belonging and connection with the world around them.

By being visible in their community, children have opportunities to engage with community members in meaningful ways. This develops children’s sense of connectedness to groups and communities and gives them an understanding of their reciprocal rights and responsibilities as active and informed citizens.

In addition to supporting learning outcomes, excursions conducted around and near the centre have benefits including:

  • children and staff being physically active
  • opportunities for children to practise road safety
  • engagement with the local community.

When planning excursions, incursions and regular outings, the following considerations should be taken into account:

  • how the excursion, incursion or regular outing relates to the educational program
  • the ability of each child and staff member to participate in the excursion, incursion or regular outing, regardless of their abilities
  • any additional needs that must be catered for (such as mobility aids)
  • any extra costs incurred by families.
Student Activity Locator (SAL)

The Student Activity Locator (SAL) is an interactive database tool used by Early Learning Victoria, as well as government and non-government schools to record excursions. In case of an emergency, the SAL provides the Department of Education’s (the department) emergency management staff and emergency services with essential information to support child and staff safety. It is essential that accurate records are maintained in the SAL to support child safety and to meet the requirements set out in the policy. The SAL User Guide provides instructions on how to use the platform.

Once an excursion or regular outing has been approved, and at least 5 business days before the excursion is scheduled to take place, the excursion coordinator (or a delegated staff member – for example Administrator) must record that activity in the SAL.

3. Actions and procedures

3.1 Responsibilities of families

Families are responsible for:

  • familiarising themselves with the details of this policy to understand their responsibilities in relation to excursions, incursions and regular outings conducted for children at Early Learning Victoria centres
  • ensuring they have completed and signed the authorised nominee section of their child’s enrolment form before their child commences at an Early Learning Victoria centre
  • reading the details of the risk assessment provided by the centre for the excursion or incursion and requesting additional information if required
  • providing items required by their child for the excursion, incursion or regular outing as requested by the Early Learning Victoria centre
  • ensuring required medication for their child is in date and available to take on an excursion or regular outing.

If participating in an excursion, incursion or regular outing as a volunteer, family members must:

  • understand that a Working with Children Check (WWCC) is required. This must be sighted by Early Learning Victoria centre staff and a scanned photocopy or written record of the WWCC number will be kept on file at the service
  • understand that they will be under the immediate supervision and direction of the excursion coordinator at all times and must follow that direction as required
  • inform an educator immediately if a child appears to be missing from the group
  • inform an educator if they have any concerns about a child’s safety or wellbeing, including if a child makes a disclosure of abuse
  • take responsibility for and supervise siblings and other children in their care who are not enrolled in the Early Learning Victoria program
  • comply with all Early Learning Victoria centre policies, including obligations to uphold the Child Safe Standards.

3.2 Responsibilities of staff

3.3 Excursions, incursions and regular outings detailed procedures

Excursion, incursion or regular outing design

The excursion coordinator, in collaboration with other educational staff, will ensure the excursion, incursion or regular outing has a clearly stated purpose that aligns with the educational program. This could be a focus on:

  • children experiencing the natural world
  • supporting child-directed exploration
  • connecting with the local community.

The coordinator should also consider:

  • time away from the service
  • availability of toilet and washing facilities
  • access to safe drinking water
  • adequate health and hygiene practices
  • availability of toilet and handwashing facilities
  • access to shade
  • accessibility for all children and staff
  • transportation
  • cost to families (if applicable)
  • wet weather arrangements
  • safety procedures and responsibilities for staff and children while on an excursion or regular outing.

Record the excursion, incursion or regular outing design in the appropriate planning form (see Attachment 1) and ensure it:

  • confirms the destination and availability of required resources, including transport and the number of educators and additional staff needed
  • confirms that someone with first aid, asthma and anaphylaxis training will be in attendance
  • includes a risk assessment specific to the excursion, incursion or regular outing.
Risk assessment

A risk assessment must be conducted for excursions, incursions and regular outings. The risk assessment must be completed before permission is sought from families.

