When you are in charge of planning a school trip it can be very stressful. You have a lot of children to manage and you want the day to go off without a hitch. There are many things that can be done to make your trip go more smoothly and be more successful. Proper planning and implementation of those plans is essential to the successful outcome of any field trip. The first thing that you need to do is make sure that the school nurse or another medical professional can attend the field trip. This ensures the safety of the students and helps cover the school against liability.

Additionally, students may require a band aid or administering of medicine and typically the school nurse must do those things. Make sure that you have an adequate number of chaperones planning to attend the trip. It is always wise to have more chaperones than you need, incase someone can’t attend last minute. Additionally, the smaller the groups of children with the chaperones, the easier it will be for them to manage the students. Chaperones should be well aware of the school’s policies and guidelines. it is always a good idea for them to be given a print out of the expectations the school has and have them sign and return it to the school ahead of time.

It can often be tempting for chaperones to give in to the children and if they know the school frowns upon something they may be less likely to do that. Make sure that all the students have an emergency plan in place incase they get separated from their group or lost. They should preferably have a card with important information and the cell phone number of the trip leader. Go over safety guidelines with them and make sure they all completely understand what kind of behavior you expect from them. Additionally, having them all wear the same color shirt so chaperones can easily identify them is always a good idea.