Information for Parents/Guardians

Staff organise a range of trips and visits to support students' learning which are paid for via ParentPay.

Insurance

Risk Protection Arrangement (RPA)

Charles Darwin School is a member of  the  Department for Education’s (DfE’s) Risk Protection Arrangement (RPA).  The RPA is not an insurance scheme but is a mechanism through which the cost of risks that materialise  will be covered by government funds.  Further information can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/risk-protection-arrangement-rpa-for-academies/academies-risk-protection-arrangement-rpa

Cover from 1/9/23 until 31/8/24

Operative Time: All trips away from the school or centre.

 

Standard School Visit Statement

During a visit, the participating school staff members will have legal responsibility for your son/daughter of a kind which is well-established in the English legal system.

Exactly how this law is applied in a particular set of circumstances is always a matter for the courts and this notice cannot be taken as a definitive statement of law. However, in broad terms it means two things.

First, the staff will apply their skills and experience as teachers and responsible adults in supervising your son/daughter to protect them against risks to their health and safety as members of the school group, with all the appropriate professional and adult concern for your son/daughter’s well-being in the group.  The staff will operate within the guidelines approved and issued by government departments and other advisory agencies consistent with the realities of any situation that may be encountered.

That is not of course a 100% safety guarantee.  It is, however, a professional parallel, applicable to the circumstances of a school visit, to the standard of care that any responsible parent would demonstrate for his or her children’s own safety.

Second, throughout the visit, the staff members will have authority to supervise, direct and instruct your son/daughter to the full extent they consider necessary for their own protection and the protection of others.  They will, of course, show respect for your expressed wishes, particularly in relation to the need for any medical treatment arising during the visit, but their overriding duty at all times has to be the health, safety and welfare of your son/daughter acting, where necessary, on such qualified medical or other advice as may be given.