A risk assessment for a regular outing must be completed at least once every 12 months. However, note that such risk assessments must be regularly reviewed, including directly following each regular outing. This ensures the risk assessment remains up to date and captures all relevant risks.

The coordinator should use the risk assessment and management plan form (see Attachment 2), which can be drafted and finalised progressively as the plan is developed.

Carrying out a risk assessment for the excursion, incursion or regular outing will assist in determining:

  • the number of educators required to ensure adequate supervision
  • the number of additional staff members or other adults, if any, needed to assist (see the Supervision of children policy)
  • whether the excursion, incursion or regular outing plan should be modified in any way to reduce risks to the safety, health and wellbeing of children or staff.

The risk assessment must:

  • identify and assess possible risks that the excursion, incursion or regular outing may pose to the health, safety and wellbeing of any child or member of staff participating, and specify how the identified risks will be managed and minimised
  • consider the proposed activities and the impact of this on children and staff with varying levels of ability, additional needs or medical conditions
  • ensure WWCCs are sighted for all adults and volunteers participating in the excursion, incursion or regular outing, noting that a scanned photocopy or written record of the WWCC number must be kept on file at the service
  • consider the ratio of adults to children involved in the excursion, incursion or regular outing
  • consider the number of educators and other responsible adults, ensuring that this will enable adequate supervision given the level of risk
  • consider whether specialised skills are required – for example, lifesaving skills for excursions or regular outings near water
  • consider strategies to ensure adequate supervision of children by educators is always consistent during transitions, toileting, departure from the centre and at the conclusion of the excursion, incursion or regular outing
  • consider the proposed route and location of the excursion, incursion or regular outing, with specific consideration of known traffic hazards and navigation of busy roads and thoroughfares
  • consider the process for entering and exiting the centre and the pick-up location or destination (as required)
  • consider the dynamics of the children in the group and how their needs and varying abilities may be met
  • consider the transport to and from the proposed location of the excursion or regular outing
  • consider procedures for embarking and disembarking the means of transport, including how each child is to be accounted for on embarking and disembarking
  • consider items and information that must be taken on the excursion – for example, a first aid kit, emergency contact details for children, contact details of relevant Early Learning Victoria staff, medication for children with known medical conditions and a mobile phone
  • ensure that for incursions, the visiting group/performance is covered by the appropriate insurance
  • identify any water hazards
  • identify any risks associated with water-based activities (see the Water safety policy).
Excursions in bushfire-prone areas

The coordinator must undertake additional risk assessment with specific evaluation of the bushfire-related risks for Early Learning Victoria centres in bushfire-prone areas. This includes actively monitoring weather forecasts, the Fire Danger Rating (FDR) and emergency warnings before and during excursions or regular outings.

Excursions or regular outings taking place in bushfire-prone areas must be reassessed if the forecast FDR is ‘extreme’ or ‘catastrophic’ in the applicable weather district (see the Emergency management and evacuation policy).

Asthma risk assessment

The coordinator must undertake additional risk assessments to evaluate the risk of asthma attacks on days when thunderstorms, increased pollen levels or increased pollutants (such as smoke) have been predicted.

Educators should review the epidemic thunderstorm asthma risk by visiting the Vic Emergency website or using the Vic Emergency app (download for Android or Apple). Ensure consideration has been given to the safety of the cohort of children attending the excursion.

Transportation for excursions and regular outings

The coordinator must consider the transportation requirements for every excursion and regular outing, noting that Early Learning Victoria does not permit centres to conduct excursions or regular outings that require chartered transportation (such as buses or mini-buses).

Conducting excursions and regular outings that require children to walk or use public transport (bus, train or tram) are permitted. At some Early Learning Victoria centres, learning to access and use public transport is a valued part of teaching children road safety skills. If an excursion or regular outing is planned to incorporate the use of public transport, the excursion or regular outing risk assessment must ensure that there is comprehensive consideration to the specific risks associated and how they will be managed through adequate supervision and procedures. There must also be consideration in the excursion or regular outing plan for how public transport fares will be managed for participating children, staff and volunteers.

