School Outing Risk Assessment Template (Free Download)
Well-run schools expect a written risk assessment before any outing — it’s the safety and governance standard we work to on every programme — but nobody hands new teachers a template. This guide explains what to assess and how to score it, and gives you a free, ready-to-use safety pack: a sample risk assessment, a parental-consent template and a plain-English insurance summary.
What a risk assessment is for
A risk assessment isn’t paperwork for its own sake. It’s a short, structured think-through of what could go wrong on your outing, how likely it is, how serious it would be, and what you’ll do to reduce it. Done properly it protects pupils, reassures parents, and gives your head and bursar the confidence to sign off.
The five things every school outing risk assessment should cover
1. The hazards
List what could realistically cause harm on your specific outing — not a generic list. Think transport, water and beach hazards, sun and heat, terrain, equipment, and the activity itself. Be concrete: “unsupervised entry to the sea” is more useful than “water”.
2. Who is at risk
Note the groups exposed to each hazard — pupils, staff, and any pupils with medical or additional needs who need a specific plan. TBM requires a signed parental-consent pack for every participant under 18 as a condition of booking.
3. Likelihood and severity
Score each hazard simply: how likely is it (low / medium / high) and how serious would the outcome be (minor / moderate / major)? The combination tells you which risks need the most control. You don’t need a complicated matrix — consistency matters more than precision.
4. The controls
For each significant hazard, write what you’ll actually do about it: supervision ratios, briefings, boundaries, equipment checks, a first-aider on site, and a weather plan. Good controls are specific and assignable — someone owns each one.
5. Supervision, first aid and emergencies
Set your adult-to-pupil ratio, name your first-aider, and write down the emergency steps: who calls what, where the nearest help is, and how you’ll account for every pupil. Add a weather contingency — in Mauritius that means an indoor or sheltered fallback, especially in the cyclone season (1 November–15 May).
A quick scoring guide
| Likelihood × Severity | Action |
|---|---|
| Low / minor | Standard controls, proceed |
| Medium / moderate | Add specific controls before the date |
| High / major | Do not proceed until the risk is reduced |
How we take the paperwork off your desk
When TeamBuilding.mu runs your programme, we complete the risk assessments and consent templates for you — you review and sign, rather than starting from a blank page. Our delivery model is one crew plus two school staff per 25 pupils, with at least one first-aider on site and all crew Certificate-of-Character (CoC) vetted. Our education programmes operate under TeamBuilding.mu’s general liability cover plus the signed parental-consent pack — the insurance summary in the pack sets out what that covers. If your school has its own insurance requirements, confirm them with your insurer or broker.
Get the free safety pack
Enter your email and we’ll send you the full pack: a sample risk assessment, a parental-consent template and a plain-English insurance and liability summary you can adapt for any school outing.
Planning the outing itself? Read how to organise a school camp in Mauritius or start on the Schools & Universities hub.