Changes in circumstances

If there is a change in circumstances for an excursion that is relevant to the risk assessment, for regular outings/excursions where the risk assessment has been conducted within the past 12-month period, risk assessments and authorisation forms must be reviewed and updated if required. This includes for changes such as additional children attending, location changes or route alterations.

Documentation

The following documentation must be completed for the excursion to be approved:

  • Excursion, incursion and regular outing plan: This should be finalised and written up using Attachment 1. The plan should include a budget detailing all costs to be incurred, including any additional costs to families.
  • Excursion, incursion and regular outing risk assessment and management plan: Each excursion, incursion and regular outing will require its own risk assessment that accounts for the particular circumstances of the activity. This should be written up using Attachment 2.
Procedures in an emergency

The overriding priority in any emergency is the safety, health and wellbeing of children. All educators are responsible for maintaining active supervision of children at all times. The excursion coordinator should oversee all educators and children for the duration of the excursion. In the event of a sick, injured or missing child, the sequence of actions to follow is:

  1. The person who notices a child is unwell/injured/missing must tell the excursion coordinator immediately.
  2. The coordinator must immediately ask all educators/family members in attendance to gather all children on the excursion together and stay in a designated safe place until further instructions are given. If a child has been injured, the safe place should be away from the injured child.
  3. If a child is sick or injured, an educator with first aid qualifications must be relieved of their normal duties and assigned to look after the injured child immediately, providing care and first aid as required (this educator should be named in the emergency plan).
  4. If a child is sick or injured and requires urgent professional medical assistance, the coordinator must call 000 immediately. If the child needs to be taken to hospital by ambulance, the educator assigned to look after the child must go with the child.
  5. The nominated supervisor must be informed of the situation as soon as practicable. In the instance that the nominated supervisor cannot be contacted, educators should progress to contacting the Area Manager.
  6. Once notified by educators of the incident, the nominated supervisor is responsible for promptly contacting the child’s family to notify them of the incident or injury.
  7. The nominated supervisor must also carefully document first aid incidents and outcomes on eduSafe Plus (see the Incident, injury, trauma and illness policy).
  8. If a child is missing, the coordinator must:
    1. alert all attending staff, volunteers and the venue staff (if applicable) and request immediate help
    2. assign as many educators and volunteers as possible to search for the child, ensuring that the remaining children are always supervised
    3. if the child has not been found within 5 minutes, call emergency services and seek assistance
    4. alert the nominated supervisor as soon as practicable.
  9. The nominated supervisor should contact the Area Manager and keep them fully informed as the situation develops. With consideration for maintaining adult-to-child ratios, the two of them should discuss and decide:
    1. whether any Early Learning Victoria staff can or should be sent to the location to assist
    2. how any sick or injured child will be returned to the centre or their family
    3. how the remaining children will return to the centre.

A child missing or unaccounted for is considered an incident of ‘extreme’ severity. These incidents must be formally reported to the department via ISOC within one hour of occurring, and the nominated supervisor (or Early Learning Victoria central office) must:

  1. Inform the family of any sick, injured or missing child as soon as possible.
  2. Decide when to inform the families of other children on the excursion.
  3. Once the child is safe and it is appropriate to do so, make a serious incident notice to the department via ISOC if required, following the requirements outlined in the Incident, injury, trauma and illness policy, including:
    1. ensuring that the Incident, Injury, Trauma and Illness Record is completed as soon as possible and within 24 hours of the occurrence
    2. reporting the incident to the Regulatory Authority via NQAITS within 24 hours
    3. ensuring that relevant educators and staff involved in the incident complete a detailed statement, explaining what happened. This must be done on the same day and include the date and time, as well as the signature of the person who wrote the statement.
Approval and records

The coordinator is responsible for:

  • obtaining the nominated supervisor’s approval of the excursion plan, including budget, risk assessment and management plan. Note that approval from the Area Manager must be sought for regular outings
  • ensuring a copy of the approved plan, including budget, risk assessment and management plan, is placed with the Early Learning Victoria centre’s records
  • ensuring the excursion, incursion or regular outing is recorded in the SAL once it is approved by the Nominated Supervisor and at least 5 business days before the excursion is scheduled to take place.
Gaining family authorisation

For excursions or incursions, the coordinator must obtain written authorisation from each child’s family to participate. Attachment 3 is a template for securing written authorisations for excursions or incursions. If an excursion or incursion is changed or modified, families must be notified as soon as the change or modification is made, and written authorisation must be gained again using the template.

If the excursion is a regular outing, authorisation must be obtained from each child's family using Attachment 4. Authorisation for regular outings remain current for 12 months, so the coordinator does not need to gain additional permission from families. However, the coordinator is expected to inform families in writing when the regular outing is occurring.

Conducting excursions and regular outings

The following steps should be taken to prepare for and conduct excursions and regular outings:

  1. Confirm resources: Once the plan is approved, the coordinator should make necessary reservations for the destination and confirm staff availability to support the excursion or regular outing.
  2. Pre-excursion: In the days leading up to the excursion, the coordinator must:
    1. brief educators who will be going on the excursion about the excursion and emergency plan and clarify their roles during the excursion and in the event of an emergency
    2. order any necessary food from the centre kitchen staff
    3. discuss the excursion with children
    4. arrange care at the centre for non-participating children
    5. prepare a written outline for the centre’s reception, and for family members who may be attending the excursion, which could include:
      1. a timetable for the excursion
      2. a list of the children
      3. a list of the names of educators who will attend
      4. a telephone number to be used if educators or family members become separated from the group
      5. any other relevant information, including informing parents/guardians of items children will need for the excursion or service event (such as a snack or lunch, sunscreen or a coat).
  3. Pre-departure: Before leaving on the excursion or regular outing, the coordinator must:
    1. ensure all children attending the excursion or regular outing are documented on the excursion checklist as per Attachment 5
    2. brief any family members coming on the excursion of their obligations to adhere to the 11 Child Safe Standards, as well as providing them a copy of the written outline of the excursion, assigning them to educators and giving them their roles
    3. ensure that the centre’s reception has a copy of the written outline of the excursion
    4. ensure that someone with first aid, asthma and anaphylaxis training is in attendance and that first aid, medical, sunscreen, communications and other equipment, and emergency contact numbers for each child, are taken on the excursion
    5. ensure that all children going on the excursion are clearly identifiable using brightly coloured or fluorescent bibs
    6. ensure that children on the excursion have a tag or wrist band with the phone number of the phone being carried by the excursion leader. For safety reasons, educators must ensure that this label does not include the name of the child
    7. ensure that all educators are clearly identifiable, wearing name badges and carrying their phones.
  4. During: While on the excursion or regular outing, the coordinator must:
    1. ensure that a headcount of children and accompanying family members is taken at regular intervals during the excursion or regular outing, and whenever children move to a new space/location throughout the excursion (see Attachment 5)
    2. in addition to headcounts, ensure that in each change of location (such as arriving at a location, preparing to leave a location or arriving back at the service), educators can sight each individual child in attendance and can cross-check their attendance with the list of names of children attending
    3. ensure educators are maintaining active supervision of children at all times and communicating effectively with each other
    4. inform the centre if the excursion is running late.
  5. After: On returning to the Early Learning Victoria centre, the coordinator must ensure that all children who attended the excursion are accounted for, and that this is documented on Attachment 5.
Changes to excursion or regular outing plans

If there is any change to the excursion or regular outing plan, the coordinator must:

  • inform families of all children included on the excursion in writing
  • seek updated authorisation for the revised excursion from families
  • advise families that they may cancel their authorisation by signing the appropriate part of the notice.

If the excursion is cancelled, the coordinator must individually inform families of all children included on the excursion in writing.

Conducting an incursion

The following steps should be taken to prepare for and conduct incursions at the centre:

Pre-Incursion: In the days leading up to the incursion, the coordinator should:

  • prepare the incursion plan and brief staff and family volunteers who will be assisting with the incursion, clarifying their roles
  • discuss the incursion with children
  • confirm the time and attendance of any external party involved in delivering the incursion
  • ensure care for non-participating children has been arranged and that educator/child ratios are maintained. This may include working with room leaders to determine how children should be grouped across the centre to maintain ratios for the duration of the incursion
  • ensure the planned space for conducting the incursion is available as per the incursion plan.

During: The coordinator must ensure:

  • any external parties, including family volunteers, have signed in to the centre and that their WWCC details have been sighted and recorded
  • educator-to-child ratios are maintained for the duration of the incursion
  • educators always maintain active supervision of all children
  • that a child or children are not left in the sole care of an incursion facilitator, volunteer or family member
  • any risks associated with the incursion are managed as per the risk assessment and management plan
  • assisting staff and family volunteers are adhering to their required roles.

After: At the conclusion of the incursion, the coordinator must ensure:

  • the space used for the incursion is neatly packed up and returned to its previous set-up (if applicable)
  • any external provider of the incursion and any family volunteers are signed out and assisted to leave the premises.

4. Resources

Legislation and standards

  • Education and Care Services National Law Act 2010
  • Education and Care Services National Regulations 2011
  • National Quality Standard, Quality area 2: Children’s health and safety; Quality area 6: Collaborative partnerships with families
  • Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004
  • Occupational Health and Safety Regulations 2017
  • Contractor OHS management policy
  • Emergency management and evacuation policy
  • Incident, injury, trauma and illness policy
  • Medical conditions: Asthma policy
  • Medical conditions: Anaphylaxis and allergies policy
  • Medical conditions: Diabetes policy
  • Medical conditions: Epilepsy and seizures policy
  • Management of medical conditions policy
  • OHS induction and training policy
  • Protecting children policy
  • Road safety education policy
  • Staff code of conduct policy
  • Sun protection policy
  • Supervision of children policy
  • Visitors, volunteers and students on placement policy
  • Water safety policy
  • Student Activity Locator (SAL) User Guide

Attachments

Definitions

Adequate supervision: This entails all children (individuals and groups) in all areas of the service being in sight and/or hearing of an educator at all times, including during toileting, sleep, rest and transition routines. Services are required to comply with the legislative requirements for educator-to-child ratios at all times.

Attendance record: Kept by the service to record details of each child attending the centre, including their name, time of arrival and departure, and the signature of the person delivering and collecting the child (or of the nominated supervisor or educator).

Excursion: An outing organised by an education and care service or family day care educator. This does not include an outing organised by an education and care service provided on a school site if:

  1. the child or children leave the education and care service premises in the company of an educator; and
  2. the child or children do not leave the school site.

Incursion: A special activity, event, visitor or entertainment organised by the education and care service. This may be a one-off event or may be conducted as part of a regular session at the service premises.

Regular outing: In relation to an education and care service, this means a walk, drive or trip to and from a destination:

  1. that the service visits regularly as part of its educational program; and
  2. where the circumstances relevant to the risk assessment are the same on each outing; for example, the same location, same number of children and/or same activities for each outing.

Regulatory Authority: The Regulatory Authority is established by the National Law. It regulates providers of early childhood education and care services to ensure they protect children’s safety, health and wellbeing and comply with the Child Safe Standards. The department is the Regulatory Authority for early childhood services in Victoria under a range of regulatory schemes.

Risk assessment: In the context of this policy, a risk assessment is a document that identifies and assesses any hazard that poses a risk to a child’s health, safety and/or wellbeing while on an excursion or regular outing and specifies how these risks will be managed and/or minimised.

Transportation (that is not part of the education and care service): Transportation is considered to form part of an education and care service when the service is responsible for children during the period of transportation. The responsibility for and duty of care owed to children applies in scenarios in which services are transporting children, or have arranged for the transportation of children, between an education and care service premises and another location – for example, their home, school or the location of an excursion or regular outing.

Education

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